Posts Tagged ‘sets’
“To Infinity and Beyond!”*…
The idea of infinity is probably about as old as numbers themselves, going back to whenever people first realized that they could keep counting forever. But even though we have a sign for infinity and can refer to the concept in casual conversation, infinity remains profoundly mysterious, even to mathematicians. Steven Strogatz explores that mystery with Justin Moore…
No one really knows where the idea of infinity came from, but it must be very ancient — as old as people’s hopes and fears about things that could conceivably go on forever. Some of them are scary, like bottomless pits, and some of them are uplifting, like endless love. Within mathematics, the idea of infinity is probably about as old as numbers themselves. Once people realized that they could just keep on counting forever — 1, 2, 3 and so on. But even though infinity is a very old idea, it remains profoundly mysterious. People have been scratching their heads about infinity for thousands of years now, at least since Zeno and Aristotle in ancient Greece.
But how do mathematicians make sense of infinity today? Are there different sizes of infinity? Is infinity useful to mathematicians? And if so, how exactly? And what does all this have to do with the foundations of mathematics itself?…
All infinities go on forever, so “How Can Some Infinities Be Bigger Than Others?“, from @stevenstrogatz in @QuantaMagazine.
See also: Alan Lightman‘s “Why the paradoxes of infinity still puzzle us today” (source of the image above).
* Buzz Lightyear
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As we envision endlessness, we might send carefully-calculated birthday greetings to Gaspard Monge; he was born on this date in 1746. A mathematician, he is considered the inventor of descriptive geometry, (the mathematical basis of technical drawing), and the father of differential geometry (the study of smooth shapes and spaces, AKA smooth manifolds).
During the French Revolution he was involved in the reform of the French educational system, most notably as the lead founder of the École Polytechnique.
“There is so much to do on a film set”*…
Legendary director Billy Wilder– Some Like it Hot, Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, The Apartment, et al.– and equally-legendary designers Charles and Ray Eames were long-time friends, from the days when Charles worked as an MGM set designer. The three famously collaborated on “Glimpses of the USA,” a multimedia installation at the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow. Moreover, Ray designed the opening credits for Wilder’s Love in the Afternoon.
Wilder (left) with Charles and Ray Eames
The Eames were multimedia masters, frequently—and brilliantly—communicating their philosophy through film and photography. Over the years, their image archive grew to include over 750,000 snapshots that document everything from travels through India to the circus. One series in particular—Movie Sets—is the focus of a new exhibition new exhibition at the Art & Design Atomium Museum in Brussels. Curated by Alexandra Midal, the photographs date from 1951 to 1971 and are all Charles’s snapshots from the sets of Wilder films…
More at “Hollywood’s Golden Age, As Photographed By Charles [and Ray] Eames.”
* Sir Ben Kingsley
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As we take our marks, we might send extravagant birthday greetings to Florenz Edward “Flo” Ziegfeld, Jr.; he was born on this date in 1867. One of the greatest theatrical showmen in American history, he was a Broadway impresario who produced dozens of shows, mostly (like one of his biggest hits, Showboat) musical spectacles. But he is best remembered for his 25-year series of elaborate annual theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies (1907–1931), inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris– a run that introduced such stars as Fanny Brice, Bert Williams, Ed Wynn, W.C. Fields, Marion Davies, Eddie Cantor and Will Rogers.
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