Seduction of Curves - The Lines of Beauty That Connect Mathematics, Art, and the Nude (McRobie Allan)(Pevná vazba)

A lavishly illustrated book that explores the language of curves that spans the human body, science, engineering, and art Curves are seductive. These smooth, organic lines and surfaces--like those of the human body--appeal to us in an instinctive, visceral way that straight lines or the perfect shapes of classical geometry never could. In this large-format book, lavishly illustrated in color throughout, Allan McRobie takes the reader on an alluring exploration of the beautiful curves that shape our world--from our bodies to Salvador Dal 's paintings and the space-time fabric of the universe itself. The book focuses on seven curves--the fold, cusp, swallowtail, and butterfly, plus the hyperbolic, elliptical, and parabolic "umbilics"--and describes the surprising origins of their taxonomy in the catastrophe theory of mathematician Ren Thom. In an accessible discussion
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