The Four-Color Theorem - History, Topological Foundations, and Idea of Proof (Hardcover)

This elegant little book discusses a famous problem that helped to define the field now known as topology: What is the minimum number of colors required to print a map such that no two adjoining countries have the same color, no matter how convoluted their boundaries. Many famous mathematicians have worked on the problem, but the proof eluded fomulation until the 1950s, when it was finally cracked with a brute-force approach using a computer. The book begins by discussing the history of the problem, and then goes into the mathematics, both pleasantly enough that anyone with an elementary knowledge of geometry can follow it, and still with enough rigor that a mathematician can also read it with pleasure. The authors discuss the mathematics as well as the philosophical debate that ensued when the proof was announced: Just what is a mathematical proof, if it takes a computer to provide one -- and is such a thing a proof at all?

General

Imprint:	Springer-Verlag New York
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	August 1998
First published:	August 1998
Authors:	Rudolf Fritsch • Gerda Fritsch
Dimensions:	241 x 162 x 18mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	276
ISBN-13:	978-0-387-98497-1
Categories:	Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > History of science Books > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics > Geometry > General Books > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics > Topology > General Books > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics > Applied mathematics > Mathematics for scientists & engineers Books > Earth & environment > Geography > Cartography, geodesy & geographic information systems (GIS) > Map making & projections
LSN:	0-387-98497-6
Barcode:	9780387984971

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