Mathematics is discovered by looking at examples, noticing patterns, making conjectures, and testing those conjectures. Once discovered, the final results get organized and put in textbooks. The details and the excitement of the discovery are lost. This book introduces the reader to the excitement of the original discovery. By means of a wide variety of tasks, readers are led to find interesting examples, notice patterns, devise rules to explain the patterns, and discover mathematics for themselves. The subject studied here is the mathematics behind the idea of symmetry, but the methods and ideas apply to all of mathematics. The only prerequisites are enthusiasm and a knowledge of basic high-school math. The book is only a guide. It will start you off in the right direction and bring you back if you stray too far. The excitement and the discovery are left to you.

In most mathematics textbooks, the most exciting part of mathematics - the process of invention and discovery - is completely hidden from the student. The aim of Knots and Surfaces is to change all that. Knots and Surfaces guides the reader through Euler's formula, one and two-sided surfaces, and knot theory using games and examples. By means of a series of carefully selected tasks, this book leads the reader on to discover some real mathematics. There are no formulas to memorize; no procedures to follow. This book is a guide to the mathematics - it starts you in the right direction and brings you back if you stray too far. Discovery is left to you. This book is aimed at undergraduates and those with little background knowledge of mathematics.

Groups are important because they measure symmetry. This text, designed for undergraduate mathematics students, provides a gentle introduction to the vocabulary and many of the highlights of elementary group theory. Written in an informal style, the material is divided into short sections, each of which deals with an important result or a new idea. Throughout the book, emphasis is placed on concrete examples, often geometrical in nature, so that finite rotation groups and the 17 wallpaper groups are treated in detail alongside theoretical results such as Lagrange's theorem, the Sylow theorems, and the classification theorem for finitely generated abelian groups. A novel feature at this level is a proof of the Nielsen-Schreier theorem, using groups actions on trees. There are more than 300 exercises and approximately 60 illustrations to help develop the student's intuition.

This is a gentle introduction to the vocabulary and many of the highlights of elementary group theory. Written in an informal style, the material is divided into short sections, each of which deals with an important result or a new idea. Includes more than 300 exercises and approximately 60 illustrations.

This textbook provides a readable account of the examples and fundamental results of groups from a theoretical and geometrical point of view. This is the second book of the set of two books on groups theory. Topics on linear transformation and linear groups, group actions on sets, Sylow’s theorem, simple groups, products of groups, normal series, free groups, platonic solids, Frieze and wallpaper symmetry groups and characters of groups have been discussed in depth. Covering all major topics, this book is targeted to advanced undergraduate students of mathematics with no prerequisite knowledge of the discussed topics. Each section ends with a set of worked-out problems and supplementary exercises to challenge the knowledge and ability of the reader.

This textbook is perfect for a math course for non-math majors, with the goal of encouraging effective analytical thinking and exposing students to elegant mathematical ideas. It includes many topics commonly found in sampler courses, like Platonic solids, Euler’s formula, irrational numbers, countable sets, permutations, and a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. All of these topics serve a single compelling goal: understanding the mathematical patterns underlying the symmetry that we observe in the physical world around us. The exposition is engaging, precise and rigorous. The theorems are visually motivated with intuitive proofs appropriate for the intended audience. Students from all majors will enjoy the many beautiful topics herein, and will come to better appreciate the powerful cumulative nature of mathematics as these topics are woven together into a single fascinating story about the ways in which objects can be symmetric.

Through a careful treatment of number theory and geometry, Number, Shape, & Symmetry: An Introduction to Number Theory, Geometry, and Group Theory helps readers understand serious mathematical ideas and proofs. Classroom-tested, the book draws on the authors’ successful work with undergraduate students at the University of Chicago, seventh to tenth grade mathematically talented students in the University of Chicago’s Young Scholars Program, and elementary public school teachers in the Seminars for Endorsement in Science and Mathematics Education (SESAME). The first half of the book focuses on number theory, beginning with the rules of arithmetic (axioms for the integers). The authors then present all the basic ideas and applications of divisibility, primes, and modular arithmetic. They also introduce the abstract notion of a group and include numerous examples. The final topics on number theory consist of rational numbers, real numbers, and ideas about infinity. Moving on to geometry, the text covers polygons and polyhedra, including the construction of regular polygons and regular polyhedra. It studies tessellation by looking at patterns in the plane, especially those made by regular polygons or sets of regular polygons. The text also determines the symmetry groups of these figures and patterns, demonstrating how groups arise in both geometry and number theory. The book is suitable for pre-service or in-service training for elementary school teachers, general education mathematics or math for liberal arts undergraduate-level courses, and enrichment activities for high school students or math clubs.