6. VI Contents
Archaeoastronomy at Giza: the ancient Egyptians’
mathematical astronomy in action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Giulio Magli
Mathematics and food: a tasty binomium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Luca Paglieri and Alfio Quarteroni
Detecting structural complexity: from visiometrics to
genomics and brain research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Renzo L. Ricca
Recreative mathematics: soldiers, eggs and a pirate crew . . . 183
Nadia Ambrosetti
Mathematical magic and society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Fernando Blasco
Little Tom Thumb among cells: seeking the cues of life . . . . . 201
Giacomo Aletti, Paola Causin, Giovanni Naldi and Matteo Semplice
Adam’s Pears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Guido Chiesa
Mathematics enters the picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Massimo Fornasier
Multi-physics models for bio-hybrid device simulation . . . . . . 229
Riccardo Sacco
Stress detection: a sonic approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Laura Tedeschini Lalli
Vulnerability to climate change: mathematics as a language
to clarify concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Sarah Wolf
7. Preface
Mathematics is the oldest of all sciences. Its foundations are visible in math-
ematical texts originating in the ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indian,
Chinese, Greek and Islamic worlds.
Since the very beginning, when mathematics was conceived for fulfilling
very basic needs like numbering, counting and measuring simple-shaped ar-
eas, this discipline has evolved in a boisterous way thus producing significant
results that have strongly marked the evolution of mankind.
Through the centuries, mathematical ideas and achievements have been
organized and shaped into fundamental branches like arithmetic, number
theory, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, as well as related sciences like
astronomy, mechanics and physics.
The development of the discipline then bloomed in the 16th century, when
mathematical innovations started to interact with new scientific discoveries;
and its growth has never ceased thereafter.
Nowadays, mathematics is the most influential and pervasive of all sciences
in our society, because of its exclusive potential of establishing connections
among virtually all possible manifestation of our knowledge. As a matter of
fact, it is used throughout the world as an essential tool in many fields. In
particular, applied mathematics tranfers mathematical knowledge into other
fields, offering new possibilities to manage the growing complexity of our real
world.
Beautiful though they may be, mathematical results are not merely
museum-pieces, but form a vital underpinning for every branch of quanti-
tative knowledge, including all domains of science and engineering. Mathe-
matics is in constant and vigorous development, driven both by its internal
dynamics and by the demands of other disciplines, henceforth impacting the
whole of our daily life.
By gathering different contributions from several world-famous scientists
from mathematics and related sciences, this book highlights the way mathe-
matics deeply permeates and fertilizes our society.
8. VIII Preface
In particular, here will we face the role of mathematics in applied sciences
showing results in different fields in industry, environment, life sciences and
architecture.
This book has the ambition to excite the readers interest showing how
mathematics is also hidden in the natural world around us, independently
of mankind presence and interference: there are maths schemes in any prey-
predator interaction, Boltzmanns equations hidden in clouds, Navier-Stokes
Equations concealed in a waterfall, free boundary problems to be solved in a
melting iceberg.
Though this work will face maths problems that are not always elemen-
tary, yet it is not intended for mathematicians only. The rigorous, nonetheless
readable, exposition, the intriguing examples, the stimulating demonstrations
of the deep connections among science, technology, architecture, human sci-
ences and mathematics will fascinate even those who, not being scientists or
experts of this discipline, have always felt attracted by the noblest and most
fundamental of modern sciences.
The Editors, and the Publisher as well, would like to thank all the authors and
the people who actively contributed to the success of this project, in particular
Luca Paglieri, for his accuracy and concern in supporting the MATHKNOW
experience since the very beginning.
9. List of Contributors
Ralph Abraham Fernando Blasco
University of California Departamento de Matem´tica
a
Santa Cruz, CA, USA Aplicada a los Recursos Naturales
rha@ucsc.edu ETSI Montes
Universidad Polit´cnica de Madrid
e
Madrid, Spain
fernando.blasco@upm.es
Giacomo Aletti
Dipartimento di Matematica
“F. Enriques”
Universit` degli Studi di Milano
a Paola Causin
Milano, Italy Dipartimento di Matematica
aletti@mat.unimi.it “F. Enriques”
Universit` degli Studi di Milano
a
Milano, Italy
causin@mat.unimi.it
Nadia Ambrosetti
Dipartimento di Informatica e
Comunicazione
Facolt` di Scienze Matematiche,
a Andrew Crumey
Fisiche e Naturali School of English Literature,
Universit` degli Studi di Milano
a Language and Linguistics
Milano, Italy Newcastle University
nadia.ambrosetti@unimi.it Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Andrew.Crumey@ncl.ac.uk
Paolo Biscari
Dipartimento di Matematica Guido Chiesa
Politecnico di Milano Movie Director
Milano, Italy Padova, Italy
paolo.biscari@polimi.it guido.chiesa@fastwebnet.it
10. X List of Contributors
Michele Emmer Claudio Procesi
Universit` degli studi “La Sapienza”
a Universit` degli studi “La Sapienza”
a
Dipartimento di Matematica Istituto di Matematica
“G. Castelnuovo” “G. Castelnuovo”
Roma, Italy Roma, Italy
emmer@mat.uniroma1.it
Alfio Quarteroni
Massimo Fornasier MOX, Dipartimento di Matematica
Johann Radon Institute for “F. Brioschi”
Computational and Applied Politecnico di Milano
Mathematics (RICAM) Milano, Italy
Linz, Austria and
massimo.fornasier@oeaw.ac.at CMCS-IACS
Ecole Polytechnique F´d´rale de
e e
Roberto Lucchetti Lausanne
Dipartimento di Matematica Lausanne, Switzerland
Politecnico di Milano
Milano, Italy
Renzo L. Ricca
Dipartimento di Matematica
Giulio Magli Applicata
Facolt` di Architettura Civile
a Universit` Milano-Bicocca
a
Politecnico di Milano Milano, Italy
Milano, Italy and
Institute for Scientific Interchange
Torino, Italy
Peter Markowich renzo.ricca@unimib.it
DAMTP www.matapp.unimib.it/~ricca
Centre for Mathematical Sciences
Cambridge, UK
Riccardo Sacco
Giovanni Naldi Dipartimento di Matematica
Dipartimento di Matematica “F. Brioschi”
“F. Enriques” Politecnico di Milano
Universit` degli Studi di Milano
a Milano, Italy
Milano, Italy riccardo.sacco@polimi.it
naldi@mat.unimi.it
Matteo Semplice
Luca Paglieri Dipartimento di Matematica
MOX, Dipartimento di Matematica “F. Enriques”
“F. Brioschi” Universit` degli Studi di Milano
a
Politecnico di Milano Milano, Italy
Milano, Italy semplice@mat.unimi.it
11. List of Contributors XI
Amin Shokrollahi Tobias Wallisser
Ecole Polytechnique F´d´rale de
e e Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden
Lausanne K¨nste Stuttgart
u
Lausanne, Switzerland Stuttgart, Germany
amin.shokrollahi@epfl.ch
Sarah Wolf
Laura Tedeschini Lalli Potsdam Institute for Climate
Dipartimento di Matematica Impact Research (PIK)
Universit` Roma Tre
a Potsdam, Germany
Roma, Italy sarah.wolf@pik-potsdam.de
