TY - BOOK AU - Livio, Mario TI - Equation that couldn't be solved : how mathematical genius discovered the language of symmetry SN - 9780743258210 U1 - 100 PY - 2006/// CY - New York PB - Simon & Schuster Paperbacks KW - N1 - CONTENTS Preface xi 1. Symmetry 1 2. eyE s'dniM eht ni yrtemmyS 29 3. Never Forget This in the Midst of Your Equations 51 4. The Poverty-Stricken Mathematician 90 5. The Romantic Mathematician 112 6. Groups 158 7. Symmetry Rules 198 8. Who's the Most Symmetrical of Them All? 233 9. Requiem for a Romantic Genius 262 Appendix 1. Card Puzzle 277 Appendix 2. Solving a System of Two Linear Equations 278 Appendix 3. Diopbantus's Solution 280 Appendix 4. A Diophantine Equation 281 Appendix 5. Tartaglia's Verses and Formula 282 Appendix 6. Adriaan van Roomens Challenge 285 Appendix 7. Properties of the Roots of Quadratic Equations 286 Appendix 8. The Galois Family Tree 288 Appendix 9 . The 14-15 Puzzle 291 Appendix 10. Solution to the Matches Problem 292 Notes 293 References 309 Index 337 ER -