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The Symmetries of Things by John H.

Conway; Heidi Burgiel; Chaim Goodman-Strauss


Review by: Branko Grünbaum
The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 116, No. 6 (Jun. - Jul., 2009), pp. 555-562
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
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REVIEWS
EditedbyJeffrey
Nunemacher
Mathematics
and ComputerScience,Ohio WesleyanUniversity,
Delaware, OH 43015

TheSymmetriesofThings.By JohnH. Conway,HeidiBurgiel,andChaimGoodman-Strauss.


A K Peters,Wellesley,
MA, 2008,xviii+ 426 pp.,ISBN-13: 978-1-56881-220-5,
ISBN-10:
$69.
1-56881-220-5,

ReviewedbyBranko Grünbaum
The word"symmetry" has manydifferent meanings,so itseemsappropriate to discuss
thenotionbeforereporting on TheSymmetries In
ofThings. myview,anysymmetry is
an orderly orsystematic of in a
disposition parts whole, and vice versa,any such dispo-
sitionis a symmetry. The orderliness or systemcan be ofmanykinds- leadingto very
different situationsand developments. Some of theearliestculturalartifacts exhibit
symmetries. The ancient Egyptians have long been as
presented beingunsurpassed
mastersof symmetry in ornamentation, butothercultureshave had theirown contri-
butions.As examples,one maymentionthewell-known Islamicornaments, whichare
of
totallyindependent anyEgyptianinfluence, or thestunning decorations of textiles
madebypre-conquest Peruvians.In Figure 1 we show in a schematic the
way patterns
oftwoofthestillpreservedancientPeruvianfabrics;as explained,illustrated, andref-
erencedin detailin [5], manyof thesetextilesshow a greatcreativity in combining
shapesandcolorstogenerateveryorderly butattractive patterns.(ThejournalSymme-
trywas discontinued by the publisher,VCH Publishers, aftera singleissue.The paper
[5] was reprinted as [7], butwithoutthededicationto HeinrichHeesch,and withno
colorillustrations.)

A A A A A A A A A V V A A V
A /" A A A A A A V V A A V
A /" A /" A /" A A/^vvaav
A A A A A A A A V V A A V
A A A A A A A AAVVAAV
A A A A A A A A v v A A v
A A A A A A A AAVVAAV
oftwoPeruviantextiles;see [6, page 46] or [7, page 23]. The first
Figure 1. Schematicrepresentations con-
tainstwocopiesofthemotifin each translational
fundamentalregion,thesecondeightcopies.

The mathematical side of symmetry was veryslow to develop.While we tendto


thinkof theregularpolygons,polyhedra,and tessellations as themostsymmetric ob-
jects of theirkinds,one has to bear in mindthattheywere singledout- eversince
EuclidandArchimedes - byvariouslocal properties.Thisincludedtherequirementof

2009]
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equal sides and anglesforpolygons,and therequirements of regularpolygons(of the
samekind)as facesandcongruent vertices, orsimilarrequirements, forregularpolyhe-
dra.Onlyin thenineteenth century, with the development of group theory,did math-
ematiciansdeveloptheinsightthatthesymmetry of theseobjectsmaybe explained
as a global attribute, resultingfromtransitivity undergroupsof isometricself-maps.
Crystallography contributed greatly to the understanding ofobjectswithvariouslevels
of symmetry (suchas polyhedra, or discretesetsof points),whichled to isohedraland
to isogonalpolyhedra, and to otherparticular typesof symmetric objects.Coxeterand
othersmadegreatcontributions to theseinvestigations, and theresearchwas expanded
intootherkindsof spaces and objects.Earlier,Klein's "Erlangerprogram"declared
thateach geometryis thestudyof properties invariant undersome groupactingon a
set.Whilethereis no doubtthatthisprogramhad a positiveinfluenceon geometry in
the
general, spirit that came with it was (and is) stiflingthe study of ornaments, poly-
hedra,and similarobjects.It is obviouslymucheasierto investigate objectsthathave
a groupof isometriesactingtransitively on theirelementsthanto studyobjectsof the
samekindthatdo notadmitsuchisometries.
The case of polyhedrapresentsa clearexample.Regularpolyhedra, polytopes,and
relatedobjectshavebeenstudiedforages fromeverypointofview,andgeneralizations
to otherspaces continueto attracta lot of attention. But it tooklinearprogramming
and otheroptimization techniques to bring (around 1950) attention to polyhedra(and
not
polytopes) necessarily endowed with any particular symmetry or regularity.
In the studyof tilingsof the plane we encountera similarsituation.Tilingsthat
have vertices(or edges, or tiles) in a singleorbitunderisometrieshave been inten-
sivelystudied,and thereare extensiveand detailedaccountsof theresultsobtained;
forexample,see [9]. However,eventheslightgeneralization fromisohedraltilingsto
monohedralones (thatis, tilingssuch thatall tiles are congruent)leads to a wealth
of simpleproblems,whichare stillopen despitelong and intensiveefforts. Among
themis thequestionof whatpentagonsare monohedraltilers,open even forconvex
pentagons.Anotherquestionconcernsthepossiblesymmetries of tilesin monohedral
tilings:can each tilehave, say,five-fold rotational symmetry? Is therea tilethatcan be
used to construct monohedral tilingswitheach of the 17 symmetry groups?
In Figure 2 we show schematicdrawingsof tilingsdiscoveredby PeterRaed-
schelders.In severalof theartist'soriginalworksthetilesare zoomorphic,in thestyle
of Escher,withno individualsymmetry. However,thetilesare arrangedin sucha way

^3 >^e( i ^ 4r 5 4 7 W 74(5 W 7 )2r 1 >( 3 /

Mef 1 r^3 W4f } '7 ?2(5 >( 3


5^7 /4C1 )6'
6
íS1Y3r8í/i4Sí ¿2 S_rO8O-i/4 SJ-y) Ov/
h1i/í6Sí7r2Y4S ' 3 /4S1 r VAV2 SJ^r8 '
>M > 1v^3 S
5^7 J6¿ ^6S7 /4S5 r'3 /2S1 )
7 7 72 V^4V 5^76V 1V3 }8 7 S5 r^8S7 Z2^1 r^6h3 Z4^

Siri4^1!3/8!76^ r'3 /2S1 r VA)4 SjO


V 3 V 5 7 7 }2V3 V8 7 6C 1V C1 ^6 V 3 J4 C5 )8V7 J2 C

of some of thezoomorphictilingsof P. Raedschelders(from[13] and


Figure 2. Schematicrepresentation
privatecommunications).

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thata minimaltranslational regionof thetilinghas 64 tiles,and thearrangement has
theparticular property that each row and each column of 8
any by patch8 contains
tilesof all eightaspects(translationally inequivalent positions) - hencerepresents an
8 by 8 Latin square.WhichLatin squares are representable in a similarmanner -
possiblyusingmorethanone basic tile,or usingcolorsto distinguish amongtilesof
thesameaspect?Thisquestion,andmanyothers(see [5]), havestillto findappropriate
answers.
Muchof TheSymmetries ofThingsis devotedto symmetry groupsoftilings(of the
plane and of other spaces). While this is quiteinteresting from a purelymathemati-
cal pointof view,it is a severerestriction fortheapplicability to ornaments and other
topics.Classifying"things"by symmetry groups is somewhat to
analogous classify-
ing animalsby thenumberof theirlegs (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 100, 1000,.. . ?). In bothcases
some information is conveyed,butusuallynotenoughinformation comes through to
be reallyuseful.FromancientEgyptto modernquiltmakers,fromcrystallography to
art,there are -
symmetriessystematic dispositions - that are trivialized by describing
themin termsof groupsof symmetry.
Granting theabove generalconsiderations aboutsymmetry, itis timeto discussthe
book on itsownterms.That'swhatwe shalldo in therestofthisreview.Thereis a lot
to be enthusiastic about,butalso some seriousshortcomings.
The book is dividedintothreeparts.The first is entitled"Symmetries ofFiniteOb-
jects and Plane RepeatingPatterns," and it gives an introduction to the symmetries of
thefigures considered, to the notation, and much more. One ofthe central points is the
introduction ofsymbols,calledsignatures, thatdirectly expressthevarioussymmetries
andthesymmetry groupofa pattern. The presentation in thispartis quiteleisurelyand
achievesa wholelotbesidestheintroduction oftheConwaysignatures. The assigning
of "costs"to thecomponents ofthesignature enablesone to easilyenumerate thepos-
sible groupsof symmetry by using the "Magic Theorem," which is eventuallyshown
to be equivalentto Euler'stheorem. The symmetry of
groups rosettes, friezes,wallpa-
pers,and patternson thesphereare all determined. This partof thebook concludes
withan introduction to "orbifolds," whichare used,together withappropriate signa-
tures,throughout the book. In all, this is a pedagogically excellent presentation of the
material; it is the best introduction to orbifolds I have seen. One can onlyhope that it
will attainthegoal of spreadingtheuse of thesignatures and theorbifoldtools.The
ease withwhichone enumerates thegroupsfordifferent manifolds, and theanalogy
betweenthecollectionsof symmetry for
groups these, are here presentedin a really
valuableway.
Nevertheless, thereare self-inflicted injuriesto the authors'aims. The typeof
isometriescalled glide-reflections or glides by everybodyelse is herecalled "mira-
cles" (page 24), and insteadof "translation" theauthorsuse "wonder."Do theyreally
expect that these cute terms will be generallyaccepted?The signaturesare said to
have been developedrecentlyfrom"MurrayMacBeath's mathematical languagefor
discussingsymmetry" - and that's all we getconcerning MacBeath and the originsof
thesignatures (except that on page 1 19 his name is as
given McBeath).
In somecases poorwordingcauses problems.For example:
• On
page 31, glides ("miracles")are supposedto be foundif "you can walk from
somepointto a copyofitselfwithoutevertouchinga mirror line."Butwhathappens
ifthereareno mirror lines?
• On
pages 38-39 (and others),is it accidentalor intentional
thattheorderof listing
setsoftypesdoes notcoincidewiththeorderof theillustrations? It can confusethe
beginner.

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• On
page 57 we readthatthegroupdenotedhereby *532 "is generatedbyreflections
in a triangleof angles n/5, n/3, n/2, and a sphericalpatternwiththissymmetry
existsbecause thereis a sphericaltrianglewiththeseangles."Whatabout angles
7T/5.01,7T/3.02,7T/2.05? Thereis a sphericaltrianglewiththeseangles.
• Thereis no indication thatonlypatterns withdiscretesymmetry
anywhere groupare
considered.Like manyotherwriters, theauthorsleave thereaderwondering:What
is thesignatureof a circle,or a circulardisk,or of one straightline or a familyof
parallellines?If thesignatures are to be appliedto thestudyof ornaments, thisis a
big drawbackthatcould be eliminatedwitha fewwords.

Even moreseriousis theomission- in all ofthefirst part- ofanyotherworkabout


symmetries of the patternsdiscussed.How is a studentsupposedto get acquainted
withtherelevantliterature neededforanyseriousstudy?It is onlyon page 119 in the
"Introduction to PartII" thatwe are toldthatthetablesin theAppendixcontain"dic-
tionaries"betweensignaturesand theothersystemsused in theliterature. However,
evenhereonlytwosourcesare specified,and theothersonlyreferred to bynameof an
author- withno references.
The secondpartof thebook deals mainlywithcolorsymmetry groups,afterintro-
ducingmaterialregardingtheconnectionsbetweensignaturesand generators of the
symmetry groups.It also coversseveralaspectsofclassification of tilingsof theplane
and thesphere.The symmetry groupsof 2-coloredpatterns in theplaneare classified
givingthewell-known46 types.Thereis no indicationthattheauthorsare awareof
anypreviousdetermination of thisclassification,
whichin factgoes backto the1930s.
The groupsof 3-coloredpatterns are enumerated in a separatechapter,and another
chaptercoverstheonlyslightlymorecomplicatedenumeration of /7-color patternsfor
primep. On page 120 (as well as in the Preface)it is claimedthatenumeration of
/7-colorsymmetry groupsis carriedoutforthefirst timein thisbook.Again,thisis not
thecase, as thegroupsof «-coloredpatterns havebeen determined in [8] forn = 3 in
1979,byJarratt andSchwarzenberger [11] in 1979forn < 15,byWieting[18] in 1982
forn < 60, and formany(butnotall) n bySenechal[15] in 1979; however,Senechal's
resultscoverall primen. The disregardof theexistingliterature resultsin an errorin
theenumeration forboththreefold and primefold colorings.In bothcases, one group
is missed.On page 156, theentryfor22* = pmg in Table 12.1 assertsthattheonly
3-coloringforthisgroupis 22*//** = pmg[3]2(in thenotationof [9]); however,this
is wrong.Thereis also the3-coloring22*//o = pmg[3]i; see Figure3. The analogous
erroris repeatedforp-coloringsin Table 13.1 on page 164.

22*//o= pmg[3] j 22*//**= pmg[3]2

Figure3. The twodistinct ofa pattern


3-colorings group22* = pmg.
withsymmetry

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Thereareseveralotherglitchesinthispart,butone is seriousenoughtobe explicitly
mentioned. On page 188 theauthorssay: "Theremaybe symmetries of thetileitself
thatdo notextendto thetiling."This is wrong:theydo extend,buttheextendedsym-
metrieswould forceadditionalsymmetries of thetile itself.Althoughtheysay "We
indicatethispossibility,. . . ," it is neitherstatednor is it clear how thisis indicated.
The situationcan be bestunderstoodby distinguishing betweentiles(endowedwith
a specificshape),and markedtiles(thatcarryan imbeddedsubsetas a mark);thisis
describedin detailin Section6.2 of [9].
I foundtheexplanationsof enumeration of isohedraltypesof tilingsof theplane
(Chapter15) hard to follow, and the resultsincomplete.On theone hand,thereis no
indicationof thefactthatsome of thetilingsrequirespecificallymarkedtilessince
theycannotbe realizedby tilesof appropriate shape. On theotherhand,thelist of
isohedraltypesfor2*22 = cmm(page 195) missesone typeandhas a wrongdrawing
foranothertype.I cannotvouchfortheotherisohedraltypes.Here too comparison
witheasilyaccessibleliterature wouldhaveprevented theerrors.
The thirdpartdeals with"RepeatingPatternsin OtherSpaces." It is farlonger
thantheearliertwo,and the authorsstate(page 217): "We expectthatPartIII will
be completely understood onlyby a fewprofessional mathematicians." The first80 or
so pages ofthispartdeal withhyperbolic groups, Archimedean and
tilings polyhedra,
and tilingsof 3-space.The restis devotedto an enumeration of thecrystallographic
groupsin 3-space,and to infinite Archimedean and pseudo-Platonic polyhedra.These
polyhedraappear to be a
just sampling of the possibilities.The authors say (page 336)
"thereare somesubtletieson whichwe shallnotelaborate."No explanationsor refer-
ences are given.
I have to admitthatI am notamongthefewthatcompletelyunderstand thethird
part. Hence I will comment only on the chapters I am acquainted with. It seemsto me
thatChapter19 entitled"Archimedean Tilings"attempts to cover too much material
in too littlespace, withtoo shortexplanationsand too few illustrations. While this
may be due to my own shortcomings, there seem to be some intrinsic contradictions
andprobableerrors.The discussionis meantto applyto theEuclideanandhyperbolic
planes as well as to thesphere.The workingdefinition requiresregularpolygonsas
faces (tiles),and verticesin a singleorbitundersymmetries of the tiling.The tra-
ditionalArchimedean tilings are termed "absolute,"meaning that all thesymmetries
of thetilingare considered.In addition,if a subgroupH of the symmetry groupG
acts transitivelyon thevertices,thenthetilingis said to be Archimedeanrelativeto
H . The authorsstate(page 251): "The completeclassificationof all Archimedean
tilings,bothrelativeand absolute,appearsforthe firsttimein thisbook." On page
250 are shown"The thirty-five relativeArchimedeantilingsof theEuclideanplane
by squares." While no additional explanationsare given,forthetilingsshown(some
havecoloredtiles,somehavemarkings decreasingthesymmetry of thesquares,some
have both)it is clear thatthe subgroupin each case is meantto preservethemark-
ings and/orcolorswhileactingtransitively on thevertices.AlthoughI would prefer
thattherelativetilingsthatare determined by colorsalone be distinguished fromthe
ones thatneedmarkings, I realizethatthisis notinherent in thealgebraic-topological
way of derivingthetilings.However,a comparisonof thetilingsshownon page 250
withtheuniformcoloringsof tilingsin Figure2.9.2 of [9] showsthatat least three
"relative"tilingsare missingon page 250. But evenmoreconfusingis Table 19.1 (on
pages 262-263): "The Archimedeanpolyhedraand tessellations.The sphericaland
EuclideanArchimedean tilingsare shown.Each absolutetilingis shown The rela-
tivetilingsare lightened. . . ." The use of thedefinite articlewouldseemto implythat
all relativetilingsare shown,butthisis notthecase. Of thefourrelativetilingsof

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thesquaretilingshownon page 250 by colors,onlytwoappearin Table 19.1. Several
relativetilingsof theregulartilingby trianglesare missing,as are a relativetilingof
(3.6.3.6) and one of therelativetilingsof (63).
The nextchapter,"GeneralizedSchiaffiSymbols,"is veryinteresting and innova-
tive,althoughbased on earlierrelatedworkby AndreasDress (no referencegiven).
Especiallyattractive is thegraphicalrepresentation of theadjacenciesof thecells in
thebarycentric subdivisionof a givenpolygon,polyhedron, ortiling.The applications
provided include classifications of hexagons and octagonsintotypesdetermined by
theirsymmetry properties, and the latticesof subgroups of theoctahedral and icosahe-
dralsymmetry groups.
Chapter21 deals withArchimedean andCatalanpolyhedraandplanetilings.These
are presentedin a mannerdifferent fromtheusual,butwitha plethoraof new names
and termsthatmay discouragesome readers.It also containsa list of 13 vertex-
transitive tilingsof 3-spaceby Archimedean polyhedra.It is reasonablywell known
(Andreini[1] in 1905, with latercorrections byvariousauthors)thatthereare28 types
of such tilings.The authorsstate:"The mostinteresting ones are thosewhose sym-
metrygroup is one of the 'prime'space groups Chapter22, and we shall restrict
of
ourselvesto these."In somesensetheauthorsmaybe correct - butitis regrettable that
they did not add here a single short sentence that would be to
sufficient explainthe
term"prime."On theotherhand,theillustrations and descriptionsprovidedforthese
13 tilingsare thebestI haveeverseen.
Introducing Chapter22 theauthorssay ". . . we discussthe35 mostinteresting crys-
tallographic the
space groups,namely 'prime' ones thatdon'tfix of
anyfamily parallel
lines."This is followedby an algebraicdescription, and by commentson generators
andrelationsofthesegroups.The nextchapterdescribesa varietyofobjectsthatillus-
tratethe"prime"groups.Amongthemare thethreeCoxeter-Petrie infinite
polyhedra
and some of theirArchimedeanrelatives.The authorsassert:"We believe thatno-
bodyhas yetenumerated thehundredsof 'Archimedean'polyhedrain 3-space.The
only further ones we'll discuss herearepseudo-Platonic,meaningthatall theirfaces
are the same shape."They describesuch infinite polyhedrathathave 7, 8, 9, or 12
equilateraltriangles incident with each vertex, or 5 squares(twokindsof theselast).
They do not claim completeness of theirlist; in fact, HughesJones[10] has shown
in 1995 thatthereare manyothersuchpolyhedrawithtriangular faces,and his listis
farfromcomplete.Thereis also thecatalogof Wachmanet al. [17], thatlistsclose
to a hundredsuch infinitepolyhedra.Surprisingly, thereis also no mentionof the
Goodman-Strauss and Sullivan[4] paperon polyhedrawithsix squaresincidentwith
each vertex.
Amongtheremainingchapterstheone likelyto attractthemostinterest is Chap-
ter26, entitled"HigherStill."It contains(amongothermaterial)a description of the
enumeration ofthe4-dimensional Archimedean polytopes carriedout more than forty
yearsago by ConwayandM. J.T. Guy,whichwas briefly announcedby Conway[2].
Also givenis thelistof the4-dimensionalstar-polytopes. Togetherwiththetwocon-
vex regularpolytopeswithpentagonalsymmetries, they placed at the12 vertices
are
of a cuboctahedron, on whichtheirrelationships are indicatedin a visuallyattractive
way.
Several typos- especiallyof names of people- are annoying.There is Murray
MacBeathor McBeath;thenthereis the"Kline bottle"on page 217, thenotationof
the17 wallpapergroupsby "Spieser"on page 415, andevena modification ofmyfirst
nameon page 420. A moreseriouserroron page 415 is theclaimthatNiggli"inad-
vertently interchanged" thenotationof "Spieser."In fact,it is theotherway around:
Niggli [12] in 1924 has thingscorrect,and Speiser[16] in 1927 messedthemup. No

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reference is givenforeitherwork.Speiser'smix-upwas repeatedbymanymathemati-
cians,until thepublicationof Schattschneider[14]. See also Cundy[3].
The reasonforthegreatlengthof thisreviewis thatI admirethebook forwhatit
achieves,butI do notlikemanypartsofit.The authorsareverygiftedmathematicians
withmanystartling resultsamongtheirachievements, and I expectedmorefromthe
book. While a quick glance seemedto confirm thatthisis an exceptionalbook,with
fascinating a close readingof the second and thirdpartsfoundmany
illustrations,
shortcomings, onlysome of whichare mentioned above.
The disdainwithwhichpreviousworkon symmetry (evenin therestricted, group-
based meaningadoptedhere)is completely ignored damagingin at leasttwodiffer-
is
entways.First,it rendersit verydifficultforthereaderof thisbook to establishany
connectionwiththeknowledgeavailablein theliterature. The idiosyncraticterminol-
and
ogy("miracle,""wonder," many otherterms)adds to this Second,many
difficulty.
of theirideas and resultsdo appearin worksof earlierwriters, and thecustomary ap-
proachis to acknowledgesuchpriority. Butbeyondcourtesy, theymighthaveprofited
fromcomparingtheirresultswiththosein theliterature. For example,theratherob-
viousdiscrepancy regarding thenumber of prime-fold color typesshouldhavealerted
themto theneed to findout whethertheacceptedenumerations deal withconcepts
differentfromtheirs,orwhether one ofthepartiesmadean error.Whatever theanswer
had turnedoutto be, boththeauthorsof thebook and themathematical publicwould
havebenefited.
Most of us will profitby readingthebook, or at least partsof it- butbearingin
mindthatone shouldnottakeall thatis written at facevalue.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT. Thehospitality in Summer2008 andresourcesoftheHelenRiaboffWhiteley


Cen-
ofWashington
oftheUniversity
terat theFridayHarborLaboratories aregratefully
acknowledged.

REFERENCES

1. A. Andreini, Sulle retidi poliedriregolarie semiregolari e sulle corrispondentireticorrelative,


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3. H. M. Cundy,p3ml orp31m?,Math.Gaz. 63 (1979) 192.
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2002,pp. 51-61.
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14. D. Schattschneider,
Symmetry groups:Theirrecognition thisMonthly 85 (1978) 439-
and notation,
450.
15. M. Senechal,Colorgroups,DiscreteAppl.Math.1 (1979) 5 1-73.
16. A. Speiser,Die TheoriederGruppenvonendlicherOrdnung, Berlin,1927.
Springer,
17. A. Wachman,M. Burt,and M. Kleinmann, InfinitePolyhedra, Institute
Technion-Israel ofTechnology,
FacultyofArchitectureandTownPlanning, Haifa,1974.
18. T. Wieting,TheMathematicalTheoryofChromatic Plane Ornaments,MarcelDekker,New York,1982.

University Seattle,WA98195-4350
ofWashington,
grunbaum@math. edu
Washington,

MathematicsIs ...
"Mathematics is, on theone side,thequalitativestudyof thestructure
of beauty,
and on theotherside is thecreatorof newartisticformsof beauty."
JamesB. Shaw,Mathematics - The subtlefineart,in
Mathematics:Our GreatHeritage,WilliamL. Schaaf,ed.,
Harper& Brothers,New York,1948,p. 50.

-Submitted byCarl C. Gaither,Killeen,TX

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