| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"maff" |
| Date: |
29 Mar 2005 07:58:00 AM |
| Object: |
OT: Marcus du Sautoy |
Escape by numbers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1447016,00.html
Mathematics allows us to transcend material reality with just pen,
paper and imagination
Marcus du Sautoy
Tuesday March 29, 2005
The Guardian
Jeffry Archer completed three volumes of his prison diaries while
inside. The Pilgrim's Progress was penned in Bedford prison, where John
Bunyan was incarcerated for 12 years. Oscar Wilde wrote The Ballad of
Reading Gaol while serving time for homosexuality. Faced with years in
prison, literary escapism is a well-practised way for inmates to cope
with being deprived of their physical liberty.
History also bears witness to a slightly more unexpected way to break
the tedium of hours locked up with only one's brain for company:
mathematical escapism. Several of the Lebanese hostages incarcerated
for years in the 1980s described how exploring numbers in their heads
helped relieve days of isolation. Prison wardens can deprive inmates of
hard-earned TVs and games con soles if prison rules are breached. But
even the harshest regimes can't strip you of the tools necessary for
digging a tunnel out to the mathematical world.
Marcus du Sautoy
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Math OR Maths OR Mathematics OR Mathematical OR Mathematician OR
Mathematicians
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OT: Some numbers you can't count on
http://tinyurl.com/ysjn
A Blueprint for the Future
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/59c28cd6dfe6f60f
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