Download or read book What Is a Number? written by Robert Tubbs and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2009-01-29 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mysticism, number, and geometry : an introduction to Pythagoreanism -- The Elgin Marbles and Plato's geometric chemistry -- An introduction to infinity -- The flat Earth and the spherical sky -- Theology, logic, and questions about angels -- Time, infinity, and incommensurability -- Medieval theories of vision and the discovery of space -- The shape of space and the fourth dimension -- What is a number? -- The dual nature of points and lines -- Modern mathematical infinity -- Elegance and truth.