Symmetry by numbers

摘要

The equation in the title is the quintic equation, the mathematical genius is Evariste Galois (1811-32), and the language of symmetry he discovered is group theory. Symmetry combines both beauty and science, and can easily be seen in the world around us. But before he could use it in science, Galois had to create the necessary mathematical tools. The world was slow to listen, and it took almost a hundred years for the practical value of group theory to be truly appreciated. Galois, meanwhile, was killed in a duel at an early age. In The Equation that Couldn't be Solved, Mario Livio follows his brief existence like a sleuth. Born into a scholarly family in a Paris suburb in Napoleonic France, Galois was educated at home before being sent to a boarding school in Paris that rivalled the English schools of the time for austerity and rigid discipline. He was not a great success at school, but soon found satisfaction in mathematics, which became his sole occupation by the time he was 16. Having failed to gain entrance to a more prestigious college, he continued his studies in a high school.