Today I read the fifth chapter in “The Ascent of Man,” by J. Bronowski, The Music of the Spheres. In it, he explains that nature and numbers are closely related, referring to the Pythagorean Theorem as an example, since it is often used to build structures such as ancient Egyptian pyramids and The Hanging Gardens. He continues to explain how the religion of Islam spread the invention of the astrolabe and used it to calculate latitude, sunrise, and sunset. He also explains how Arabs created the use of modern decimal notation and symmetrical designs. I was particularly interested in his description of how Alhazen realized that we can see because objects reflect rays into our eyes, not because our eyes create light that bounce back to us from objects. I found the chapter very interesting and learned a lot of information about mathematics and its relationship with nature. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys learning about how humans progressed in terms of science and mathematics and rate it 9.6/10.
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