文档介绍：Mathematical
Excursions
to the World’s
Great Buildings
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Mathematical
Excursions
to the World’s
Great Buildings
AlexANDER J. Hahn
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD
Copyright © 2012 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hahn, Alexander
â Mathematical excursions to the world’s great buildings / Alexander J. Hahn.
âp.âcm.
â Includes bibliographical references and index.
â ISBN 978-0-691-14520-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)â 1. Architecture—Mathematics.
2. Architectural design.â 3. Architecture—Data processing.â I. Title.
â 2012
â’51—dc23
2 0110 2835 6
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has posed in ITC New Baskerville
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
10â9â8â7â6â5â4â3â2â1
Contents
Preface vii
1 Humanity Awakening: Sensing Form
and Creating Structures 1
2 Greek Geometry and Roman Engineering 12
3 Architecture Inspired by Faith 53
4 Transmission of Mathematics and
Transition in Architecture 97
5 The Renaissance: Architecture and
the Human Spirit 138
6 A New Architecture: Materials,
Structural Analysis, Computers, and Design 205
7 Basic Calculus and Its Application to
the Analysis of Structures 265
Glossary of Architectural Terms 301
References 307
Index 311
Photo Sources 318
Preface
The Mathematical Excursions into the world of architecture that this book un-
dertakes anized around two historical narratives. The primary nar-
rative has a focus on aspects of architectural form (the role of geometry,
symmetry, and proportion) and structure (matters of thrusts, loads, tensions