Math field trips don't have to be this elaborate, however. I emerged from the National Gallery with a sharper eye for intriguing details. On the gallery grounds, I came upon a massive rock inscribed with meandering trails. I couldn't help thinking about worms and knots as I studied this cryptic sentinel. Once you start looking, you quickly find that there's mathematics everywhere around you.
Comments are welcome.
He is the author of The Mathematical Tourist, Islands of Truth, Newton's Clock, Fatal Defect, and The Jungles of Randomness.