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A Disappearing Number

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( 93 ratings, 14 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
A Disappearing Number explores the profound and mysterious collaboration between mathematicians G.H. Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan. Set across three continents and various eras, it intertwines narratives of love, loss, and intellectual pursuit. The story delves into questions about mathematics and beauty, imagination, infinity, and the connection between past and future, creating a rich theatrical tapestry that challenges our understanding of existence.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$2199
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Ideal for readers interested in the intersection of arts, culture, and mathematics, as well as those fascinated by innovative theatre and historical narratives.

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Winner of the 2008 Olivier Award for Best New Play.

Winner of the 2008 Olivier Award for Best New Play.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A Disappearing Number takes as its starting point the story of one of the most mysterious and romantic mathematical collaborations of all time. Simultaneously a narrative and an enquiry, the production crosses three continents and several histories, to weave a provocative theatrical pattern about our relentless compulsion to understand.

A man mourns the loss of his lover, a mathematician mourns her own fate. A businessman travels from Los Angeles to Chennai pursuing the future; a physicist in CERN looks for it too. The mathematician G.H. Hardy seeks to comprehend the ideas of the genius Srinivasa Ramanujan in the chilly English surroundings of Cambridge during the First World War. Ramanujan looks to create some of the most complex mathematical patterns of all time.

Threaded through this pattern of stories and ideas are questions. About mathematics and beauty; imagination and the nature of infinity; about what is continuous and what is permanent; how we are attached to the past and how we affect the future; how we create and how we love.

The book features an essay by Marcus du Sautoy, Professor of Mathematics at Wadham College, Oxford, and an introduction by Simon McBurney. The Complicité production was an astonishing success during its run at the Barbican, London in Spring 2007, winning The Evening Standard’s Best New Play Award 2007. Called Mesmerizing by the New York Times, A Disappearing Number is a brilliant play, aided with original music composed by the award-winning DJ, producer, and writer Nitin Sawhney.

A Disappearing Number was revived at the Novello Theatre, London in autumn 2010.

Series: Oberon Modern Plays

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781840028300

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 10 June 2008

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Oberon Modern Plays

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 5.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 210.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 120

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