About the Cover

In New York City, the bright red painted steel of Isamu Noguchi's Red Cube stands out in contrast to the blacks, browns, and whites of the buildings and the sidewalks of Broadway. The sculpture is not actually a cube, but instead seems as though it has been stretched along its vertical axis. Through the center of the sculpture is a cylindrical hole, revealing an inner surface of gray with evenly-spaced parallel lines. You'll learn more about three dimensional objects such as cubes and cylinders in Chapters 12 and 13.

About the Graphics

Created with Mathematica. A Cmutov surface is generated using the equation (8x4 – 8x2 + 1) + (8y4 – 8y2 + 1) + (8z4 – 8z2 + 1) = 0. For more information, and for programs to construct such graphics, see: www.wolfram.com.