The Beauty of Mathematical Order: - a Study of the Role of Mathematics in Greek Philosophy and Modern Art Works of Piet Hein and Inger Christensen

Since antiquity mathematics has been identified as a science that allows us humans to comprehend the inner workings of harmony and in Greek philosophy mathematical form is celebrated as an eminent source of beauty. I discuss how mathematics continues to have a role to play in certain conceptions of beauty. The two examples I consider are taken from design and poetry respectively, namely the invention of the super-ellipse by the Danish designer, poet, mathematician and artist, Piet Hein and the collection of poems called Alphabet by the Danish poet Inger Christensen.