Word: abstract
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Manhattan in the '60s was afizz with folk rock, Pop art and Abstract Expressionism. Soon it was afizz with Barthelme too--the New Yorker picked up on his strange genius and provided a very conventional venue for his very unconventional fiction. Barthelme wasn't interested in plots or characters. He confabulated his stories out of different strains of language--philosophy, psychology, scientific jargon, advertising, adventure stories--which he then crashed into one another, demolition-derby style, to demonstrate how hilariously inadequate they were for describing the world around us. In "Paraguay," for example, he employs the language of industrial production...
...laws or the laws of mathematics were “invented” by mathematicians. Reaching back to the sixth century B.C., Livio uses Pythagoras, Plato, and Archimedes to demonstrate that there is an intimate relationship between the most basic arithmetic and much more complicated and inaccessible abstract logic. Revelations abound, from the logical basis for counting, to the foundation of prime numbers, and the Pythagorean Theorem. But there are an equal number of instances where Livio’s explanations fall short, such as when he discusses knots or how gravity operates in the solar system. In these cases...
...understand. By opening the door to mathematical theory, “Is God a Mathematician?” casts doubt on the absolute truths of arithmetic and geometry that are taught in school and brings Livio one step closer to making enthusiastic readers appreciate the wonder and sophistication of abstract math...
Although the board’s success in finding a widely appealing artist was dampened by the performance’s abrupt end, McFadden said that the CEB would continue to plan events with an eye toward student tastes, rather than “some abstract University Hall notion of what students want...
...Aside from the abstract and Constitutional issues underlying the case, there is a simple lack of evidence at hand for Valentine’s arrest. Considering her reason for appearing in front of the court—a minor traffic violation—it is mystifying why the bailiff and other law enforcement officials would treat her like a criminal and drag her in front of a judge. More disturbing than this arrest is the ex post facto change in the charges brought against Valentine—somehow, a procedural violation (no headgear in the courtroom) became a real criminal...