Maps are exciting, visual tools that we encounter on a daily basis: from street maps to maps of the world accompanying news stories to geologic maps depicting the underground structure of the earth. This book explores the mathematical ideas involved in creating and analyzing maps, a topic that is rarely discussed in undergraduate courses. It is the first modern book to present the famous problem of mapping the earth in a style that is highly readable and mathematically accessible to most students. Feeman's writing is inviting to the novice, yet also interesting to readers with more mathematical experience. Through the visual context of maps and mapmaking, students will see how contemporary mathematics can help them to understand and explain the world.

Students will explore:

• the shape of the earth
• the determination of latitude and longitude
• elementary spherical geometry
• the uses and computation of scale factors
• the design of optimal routes for air or sea navigation
• Gaussian curvature
• why one can't make a perfect flat map of the earth
• how to evaluate maps critically and analytically
• how to design atlas maps using both hand-drawn techniques and computer graphics software

This book would make an excellent text for a basic undergraduate mathematics or geography course and would be especially appealing to the teacher who is interested in exciting visual applications in the classroom. It would also serve nicely as supplementary reading for a course in calculus, linear algebra, or differential geometry. Prerequisites include a strong grasp of trigonometry and basic calculus.

Readership

Undergraduates and graduate students studying mathematics and geography; general mathematical audience.