The Maths behind the rainbow - 8 views
-
Maggie Verster on 31 Oct 11When the great mathematician Isaac Newton explained the colours of the rainbow with refraction the poet John Keats was horrified. Keats complained (through poetry of course) that a mathematical explanation robbed these marvels of nature of their magic, conquering "all mysteries by rule and line". But as we will see, the mathematical explanation, requiring just the basic geometry of lines and circles, is just as elegant as the rainbows themselves.