Mathematics and culture in Europe

It is not true that mathematics has never been able to arouse people's interest. At least, this is our feeling as mathematicians when we meet the general public to explain what we are dealing with in our work, what is the usefulness of mathematics and how it becomes possible to catch its harmony and beauty. Also the cinema changed its attitude on the matter, and some screenplays started to show mathematicians engaged in their work while some recent theatrical pieces have a mathematician as a main character. These considerations stimulated some of us to organize the review Mathematics and Theatre, which offered to a general audience the opportunity to attend performances and, at the same time, to hear something about prime numbers, Galois’ theory, or simply about the relationship between science, mathematics and power at Napoleon's times. This volume, which has its origin in the activities performed in Bologna in 2004, is dedicated to all those who are curious about mathematics, but also more generally about theatre, cinema, literature, arts and science. Thanks to the DVD one can relive various events through the voices and the images of the participants.