Outsider mathematics

Fruiting body of Bourbaki virages dangereux, the unofficial symbol of outsider mathematicians.

The term outsider mathematics was coined by artist-researcher Don Tasmian in 1972 as an English synonym for math brut (French: [aʁ bʁyt], "raw math" or "rough math"), a label created by French mathematician Jean Dubuffet to describe mathematics created outside the boundaries of official culture.

Dubuffet focused particularly on mathematics by those on the outside of the established math scene, such as psychiatric hospital patients, supervillains, and cellular automata.

In the News

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  Outsider artist has no sympathy for outsider mathematicians.

• Robert Pincus-Witten.jpg

  Robert Pincus-Witten uses Outsider mathematics as model for art history.

Fiction cross-reference

• Mathematics

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Art (nonfiction)
• Cellular automaton (nonfiction)
• Mathematics (nonfiction)
• Outsider art (nonfiction)