Mathematical Curiosities

Author : Ian Stewart
Publisher : Profile Books
ISBN 13 : 1847651283
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.80/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities written by Ian Stewart and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2010-09-03 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: School maths is not the interesting part. The real fun is elsewhere. Like a magpie, Ian Stewart has collected the most enlightening, entertaining and vexing 'curiosities' of maths over the years... Now, the private collection is displayed in his cabinet. There are some hidden gems of logic, geometry and probability -- like how to extract a cherry from a cocktail glass (harder than you think), a pop up dodecahedron, the real reason why you can't divide anything by zero and some tips for making money by proving the obvious. Scattered among these are keys to unlocking the mysteries of Fermat's last theorem, the Poincar Conjecture, chaos theory, and the P/NP problem for which a million dollar prize is on offer. There are beguiling secrets about familiar names like Pythagoras or prime numbers, as well as anecdotes about great mathematicians. Pull out the drawers of the Professor's cabinet and who knows what could happen...

Author : Alfred S. Posamentier
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 1616149310
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.14/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Mathematical Curiosities written by Alfred S. Posamentier and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most people agree that math is important, but few would say it's fun. This book will show you that the subject you learned to hate in high school can be as entertaining as a witty remark, as engrossing as the mystery novel you can't put down--in short, fun! As veteran math educators Posamentier and Lehmann demonstrate, when you realize that doing math can be enjoyable, you open a door into a world of unexpected insights while learning an important skill. The authors illustrate the point with many easily understandable examples. One of these is what mathematicians call the "Ruth-Aaron pair" (714 and 715), named after the respective career home runs of Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. These two consecutive integers contain a host of interesting features, one of which is that their prime factors when added together have the same sum. The authors also explore the unusual aspects of such numbers as 11 and 18, which have intriguing properties usually overlooked by standard math curriculums. And to make you a better all-around problem solver, a variety of problems is presented that appear simple but have surprisingly clever solutions. If math has frustrated you over the years, this delightful approach will teach you many things you thought were beyond your reach, while conveying the key message that math can and should be anything but boring.

Author : Barry R. Clarke
Publisher : Courier Corporation
ISBN 13 : 048631572X
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Mathematical Puzzles and Curiosities written by Barry R. Clarke and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2013-06-19 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intriguing collection features recreational math, logic, and creativity puzzles. Classic and new puzzles include The Monty Hall Problem, The Unexpected Hanging, The Shakespeare Puzzles, and Finger Multiplication.

Author : Leonard M. Wapner
Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 1568817215
Total Pages : 222 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Unexpected Expectations written by Leonard M. Wapner and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2012-06-04 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unexpected Expectations: The Curiosities of a Mathematical Crystal Ball explores how paradoxical challenges involving mathematical expectation often necessitate a reexamination of basic premises. The author takes you through mathematical paradoxes associated with seemingly straightforward applications of mathematical expectation and shows how these unexpected contradictions may push you to reconsider the legitimacy of the applications. The book requires only an understanding of basic algebraic operations and includes supplemental mathematical background in chapter appendices. After a history of probability theory, it introduces the basic laws of probability as well as the definition and applications of mathematical expectation/expected value (E). The remainder of the text covers unexpected results related to mathematical expectation, including: The roles of aversion and risk in rational decision making A class of expected value paradoxes referred to as envelope problems Parrondo’s paradox—how negative (losing) expectations can be combined to give a winning result Problems associated with imperfect recall Non-zero-sum games, such as the game of chicken and the prisoner’s dilemma Newcomb’s paradox—a great philosophical paradox of free will Benford’s law and its use in computer design and fraud detection While useful in areas as diverse as game theory, quantum mechanics, and forensic science, mathematical expectation generates paradoxes that frequently leave questions unanswered yet reveal interesting surprises. Encouraging you to embrace the mysteries of mathematics, this book helps you appreciate the applications of mathematical expectation, "a statistical crystal ball." Listen to an interview with the author on NewBooksinMath.com.

Author : Ian Stewart
Publisher : Courier Corporation
ISBN 13 : 048615078X
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Another Fine Math You've Got Me Into. . . written by Ian Stewart and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2013-02-20 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sixteen columns from the French edition of Scientific American feature oddball characters and wacky wordplay in a mathematical wonderland of puzzles and games that also imparts significant mathematical ideas. 1992 edition.

Author : Oswald Jacoby
Publisher : Courier Corporation
ISBN 13 : 0486168360
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.64/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Intriguing Mathematical Problems written by Oswald Jacoby and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2013-05-23 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Treasury of challenging brainteasers includes puzzles involving numbers, letters, probability, reasoning, more: The Enterprising Snail, The Fly and the Bicycles, The Lovesick Cockroaches, many others. No advanced math needed. Solutions.

Author : Keith J. Devlin
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231116398
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.9X/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Mathematics written by Keith J. Devlin and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A modern classic by an accomplished mathematician and best-selling author has been updated to encompass and explain the recent headline-making advances in the field in non-technical terms.

Author : Ian Stewart
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 078672725X
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities written by Ian Stewart and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2009-01-06 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Knowing that the most exciting math is not taught in school, Professor Ian Stewart has spent years filling his cabinet with intriguing mathematical games, puzzles, stories, and factoids intended for the adventurous mind. This book reveals the most exhilarating oddities from Professor Stewart's legendary cabinet. Inside, you will find hidden gems of logic, geometry, and probability-like how to extract a cherry from a cocktail glass (harder than you think), a pop-up dodecahedron, and the real reason why you can't divide anything by zero. Scattered among these are keys to Fermat's last theorem, the Poincaréonjecture, chaos theory, and the P=NP problem (you'll win a million dollars if you solve it). You never know what enigmas you'll find in the Stewart cabinet, but they're sure to be clever, mind-expanding, and delightfully fun.

Author : Matt Parker
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0593084691
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Humble Pi written by Matt Parker and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-01-19 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AN ADAM SAVAGE BOOK CLUB PICK The book-length answer to anyone who ever put their hand up in math class and asked, “When am I ever going to use this in the real world?” “Fun, informative, and relentlessly entertaining, Humble Pi is a charming and very readable guide to some of humanity's all-time greatest miscalculations—that also gives you permission to feel a little better about some of your own mistakes.” —Ryan North, author of How to Invent Everything Our whole world is built on math, from the code running a website to the equations enabling the design of skyscrapers and bridges. Most of the time this math works quietly behind the scenes . . . until it doesn’t. All sorts of seemingly innocuous mathematical mistakes can have significant consequences. Math is easy to ignore until a misplaced decimal point upends the stock market, a unit conversion error causes a plane to crash, or someone divides by zero and stalls a battleship in the middle of the ocean. Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near misses, and mathematical mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman Empire, and an Olympic team, Matt Parker uncovers the bizarre ways math trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.

Author : Ian Stewart
Publisher : Profile Books
ISBN 13 : 1847653510
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Great Mathematical Problems written by Ian Stewart and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2013-03-07 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are some mathematical problems whose significance goes beyond the ordinary - like Fermat's Last Theorem or Goldbach's Conjecture - they are the enigmas which define mathematics. The Great Mathematical Problems explains why these problems exist, why they matter, what drives mathematicians to incredible lengths to solve them and where they stand in the context of mathematics and science as a whole. It contains solved problems - like the Poincar Conjecture, cracked by the eccentric genius Grigori Perelman, who refused academic honours and a million-dollar prize for his work, and ones which, like the Riemann Hypothesis, remain baffling after centuries. Stewart is the guide to this mysterious and exciting world, showing how modern mathematicians constantly rise to the challenges set by their predecessors, as the great mathematical problems of the past succumb to the new techniques and ideas of the present.