Mathematical Apocrypha

In Professor Stewart’s Casebook of Mathematical Mysteries, acclaimed mathematician Ian Stewart presents an enticing collection of mathematical curios and conundrums. With a new puzzle on each page, th

A celebrated mathematician, explaining why mathematical problems exist, what drives mathematicians to solve them, and why their efforts matter in the context of science as a whole, presents a fascinat

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

Traces the embittered seventeenth-century feud between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz over the invention of calculus, describing how each claimed the mathematical innovation's discover

Why is math so hard? And why, despite this difficulty, are some people so good at it? If there’s some inborn capacity for mathematical thinking—which there must be, otherwise no one could

Why seemingly unrelated mathematical truths are connected in simple and beautiful equations continues to stump even mathematicians. This recreational math book takes the reader on a fantastic voyage i

"[Cheng] does a great service by showing us non-mathematician schlubs how real mathematical creativity works." --Wall Street JournalHow big is the universe? How many numbers are there? And is infinity

A mathematical guide to understanding why life can seem to be one big coincidenceand why the odds of just about everything are better than we would think

A manifesto for a mathematical revolution

For more than two thousand years, geometry has been equated with Euclid’s Elements, the world’s first mathematical treatise. The system of shapes and space it describes is at once so powerful and so

In this lively volume, mathematician John Allen Paulos employs his singular wit to guide us through an unlikely mathematical jungle?the pages of the daily newspaper. From the Senate and sex to celebri

In the wrong hands, math can be deadly. In Math on Trial, mathematicians Leila Schneps and Coralie Colmez tell the story of ten trials in which mathematical arguments were used?and disastrously misuse

Nicolas Bourbaki, whose mathematical publications began to appear in the late 1930s and continued to be published through most of the twentieth century, was a direct product as well as a major force

A definitive portrait of the eccentric mathematical genius and founder of the science of cybernetics traces the life and career of Norbert Wiener; his role in the evolution of computers, automation, a

Mathematical superstar and inventor of fractal geometry, Benoit Mandelbrot, has spent the past forty years studying the underlying mathematics of space and natural patterns. What many of his follower

In Go To, Steve Lohr chronicles the history of software from the early days of complex mathematical codes mastered by a few thousand to today's era of user-friendly software and over six million profe

This book is about mathematical ideas, about what mathematics means-and why. Abstract ideas, for the most part, arise via conceptual metaphor-metaphorical ideas projecting from the way we function in

It appears to us that the universe is structured in a deeply mathematical way. Falling bodies fall with predictable accelerations. Eclipses can be accurately forecast centuries in advance. Nuclear pow

How the tools that enabled us to overcome the uncertainty of the weather will enable us to find new answers to modern science's most pressing questions Why does your weather app say "There's a 10% chance of rain" instead of "It will be sunny tomorrow"? In large part this is due to the insight of Tim Palmer, who made uncertainty essential to the study of weather and climate. Now he wants to apply it to how we study everything else. In The Primacy of Doubt, Palmer argues that embracing the mathematics of uncertainty is vital to understanding ourselves and the universe around us. Whether we want to predict climate change or market crashes, understand how the brain is able to outpace supercomputers, or find a theory that links quantum and cosmological physics, Palmer shows how his vision of mathematical uncertainty provides new insights into some of the deepest problems in science. The result is a revolution--one that shows that power begins by embracing what we don't know.

It provides a transition from elementary calculus to advanced courses in real and complex function theory and introduces the reader to some of the abstract thinking that pervades modern analysis.

Opening another drawer in his Cabinet of Curiosities, renowned mathematics professor Ian Stewart presents a new medley of games, paradoxes, and riddles in Professor Stewart’s Hoard of Mathemati

Simple, elegant, and utterly impossible to prove, Fermat’s last theorem captured the imaginations of mathematicians for more than three centuries. For some, it became a wonderful passion. For others i

There are two kinds of math: the hard kind and the easy kind. The easy kind, practiced by ants, shrimp, Welsh Corgis — and us — is innate. But what innate calculating skills do we humans

An account of the Clay Foundation's 2000 competition to solve seven high-level math problems references the Hilbert Problems of 1900 and cites the Millennium Problems' significance in the fields of ma

Back in print at last, this classic work by Calvin Clawson examines the remarkable co-evolution of numbers and human culture. From the early clay beads and ropes that our ancestors used as primitive c

The secret of constellations, the enigma of the golden mean, and the brilliance of a proof-these are just some of the wonders Clawson explores with unbridled delight in this recreational math book. Th

What two things could be more different than numbers and stories? Numbers are abstract, certain, and eternal, but to most of us somewhat dry and bloodless. Good stories are full of life: they engage

Before the mid-seventeenth century, scholars generally agreed that it was impossible to predict something by calculating mathematical outcomes. One simply could not put a numerical value on the likel

The Magic of Maths is the maths book you wish you had in school. Using a delightful assortment of examples, from ice cream scoops and poker hands that teach you factorials to mnemonics that help you memorize pi, this book empowers you to see the beauty, simplicity, and fun behind those formulas and equations that once left your head spinning. You'll learn the key ideas of classic areas of mathematics like arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus but you'll also have fun playing with pi, fooling around with Fibonacci numbers, investigating infinity, and marvelling over mathematical magic tricks. A tour of the greatest hits of mathematics, The Magic of Maths is a book for both fans of mathematics and those who want to be proven wrong about their previous prejudices of maths. Arthur Benjamin is a mathematician-known throughout the world as the "mathemagician"-who mixes mathematics and magic to make the subject fun and beautiful. Maths lovers are going to find new ways to