Mathematical Journeys
1st Edition
Published on 5. March 2004
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-0-471-22066-4 (ISBN)
Description
A colorful tour through the intriguing world of mathematics Take a grand tour of the best of modern math, its most elegant solutions, most clever discoveries, most mind-bending propositions, and most impressive personalities. Writing with a light touch while showing the real mathematics, author Peter Schumer introduces you to the history of mathematics, number theory, combinatorics, geometry, graph theory, and "recreational mathematics." Requiring only high school math and a healthy curiosity, Mathematical Journeys helps you explore all those aspects of math that mathematicians themselves find most delightful. You'll discover brilliant, sometimes quirky and humorous tidbits like how to compute the digits of pi, the Josephus problem, mathematical amusements such as Nim and Wythoff's game, pizza slicing, and clever twists on rolling dice.
Reviews / Votes
"This is such a fount of fascinating knowledge and problems that all professors and teachers who want to motivate and challenge their talented students should consult it." (Choice, June 2004, Vol. 41 No. 10)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
John Wiley & Sons Inc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
Photos: 21 B&W, 0 Color; Drawings: 57 B&W, 0 Color
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
330 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-471-22066-4 (9780471220664)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
PETER D. SCHUMER, PhD, is a professor of mathematics at Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont. Dr. Schumer is a well-known writer and lecturer as well as a popular educator on both mathematics and the game of go-and a recipient of the Trevor Evans Award of the Mathematical Association of America. He received his PhD in 1983 from the University of Maryland and has been a visiting scholar at Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, and Keio University in Japan.
Content
Preface. Acknowledgments.
1. Let's Get Cooking: A Variety of Mathematical Ingredients.
2. The Green Chicken Contest.
3. The Josephus Problem: Please Choose Me Last.
4. Nim and Wythoff's Game: Or How to Get Others to Pay Your Bar Bill.
5. Mersenne Primes, Perfect Numbers, and Amicable Pairs.
6. The Harmonic Series . . . and Less.
7. Fermat Primes, the Chinese Remainder Theorem, and Lattice Points.
8. Tic-Tac-Toe, Magic Squares, and Latin Squares.
9. Mathematical Variations on Rolling Dice.
10. Pizza Slicing, Map Coloring, Pointillism, and Jack-in-the-Box.
11. Episodes in the Calculation of Pi.
12. A Sextet of Scintillating Problems.
13. Primality Testing Below a Quadrillion.
14. Erdoes Number Zero.
15. Choosing Stamps to Mail a Letter, Let Me Count the Ways.
16. Pascal Potpourri.
Appendix: Comments and Solutions to Problems Worth Considering.
Bibliography.
Index.
1. Let's Get Cooking: A Variety of Mathematical Ingredients.
2. The Green Chicken Contest.
3. The Josephus Problem: Please Choose Me Last.
4. Nim and Wythoff's Game: Or How to Get Others to Pay Your Bar Bill.
5. Mersenne Primes, Perfect Numbers, and Amicable Pairs.
6. The Harmonic Series . . . and Less.
7. Fermat Primes, the Chinese Remainder Theorem, and Lattice Points.
8. Tic-Tac-Toe, Magic Squares, and Latin Squares.
9. Mathematical Variations on Rolling Dice.
10. Pizza Slicing, Map Coloring, Pointillism, and Jack-in-the-Box.
11. Episodes in the Calculation of Pi.
12. A Sextet of Scintillating Problems.
13. Primality Testing Below a Quadrillion.
14. Erdoes Number Zero.
15. Choosing Stamps to Mail a Letter, Let Me Count the Ways.
16. Pascal Potpourri.
Appendix: Comments and Solutions to Problems Worth Considering.
Bibliography.
Index.