The Grapes of Math
How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life
1st Edition
Published on 10. June 2014
352 pages
978-1-4516-4012-0 (ISBN)
Description
From triangles, rotations and power laws, to cones, curves and the dreaded calculus, Alex takes you on a journey of mathematical discovery with his signature wit and limitless enthusiasm. He sifts through over 30,000 survey submissions to uncover the world's favourite number, and meets a mathematician who looks for universes in his garage. He attends the World Mathematical Congress in India, and visits the engineer who designed the first roller-coaster loop.
Get hooked on math as Alex delves deep into humankind's turbulent relationship with numbers, and reveals how they have shaped the world we live in.
Get hooked on math as Alex delves deep into humankind's turbulent relationship with numbers, and reveals how they have shaped the world we live in.
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Simon & Schuster
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Simon & Schuster
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Person
Alex Bellos has a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from Oxford University. Curator-in-residence at the Science Museum and the Guardian's math blogger, he has worked in London and Rio de Janeiro, where he was the paper's unusually numerate foreign correspondent. In 2002 he wrote Futebol, a critically acclaimed book about Brazilian football, and in 2006 he ghostwrote Pelé's autobiography, which was a number one bestseller. Here's Looking at Euclid was shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize and was a Sunday Times bestseller for more than four months.
Content
- Intro
- Dedication
- Introduction
- Chapter One: Every Number Tells a Story
- Chapter Two: The Long Tail of the Law
- Chapter Three: Love Triangles
- Chapter Four: Coneheads
- Chapter Five: Bring on the Revolution
- Chapter Six: All About e
- Chapter Seven: The Positive Power of Negative Thinking
- Chapter Eight: Professor Calculus
- Chapter Nine: The Titl of This Chapter Contains Three Erors
- Chapter Ten: Cell Mates
- Glossary
- Appendixes
- Appendix One
- Appendix Two
- Appendix Three
- Appendix Four
- Appendix Five
- Appendix Six
- Appendix Seven
- Appendix Eight
- Acknowledgments
- Picture Credits
- A Note on the Author
- Assumptions, Clarifications, References and Notes
- Index
- Copyright
