The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers (Penguin Press Science)
Contents:
The Shroud of Turin Pierandrea Malfi. A Mathematician's Apology G. Real and Complex Analysis Walter Rudin. Oxford International Primary Maths: Workbook 4 Anthony Cotton.
See Inside Maths Alex Frith. Power of 2 David Joseph Sharp. Alex's Adventures in Numberland Alex Bellos. Concept-Based Mathematics Jennifer Wathall.
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What is the connection between the Golden Ratio and sunflowers? Why is more than a distress call? All these questions and a host more are answered in this fascinating book, which has now been newly revised, with nearly ext Why was the number of Hardy's taxi significant? All these questions and a host more are answered in this fascinating book, which has now been newly revised, with nearly extra entries and some additions to the original entries.
From minus one and its square root, via cyclic, weird, amicable, perfect, untouchable and lucky numbers, aliquot sequences, the Cattle problem, Pascal's triangle and the Syracuse algorithm, music, magic and maps, pancakes, polyhedra and palindromes, to numbers so large that they boggle the imagination, all you ever wanted to know about numbers is here. There is even a comprehensive index for those annoying occasions when you remember the name but can't recall the number. Paperback , pages. Published April 7th by Penguin Books first published To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
Lists with This Book. I have to admit, you need to have a bit of an interest in numbers and maths to read this book. I found it from a review whilst looking into another book.
The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers
It is exactly what it says on the cover; a dictionary of numbers. It starts with -1 and i and works its way up in value pointing out interesting and noteworthy numbers on the way.
Obviously, some entries are more interesting than others and many involve some hefty maths but I did find the book enjoyable although it would be pretty difficult to I have to admit, you need to have a bit of an interest in numbers and maths to read this book. Obviously, some entries are more interesting than others and many involve some hefty maths but I did find the book enjoyable although it would be pretty difficult to find any particular entry again unless you already know the evalue.
One thing that becomes apparent fairly early on in the book; superstars like pi and e really put themselves about a bit, something like carbon does in chemistry - I have heard carbon described as the slut of the periodic table. The last quarter of the book flashed past really quickly because by that stage, the numbers are about 20 digits or more in length and so occupy plenty of space.
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A lot of the entries from here on document ever larger Mersenne primes and here it does show it's age somewhat as it doesn't make it it as far as the age of distributed computing and the GIMPS project. It was an enjoyable read, though and it had to end somewhere. It was never going to reach infinity and nor should it and Graham's number is a reasonable milestone.
Jan 15, Charles rated it it was amazing. While the content is dated by the ongoing research in mathematics as well as what can now be done with modern computers, it is still a fascinating book to examine. Wells writes with a high degree of clarity and understanding, explaining quite clearly why the selected numbers are so interesting. The book is organized in the form of a dictionary, starting with -1 and i then moving in the general direction of ascending order.
Most of the numbers in the dictionary are integers. The largest number While the content is dated by the ongoing research in mathematics as well as what can now be done with modern computers, it is still a fascinating book to examine. If you are someone that loves numbers and all of the strange and continually fascinating properties that they exhibit, then this is a book that is timeless even though dated.
This review also appears on Amazon Aug 09, Tim added it Shelves: I inherited the edition of this dictionary from my grandfather. It starts with -1 and i, passes through 0 and a number of small fractions and irrational numbers before reaching 1. The numbers climb to a googol 1 followed by zeros on page with a reference to a googolplex. Instead of a discussion about infinity, the dictionary ends with "Graham's Number". Otherwise I would have rated it more highly I inherited the edition of this dictionary from my grandfather.
Otherwise I would have rated it more highly. Sep 09, Harry rated it liked it.
Overall I enjoyed this book, and there was a lot of interesting information in here. There were some errors, one of the more obvious being the claim that "if any prime between 7 and is subtracted from , the result is another prime", which has counterexamples 23, 41, 67, However, the ideas described are well explained and a large range of properties is covered, so as the reader will generally check the results they find interesting anyway the occasional mistake is forgivable.
A worthwh Overall I enjoyed this book, and there was a lot of interesting information in here. A worthwhile read for anyone who is interested in numbers. Jun 28, Aaron rated it liked it. Enjoyable read, although it was more of a scan. I can imagine reading every page, but I just don't have that kind of time in this lifetime.
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I could see doing it had I been a math major, and it is possible that there still is a math major lurking within me. Lots of enjoyable descriptions in this book.
It's Time to W Could not find it. Sponsored Products are advertisements for products sold by merchants on Amazon. This book explains all you need to know about writing and publishing a book your readers love! Wells writes with a high degree of clarity and understanding, explaining quite clearly why the selected numbers are so interesting.