Synopsis
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 Mathematical Treasures. With wit and aplomb, Stewart mingles casual puzzles with grander forays into ancient and modern mathematical thought.
Amongst a host of arcane and astonishing facts about every kind of number from irrational and imaginary to complex and cuneiform, we learn:
- How to organize chaos
- How matter balances anti-matter
- How to turn a sphere inside out (without creasing it)
- How to calculate pi by observing the stars
- . . . and why you can't comb a hairy ball.
Along the way Stewart offers the reader tantalizing glimpses of the mathematics underlying life and the universe. Mind-stretching, enlightening, and endlessly amusing, Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures will stimulate, delight, and enthrall.
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About the Author
Ian Stewart is emeritus professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick. His recent books include Calculating the Cosmos, Significant Figures, In Pursuit of the Unknown, and Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures. He is a fellow of the Royal Society. He lives in Coventry, UK.
Reviews
Stuffed with puzzles, jokes, word problems, puns, and history and lore about math, this sequel to Professor Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities (2009) reads like a numbers guy performing stand-up comedy (“A piece of a string walked into a bar . . .”). An old hand at the routine, Stewart’s contention that his compendium can entertain anyone with math-class memories is amply borne out, and his ability to surprise is one reason. One never knows what’s next: a proof that two plus two indeed equals four jostles with a spoof of proof itself. To keep readers on their toes, or at least flipping back to his “superlative storehouse of sneaky solutions,” Stewart flummoxes them with bizarre propositions, such as two plus two actually equals zero—when you’re doing modular arithmetic. Speaking of equality, the equal sign makes for a go-to topic for amusing vignettes, while stories about math underlying modern technology underscore the serious side of a subject with which Stewart makes such good sport. A great distraction for math mavens at any knowledge level. --Gilbert Taylor
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