Mathematical Recreations and Essays - Hardcover

Ball, W W Rouse

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1163204021 ISBN 13: 9781163204023

Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, 2010

Synopsis

Mathematical Recreations and Essays is a collection of mathematical puzzles, games, and problems compiled by W. W. Rouse Ball. The book is divided into several sections, each covering a different topic in mathematics. The first section includes puzzles and games that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and skill levels. The second section covers geometry, including topics such as the properties of circles, angles, and triangles. The third section focuses on algebra, including equations and formulas. The fourth section covers number theory, including prime numbers and divisibility. The final section covers calculus, including derivatives and integrals. Throughout the book, Ball presents problems and puzzles that challenge readers to think creatively and apply their mathematical knowledge in new ways. The book is written in a clear and accessible style, making it a great resource for anyone interested in mathematics.1892. This book contains descriptions of various problems of the kind usually termed Mathematical Recreations and a few Essays on some analogous questions. Contents: Arithmetical Recreations; Geometrical Recreations; Mechanical Recreations; Chessboard Recreations; Magic Squares; Bees and Their Cells; Unicursal Problems; Kirkman's School-Girls Problem; Miscellaneous Problems; Calculating Prodigies; Cryptographs and Ciphers; String Figures; and Three Classical Geometrical Problems.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

About this title

About the Author

H. S. M. Coxeter: Through the Looking Glass
Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter (1907–2003) is one of the greatest geometers of the last century, or of any century, for that matter. Coxeter was associated with the University of Toronto for sixty years, the author of twelve books regarded as classics in their field, a student of Hermann Weyl in the 1930s, and a colleague of the intriguing Dutch artist and printmaker Maurits Escher in the 1950s.

In the Author's Own Words:
"I'm a Platonist — a follower of Plato — who believes that one didn't invent these sorts of things, that one discovers them. In a sense, all these mathematical facts are right there waiting to be discovered."

"In our times, geometers are still exploring those new Wonderlands, partly for the sake of their applications to cosmology and other branches of science, but much more for the sheer joy of passing through the looking glass into a land where the familiar lines, planes, triangles, circles, and spheres are seen to behave in strange but precisely determined ways."

"Geometry is perhaps the most elementary of the sciences that enable man, by purely intellectual processes, to make predictions (based on observation) about the physical world. The power of geometry, in the sense of accuracy and utility of these deductions, is impressive, and has been a powerful motivation for the study of logic in geometry."

"Let us revisit Euclid. Let us discover for ourselves a few of the newer results. Perhaps we may be able to recapture some of the wonder and awe that our first contact with geometry aroused." — H. S. M. Coxeter

Edition details

• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1163204021
• ISBN 13: 9781163204023
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 380