Why Do Buses Come in Threes? : The Hidden Mathematics of Everyday Life - Softcover

Robert Eastaway

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1861052472 ISBN 13: 9781861052476

Publisher: Robson Books, 2004

Synopsis

Why is it better to buy a lottery ticket on a Thursday? Why are showers always too hot or too cold? And what's the connection between Rob Andrew taking a conversion in rugby and a tourist trying to get the best photograph of Nelson's Column? These and many other fascinating questions are answered in this entertaining and highly informative book ideal for anyone wanting to remind themselves - or discover for the first time - that math is relevant to almost everything that we do. As explained here, dating, cooking, travelling, gambling and even life-saving are all linked with intriguing mathematical problems. Whether you have a PhD in astrophysics or haven't touched a math problem since your school days, this book will give you a fresh understanding of the hidden math in the world around you.

About this title

Review

If you've ever bought a Lotto ticket and wondered about your bad luck afterward, you've had to deal with math. From timing to probability, it pervades our every waking moment, and even the most crippling math phobia can't make it go away. Writers Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham throw up their hands in defeat and give in to the amusing, interesting, and practical aspects of math in Why Do Buses Come in Threes? Taking their title from the oft-noticed phenomenon of clumping in mass transit, they explain in clear, commonsense language why this must be so. At the end of their description, you might be left with the uneasy sense that you just learned some math, and on quick review, you'll find that the authors have in fact snuck some in under your radar. In chapter after chapter, Eastaway and Wyndham successfully navigate statistics, codes, coincidences, and many other parts of our lives, peeling away the surface to show what's really going on to make things so weird and wonderful. Diagrams and drawings help to make their points even clearer, and there are almost never any scary formulas to frighten the timid. If you've been waiting your whole life to learn the "Ham Sandwich Theorem," or just want to put some old fears to rest, Why Do Buses Come in Threes? is the solution. --Rob Lightner

From the Back Cover

Why is it better to buy a lottery ticket on a Friday? Is bad luck just chance, or can it be explained? Is it possible to win every time without cheating? And can math greatly increase your odds of getting a date and even falling in love? If you've had the sneaking suspicion ever since the third grade that math is conspiring against you—you're right. Math and the laws of probability are constantly at work in our lives, affecting everything we do from getting a date to catching a bus.

Why Do Buses Come in Threes? is a delightfully entertaining ride for anyone wanting to remind themselves—or discover for the first time—that math is relevant to almost everything we do. Buses that bunch, identical potato chips, and slicing a cake evenly for an odd number of guests all have their links to intriguing mathematical problems. With great humor and a genuine love for the subject, the authors present the solutions to such conundrums as how fast one should run in the rain to keep dry and who was the greatest sportsman statistically.

Discover the mathematical explanations for the strange coincidence of two Presidents dying on July 4, the uncanny "accuracy" of horoscopes, the number of petals on a flower and seeds in an apple, and other not-so-coincidental coincidences. Eastaway and Wyndham also reveal how television ratings work, which numbers are more likely to be big winners in the lottery, and why bad things, just like buses, always seem to happen in threes. It's a fascinating journey through the logic of life where Newton's laws explain bar fights, exploding rabbit populations, and why showers always run either too hot or too cold. For the kids, the authors have devoted an entire chapter to tricks that entertain, teach, and baffle children with the magical properties of numbers. So climb aboard, take a ride, and discover the hidden mathematical code to some of life's greatest (and most irritating) questions.

You may know 2+2, but do you know . . .

Which part of a moving train is always stationary, and which part is always traveling in the reverse direction to the train itself? How understanding Pascal's triangle can keep you from being overcharged in a New York taxicab? What popular lunch food has its own theorem? Why lights are always red when you're in a hurry? Why math, not the idiot in front of you, is to blame for your being stuck in long lines at the supermarket?

Math: It isn't all in your head . . .

Edition details

• Publisher: Robson Books
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1861052472
• ISBN 13: 9781861052476
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 156