The Joy of Thinking: The Beauty and Power of Classical Mathematical Ideas

Michael Starbird. Edward B. Burger.

ISBN 10: 1565857690 / ISBN 13: 9781565857698

Published by The Teaching Company, Chantilly, Virginia, 2003

About this Item

This course presented in 24 lectures of 30 minutes each, plus printed guidebook.

Disc 1 Lectures: 1) Great Ideas that Bring Our World into Focus; 2) How Many? Counting Surprises; 3) Fermat's Last Theorem and the Allure of Number; 4) Pining for Nature's Numbers; 5) Sizing up the Fibonacci Numbers; 6) The Sexiest Rectangle.

Disc 2 Lectures: 7) The Hidden Beauty of the Golden Rectangle; 8) The Pythagorean Theorem and Geometry of Ellipses; 9) Not-so-Platonic Relationships in Platonic Solids; 10) Hunting for a Sixth Platonic Solid; 11) Is There a Fourth Dimension? Can We See it?; 12) The Invisible Art of the Fourth Dimension.

Disc 3 Lectures: 13) A Twisted Idea--The Mobius Band; 14) A One-Sided, Sealed Surface--The Klein Bottle; 15) Ordinary Origami--Creating Beautiful Patterns; 16) Unfolding Paper to Reveal a Fiery Fractal; 17) Fractals--Infinitely Complex Creations; 18) Fractal Frauds of Nature.

Disc 4 Lectures: 19) Chance Surprises--Measuring Uncertainty; 20) Door Number Two or Door Number Three?; 21) Great Expectations--Weighing the Uncertain Future; 22) Random Thoughts--Randomness in Our World; 23) How Surprising are Surprising Coincidences?; 24) Life Lessons Learned from Mathematical Thinking.

Brand new set in unopened shrink wrap.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1777088843130

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Joy of Thinking: The Beauty and Power of Classical Mathematical Ideas
• Publisher: The Teaching Company, Chantilly, Virginia
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1565857690
• ISBN 13: 9781565857698
• Binding: Audio Book (DVD)
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Dimensions: 13.3W x 19H x 2.2D centimeters 13.3 centimeters width by 19 centimeters height by 2.2 centimeters depth
• Weight: 282 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Shelf 6

About this title

Synopsis

Discover mathematics as an artistic and creative realm that contains some of the greatest ideas of human history. This course explores infinity, the fourth dimension, probability, chaos, fractals, and other fantastic themes. The Joy of Thinking is a course about fun, aesthetics, and mystery—about great mathematical ideas that arise from puzzles, observations of everyday life, and habits of curiosity and effective thinking. It is as much about learning to think abstractly as it is about what we traditionally think of as mathematics. Rather than focusing on adding figures or creating equations (in fact, there are fewer numbers than you might expect), this course enables you to uncover and grasp insightful strategies for approaching, enjoying, and understanding the world around you.