L.A. Math: Romance, Crime, and Mathematics in the City of Angels

James D. Stein

ISBN 10: 0691168288 / ISBN 13: 9780691168289

Published by Princeton University Press, 2016

About this Item

Num Pages: 256 pages, 4 line illus. BIC Classification: FF. Category: (G) General (US: Trade); (U) Tertiary Education (US: College). Dimension: 229 x 152. . . 2016. Hardcover. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780691168289

Bibliographic Details

• Title: L.A. Math: Romance, Crime, and Mathematics in the City of Angels
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691168288
• ISBN 13: 9780691168289
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

A collection of detective stories using math to solve crimes

Move over, Sherlock and Watson―the detective duo to be reckoned with. In the entertaining short-story collection L.A. Math, freelance investigator Freddy Carmichael and his sidekick, Pete Lennox, show how math smarts can crack even the most perplexing cases. Freddy meets colorful personalities throughout Los Angeles and encounters mysterious circumstances from embezzlement and robbery to murder. In each story, Freddy's deductive instincts―and Pete's trusty math skills―solve the crime.

Featuring such glamorous locales as Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Malibu, and Santa Barbara, the fourteen short stories in L.A. Math take Freddy and Pete through various puzzles and challenges. In "A Change of Scene," Freddy has to figure out who is selling corporate secrets to a competitor―so he uses mathematical logic to uncover the culprit. In "The Winning Streak," conditional probability turns the tables on an unscrupulous bookie. And in "Message from a Corpse," the murderer of a wealthy widow is revealed through the rules of compound interest. It’s everything you expect from the City of Angels―A-listers and wannabes, lovers and lawyers, heroes and villains. Readers will not only be entertained, but also gain practical mathematics knowledge, ranging from percentages and probability to set theory, statistics, and the mathematics of elections. For those who want to delve into mathematical subjects further, the book includes a supplementary section with more material.

Filled with intriguing stories, L.A. Math is a treat for lovers of romance, crime, or mathematics.

About the Author

James D. Stein is emeritus professor in the Department of Mathematics at California State University, Long Beach. His books include Cosmic Numbers (Basic) and How Math Explains the World (Smithsonian).