The Mathematical Mechanic: Using Physical Reasoning to Solve Problems

Levi, Mark

ISBN 10: 0691140200 / ISBN 13: 9780691140209

Published by Princeton University Press, 2009

About this Item

Seller Inventory # E-9780691140209-2-2

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Mathematical Mechanic: Using Physical Reasoning to Solve Problems
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691140200
• ISBN 13: 9780691140209
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very good

About this title

Synopsis

Everybody knows that mathematics is indispensable to physics--imagine where we'd be today if Einstein and Newton didn't have the math to back up their ideas. But how many people realize that physics can be used to produce many astonishing and strikingly elegant solutions in mathematics? Mark Levi shows how in this delightful book, treating readers to a host of entertaining problems and mind-bending puzzlers that will amuse and inspire their inner physicist. Levi turns math and physics upside down, revealing how physics can simplify proofs and lead to quicker solutions and new theorems, and how physical solutions can illustrate why results are true in ways lengthy mathematical calculations never can. Did you know it's possible to derive the Pythagorean theorem by spinning a fish tank filled with water? Or that soap film holds the key to determining the cheapest container for a given volume? Or that the line of best fit for a data set can be found using a mechanical contraption

About the Author

Mark Levi is professor of mathematics at Pennsylvania State University and the author of Why Cats Land on Their Feet (Princeton).