Impossible: Surprising Solutions to Counterintuitive Conundrums. (Book Club Hardcover).

Havil, Julian.

ISBN 10: 0691131317 / ISBN 13: 9780691131313

Published by Princeton University Press. Copyright 2008., Princeton/Oxford., 2008

About this Item

xiv. + 236pp. + blanks. Numerous tables, line drawings, & formulas. xiv. + 236pp. + blanks. Black boards, silver lettered spine. Jacket art same as Stock Photo. First Edition. BOOK CLUB EDITION run-on. NOT a remainder. VG+/VG+ dj. Estate acquisition. Gently read but no names or writings; no spine creases. Jacket lightly scuffed/scratched else complete/clean; no tears.

Seller Inventory # 3242012324

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Impossible: Surprising Solutions to Counterintuitive Conundrums. (Book Club Hardcover).
• Publisher: Princeton University Press. Copyright 2008., Princeton/Oxford.
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691131317
• ISBN 13: 9780691131313
• Binding: HARDCOVER.
• Edition: First Edition.
• Dust Jacket Condition: VG+ dj

About this title

Synopsis

In Nonplussed!, popular-math writer Julian Havil delighted readers with a mind-boggling array of implausible yet true mathematical paradoxes. Now Havil is back with Impossible?, another marvelous medley of the utterly confusing, profound, and unbelievable―and all of it mathematically irrefutable.

Whenever Forty-second Street in New York is temporarily closed, traffic doesn't gridlock but flows more smoothly―why is that? Or consider that cities that build new roads can experience dramatic increases in traffic congestion―how is this possible? What does the game show Let's Make A Deal reveal about the unexpected hazards of decision-making? What can the game of cricket teach us about the surprising behavior of the law of averages? These are some of the counterintuitive mathematical occurrences that readers encounter in Impossible?

Havil ventures further than ever into territory where intuition can lead one astray. He gathers entertaining problems from probability and statistics along with an eclectic variety of conundrums and puzzlers from other areas of mathematics, including classics of abstract math like the Banach-Tarski paradox. These problems range in difficulty from easy to highly challenging, yet they can be tackled by anyone with a background in calculus. And the fascinating history and personalities associated with many of the problems are included with their mathematical proofs. Impossible? will delight anyone who wants to have their reason thoroughly confounded in the most astonishing and unpredictable ways.

About the Author

Julian Havil is a retired former master at Winchester College, England, where he taught mathematics for thirty-three years. In addition to Nonplussed!, he is the author of Gamma: Exploring Euler's Constant (both Princeton).