264pp., xxi. '1' in number line. Gray boards with brilliant metallic red lettering on spine; very light uniform age-toning to edges and (less) to text. Shiny white dustwrapper not price-clipped ($24.95) with lined graph paper background for title lettering in black across top front cover, above illustration of "mechanic", as if he's beneath an auto strategically constituted by an arrangement of red and black numerals, a crescent wrench by "mechanic's" side. Only flaw to book is thin lines of fading beneath dw edges (dw edges NOT faded), diminishing the gray, else As New: Tight spine, sharp corners, no rubbing wear, no previous owner names. Clean text. Unread copy.

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Bibliographic Details

Title: How Math Explains the World: A Guide to the Power of Numbers, from Car Repair to Modern Physics
Publisher: Smithsonian Books/HarperCollins Publishers, New York
Publication Date: 2008
Language: English
ISBN 10: 0061241768
ISBN 13: 9780061241765
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: 1st Edition
Printing: 1st Printing
Condition: Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: As New

About this title

Synopsis

In How Math Explains the World, mathematician Stein reveals how seemingly arcane mathematical investigations and discoveries have led to bigger, more world-shaking insights into the nature of our world. In the four main sections of the book, Stein tells the stories of the mathematical thinkers who discerned some of the most fundamental aspects of our universe. From their successes and failures, delusions, and even duels, the trajectories of their innovations—and their impact on society—are traced in this fascinating narrative. Quantum mechanics, space-time, chaos theory and the workings of complex systems, and the impossibility of a "perfect" democracy are all here. Stein's book is both mind-bending and practical, as he explains the best way for a salesman to plan a trip, examines why any thought you could have is imbedded in the number π , and—perhaps most importantly—answers one of the modern world's toughest questions: why the garage can never get your car repaired on time.

Friendly, entertaining, and fun, How Math Explains the World is the first book by one of California's most popular math teachers, a veteran of both "math for poets" and Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies. And it's perfect for any reader wanting to know how math makes both science and the world tick.

About the Author

James D. Stein is a professor of mathematics at California State University, Long Beach. A graduate of Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley, he lives in Redondo Beach, California.

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Store Description

Retired academic's reference library with specialization in philosophy, religion, science, and mathematics--all scholarly subject areas; Pre-Socratics to contemporary; biographies; some series collections. General stock also, including fiction, poetry, literary criticism, mysteries, some foreign language, children's, history, sociology, psychology, education. Some signed copies.

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Theoria Books
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