Mathematical Cranks (Spectrum) - Softcover

Dudley, Underwood

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0883855070 ISBN 13: 9780883855072

Publisher: American Mathematical Society, 1996

Synopsis

A delightful collection of articles about people who claim they have achieved the mathematically impossible (squaring the circle, duplicating the cube); people who think they have done something they have not (proving Fermat's Last Theorem); people who pray in matrices; people who find the American Revolution ruled by the number 57; people who have in common eccentric mathematical views, some mild (thinking we should count by 12s instead of 10s), some bizarre (thinking that second-order differential equations will solve all problems of economics, politics and philosophy). This is a truly unique book. It is written with wit and style and is a part of folk mathematics.

About this title

Book Description:

A delightful collection of articles about people who claim they have achieved the mathematically impossible (squaring the circle, duplicating the cube); people who think they have done something they have not (proving Fermat's Last Theorem) and people with very eccentric views (thinking that second-order differential equations will solve all problems of economics, politics and philosophy).

About the Author:

Underwood Dudley received his PhD from the University of Michigan and taught briefly at Ohio State University before accepting a position at DePauw where he has taught since 1967. He has been active in the publications program of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) for over fifteen years as an Associate Editor of Mathematics Magazine Collaborating Editor of the Problem Section of The American Mathematical Monthly and as Chair of the Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library Editorial Board. He is currently the Editor of the College Mathematics Journal. His other publications include: "Numerology, or What Phythagoras Wrought," "The Trisectors," and "Readings for Calculus," published by the MAA and "Elementary Number Theory," published by W. H. Freeman.

About this edition

• Publisher: American Mathematical Society
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0883855070
• ISBN 13: 9780883855072
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 383