Overview
What are the odds of finding two people who share the same birth date in a room of thirty-five? Most people would guess they're pretty low. In actuality, the probability is better than 80 percent. This is just one of many entertaining examples of mathematical curiosities presented in this book. If you have been waiting for a book that will evoke the delight and intrigue that mathematics has to offer, this is the book for you. Mathematics educators Alfred S Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann have created the perfect introduction to the wonders of mathematics for the general reader, requiring only a high school background in the subject. Among the entertaining and useful tricks they teach are shortcuts in arithmetic, such as ways to determine at a glance the exact divisors of any given number. They also demonstrate how the properties of certain numbers can lead to infinite loops. What is particularly exciting is how many correct answers turn out to be counterintuitive. Exploring all these features will instill insights into the nature of numbers, improve your ability to manipulate them, and give you an appreciation for the inherent elegance of mathematics. Posamentier and Lehmann evoke the beauty of mathematics through the visual aspect of geometry. Enjoy with them the riches of the aesthetic and surprising properties to be found in triangles, quadrilaterals, and circles. As you marvel at the many unusual relationships and novelties revealed in this ingenious and delightful presentation, you will be learning more maths than you ever thought possible - and will be relishing every moment of it!
Full Product Details
Author: Alfred S. Posamentier ,
Ingmar Lehmann ,
Herbert A. Hauptman
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Imprint: Prometheus Books
Dimensions:
Width: 17.90cm
, Height: 1.70cm
, Length: 25.60cm
Weight: 0.562kg
ISBN: 9781591027232
ISBN 10: 1591027233
Pages: 269
Publication Date: 23 June 2009
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
A book by two math professors presents number trivia that highlights math's gee, wow! factor. -- Science News, November 2009
"""A book by two math professors presents number trivia that highlights math's ""gee, wow!"" factor."" -- Science News, November 2009"
Author Information
Alfred S. Posamentier is dean of the School of Education and professor of mathematics education at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Previously, he had the same positions at the City College of the City University of New York for forty years. He has published over fifty-five books in the area of mathematics and mathematics education, including The Fabulous Fibonacci Numbers (with Ingmar Lehmann). Ingmar Lehmann is retired from the mathematics faculty at Humboldt University in Berlin. For many years he led the Berlin Mathematics Student Society for gifted secondary-school students, with which he is still closely engaged today. He is the coauthor with Alfred S. Posamentier of The Secrets of Triangles, The Glorious Golden Ratio, and three other books.
