Overview

Ian Stewart, author of the bestselling Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities, presents a new and magical mix of games, puzzles, paradoxes, brainteasers, and riddles. He mingles these with forays into ancient and modern mathematical thought, appallingly hilarious mathematical jokes, and enquiries into the great mathematical challenges of the present and past. Amongst a host of arcane and astonishing facts about every kind of number from irrational or imaginary to complex or cuneiform, we find out: how to organise chaos; how matter balances anti-matter; how to turn a sphere inside out (without creasing it .); why you can't comb a hairy ball; how to calculate pi by observing the stars. And we get some tantalising glimpses of the maths of life and the universe. Mind-stretching, enlightening and endlessly amusing, Professor Stewart's new entertainment will stimulate, delight, and enthral.

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9781846683466

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Reviews

Pitched at the perfect difficulty level ... clearly and intelligently written ... Anyone with a slight geeky bent to them, whether they be adult or teenager, will find plenty to edify, tickle and tantalise them. It'd make a wonderful present ... I can't wait for the next volume. Highly recommended. Bookbag There are jokes, puns, hints on code-breaking and a dollop of the unexpected. You won't have learned any of this in school but if you have a mathematical bent and a logical mind you will soon be teasing out the answers. Good Book Guide An ideal present for anyone addicted to Sudoku-like puzzles and beginning to wonder what might lie beyond Spectator This is not pure maths. It is maths contaminated with whit, wisdom, and wonder. Ian really is unsurpassed as raconteur of the world of numbers. He guides us on a mind-boggling journey from the ultra trivial to the profound. -- Jeremy Webb New Scientist A perfect gift for a clever child Daily Telegraph As the professor darts randomly from 'digital cubes' to 'the hairy ball theorem' with boundless playful curiosity, even those with only a sluggish interest in maths will find something to amuse and amaze Sunday Telegraph

Author Information

Ian Stewart is a Mathematics Professor at Warwick University. His many books include Mathematics of Life, Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities, and The Science of Discworld trilogy with Terry Pratchett. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, appears frequently on radio and television, and does research on pattern formation and network dynamics.

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