1089 and All That A Journey into Mathematics

by Acheson, David

• ISBN13: 9780199590025
• ISBN10: 0199590028
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-12-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Pure mathematical gold, David Acheson's enthralling and insightful volume is brimful of nuggets that will make mathematics accessible to everyone. From deceptively simple beginnings, the thrilling journey takes the reader all the way through to some deep mathematical ideas, via Kepler andNewton, explaining what calculus really means, and even giving a brief history of pi. Every short page is carefully crafted to ensure no one will be lost along the way and the final destination is possibly the most beautiful and surprising mathematical statement in history. Packed with puzzles andillustrated with the help of world famous cartoonists, before the reader even notices they'll know more about chaos theory and imaginary numbers than they ever expected.

Author Biography

David Acheson's extraordinary little book makes mathematics accessible to everyone. From very simple beginnings he takes us on a thrilling journey to some deep mathematical ideas. On the way, via Kepler and Newton, he explains what calculus really means, gives a brief history of pi, and even takes us to chaos theory and imaginary numbers. Every short chapter is carefully crafted to ensure that no one will get lost on the journey. Packed with puzzles and illustrated by world famous cartoonists, this is one of the most readable and imaginative books on mathematics ever written.

Table of Contents

1089 and All That	p. 1
'In Love with Geometry'	p. 9
But ... that's Absurd ...	p. 19
The Trouble with Algebra	p. 29
The Heavens in Motion	p. 41
All Change!	p. 53
On Being as Small as Possible	p. 61
'Are We Nearly There?'	p. 73
A Brief History of ¿	p. 83
Good Vibrations	p. 93
Great Mistakes	p. 103
What is the Secret of All Life?	p. 113
e = 2.718 ...	p. 123
Chaos and Catastrophe	p. 135
Not Quite the Indian Rope Trick	p. 147
Real or Imaginary?	p. 159
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 171
The 1089 and All That Website	p. 172
Acknowledgments	p. 172
Picture Credits	p. 173
Index	p. 175
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