Nets, Puzzles, and Postmen An Exploration of Mathematical Connections

by Higgins, Peter M

• ISBN13: 9780199218431
• ISBN10: 0199218439
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-03-25
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

What do road and railway systems, mingling at parties, mazes, family tress, and the internet all have in common? All are networks--either people or places or things that relate and connect to one another. In this lively and fun look at the mathematics of networks, Peter Higgins shows that these phenomena--and many more--all share the same deep mathematical structure. Filled with puzzles and other curious mathematical conundrums, this stimulating book offers new insights into such familiar mathematical quandaries as the four-color map, the bridges of Konisberg, and the Postman Problem (what is the most efficient way of delivering your letters, so you get back to your starting point without having traversed any street twice). Only relatively recently have mathematicians begun to explore networks and connections, and their importance has taken everyone by surprise. Nets, Puzzles, and Postmen takes readers on a dazzling tour of this new field, in a book that will delight math buffs everywhere.

Author Biography

Peter M. Higgins is Professor of Mathematics and Head of Mathematical Sciences at the Univesity of Essex, UK. His previous mathematics books for a popular audience include Mathematics for the Curious, Mathematics for the Imagination, and The Official Book of Circular Sudoku. He is the inventor of Circular Sudoku which has now appeared throughout the world in magazines, book, the internet and on handheld computer games.

Table of Contents

Preface

Nets, trees and lies

Trees and games of logic

The nature of networks

Coloring and Planarity

How to traverse a network

One-way systems

Spanning networks

Going with the flow

Novel applications of nets

For Connoisseurs

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.