Math Hysteria : Fun and games with mathematics

Math Hysteria : Fun and games with mathematics PDF Author: Ian Stewart
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191547395
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Welcome to Ian Stewart's strange and magical world of mathematics! In Math Hysteria, Professor Stewart presents us with a wealth of magical puzzles, each one spun around an amazing tale: Counting the Cattle of the Sun; The Great Drain Robbery; and Preposterous Piratical Predicaments; to name but a few. Along the way, we also meet many curious characters: in short, these stories are engaging, challenging, and lots of fun!

Math Hysteria : Fun and games with mathematics

Math Hysteria : Fun and games with mathematics PDF Author: Ian Stewart
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191547395
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Get Book Here

Book Description
Welcome to Ian Stewart's strange and magical world of mathematics! In Math Hysteria, Professor Stewart presents us with a wealth of magical puzzles, each one spun around an amazing tale: Counting the Cattle of the Sun; The Great Drain Robbery; and Preposterous Piratical Predicaments; to name but a few. Along the way, we also meet many curious characters: in short, these stories are engaging, challenging, and lots of fun!

The Calculus Story

The Calculus Story PDF Author: David Acheson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192526715
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Calculus is the key to much of modern science and engineering. It is the mathematical method for the analysis of things that change, and since in the natural world we are surrounded by change, the development of calculus was a huge breakthrough in the history of mathematics. But it is also something of a mathematical adventure, largely because of the way infinity enters at virtually every twist and turn... In The Calculus Story David Acheson presents a wide-ranging picture of calculus and its applications, from ancient Greece right up to the present day. Drawing on their original writings, he introduces the people who helped to build our understanding of calculus. With a step by step treatment, he demonstrates how to start doing calculus, from the very beginning.

The Great Mathematical Problems

The Great Mathematical Problems PDF Author: Ian Stewart
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 1847653510
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
There are some mathematical problems whose significance goes beyond the ordinary - like Fermat's Last Theorem or Goldbach's Conjecture - they are the enigmas which define mathematics. The Great Mathematical Problems explains why these problems exist, why they matter, what drives mathematicians to incredible lengths to solve them and where they stand in the context of mathematics and science as a whole. It contains solved problems - like the Poincaré Conjecture, cracked by the eccentric genius Grigori Perelman, who refused academic honours and a million-dollar prize for his work, and ones which, like the Riemann Hypothesis, remain baffling after centuries. Stewart is the guide to this mysterious and exciting world, showing how modern mathematicians constantly rise to the challenges set by their predecessors, as the great mathematical problems of the past succumb to the new techniques and ideas of the present.

Cows in the Maze

Cows in the Maze PDF Author: Ian Stewart
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191624802
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
From the mathematics of mazes, to cones with a twist, and the amazing sphericon - and how to make one - Ian Stewart is back with more mathematical stories and puzzles that are as quirky as they are fascinating, and each from the cutting edge of the world of mathematics. We find out about the mathematics of time travel, explore the shape of teardrops (which are not tear-drop shaped, but something much, much more strange!), dance with dodecahedra, and play the game of Hex, amongst many more strange and delightful mathematical diversions.

Algorithmic Puzzles

Algorithmic Puzzles PDF Author: Anany Levitin
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0199740445
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Algorithmic puzzles are puzzles involving well-defined procedures for solving problems. This book will provide an enjoyable and accessible introduction to algorithmic puzzles that will develop the reader's algorithmic thinking. The first part of this book is a tutorial on algorithm design strategies and analysis techniques. Algorithm design strategies — exhaustive search, backtracking, divide-and-conquer and a few others — are general approaches to designing step-by-step instructions for solving problems. Analysis techniques are methods for investigating such procedures to answer questions about the ultimate result of the procedure or how many steps are executed before the procedure stops. The discussion is an elementary level, with puzzle examples, and requires neither programming nor mathematics beyond a secondary school level. Thus, the tutorial provides a gentle and entertaining introduction to main ideas in high-level algorithmic problem solving. The second and main part of the book contains 150 puzzles, from centuries-old classics to newcomers often asked during job interviews at computing, engineering, and financial companies. The puzzles are divided into three groups by their difficulty levels. The first fifty puzzles in the Easier Puzzles section require only middle school mathematics. The sixty puzzle of average difficulty and forty harder puzzles require just high school mathematics plus a few topics such as binary numbers and simple recurrences, which are reviewed in the tutorial. All the puzzles are provided with hints, detailed solutions, and brief comments. The comments deal with the puzzle origins and design or analysis techniques used in the solution. The book should be of interest to puzzle lovers, students and teachers of algorithm courses, and persons expecting to be given puzzles during job interviews.

The Spirit of Mathematics

The Spirit of Mathematics PDF Author: David Acheson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192659685
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
What makes mathematics so special? Whether you have anxious memories of the subject from school, or solve quadratic equations for fun, David Acheson's book will make you look at mathematics afresh. Following on from his previous bestsellers, The Calculus Story and The Wonder Book of Geometry, here Acheson highlights the power of algebra, combining it with arithmetic and geometry to capture the spirit of mathematics. This short book encompasses an astonishing array of ideas and concepts, from number tricks and magic squares to infinite series and imaginary numbers. Acheson's enthusiasm is infectious, and, as ever, a sense of quirkiness and fun pervades the book. But it also seeks to crystallize what is special about mathematics: the delight of discovery; the importance of proof; and the joy of contemplating an elegant solution. Using only the simplest of materials, it conjures up the depth and the magic of the subject.

Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities

Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities PDF Author: Ian Stewart
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 078672725X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Knowing that the most exciting math is not taught in school, Professor Ian Stewart has spent years filling his cabinet with intriguing mathematical games, puzzles, stories, and factoids intended for the adventurous mind. This book reveals the most exhilarating oddities from Professor Stewart's legendary cabinet. Inside, you will find hidden gems of logic, geometry, and probability-like how to extract a cherry from a cocktail glass (harder than you think), a pop-up dodecahedron, and the real reason why you can't divide anything by zero. Scattered among these are keys to Fermat's last theorem, the Poincaréonjecture, chaos theory, and the P=NP problem (you'll win a million dollars if you solve it). You never know what enigmas you'll find in the Stewart cabinet, but they're sure to be clever, mind-expanding, and delightfully fun.

The Mathematics of Life

The Mathematics of Life PDF Author: Ian Stewart
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465024408
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Biologists have long dismissed mathematics as being unable to meaningfully contribute to our understanding of living beings. Within the past ten years, however, mathematicians have proven that they hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of our world -- and ourselves. In The Mathematics of Life, Ian Stewart provides a fascinating overview of the vital but little-recognized role mathematics has played in pulling back the curtain on the hidden complexities of the natural world -- and how its contribution will be even more vital in the years ahead. In his characteristically clear and entertaining fashion, Stewart explains how mathematicians and biologists have come to work together on some of the most difficult scientific problems that the human race has ever tackled, including the nature and origin of life itself.

Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures

Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures PDF Author: Ian Stewart
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 184765262X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
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.

Narratives in the Making

Narratives in the Making PDF Author: Mary Beattie
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 9780802085337
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
At Corktown Community High School in Toronto, importance is placed on the education of the whole person. An alternative secondary school, it emphasizes the development of self-knowledge and responsiveness to others, creative and critical thought, and connectedness through the self, the school community, and society. Narratives in the Making is based on a research project carried out at the school as part of a large scale national research study, The Exemplary Schools Project. Corktown (a pseudonym) was selected as a participant in this study because of its unusually high rate of student retention, student engagement, achievement, and success. Using narrative accounts of classroom and school practices, profiles of teachers and students, and language that is accessible to both practitioners and academics, Mary Beattie provides insights and explanations of the meaning of success as it is understood by Corktown teachers, students, parents, alumni, and school administrators. She shows how the whole person concept is incorporated into the school environment, and why relationships are at the heart of teaching and learning.