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Author: Edward Barbeau
Publisher: MAA
ISBN: 9780883855294
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 188
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Book Description
Through hard experience mathematicians have learned to subject even the most 'evident' assertions to rigorous scrutiny, as intuition can often be misleading. This book collects and analyses a mass of such errors, drawn from the work of students, textbooks, and the media, as well as from professional mathematicians themselves.
Author: Edward Barbeau
Publisher: MAA
ISBN: 9780883855294
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 188
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Book Description
Through hard experience mathematicians have learned to subject even the most 'evident' assertions to rigorous scrutiny, as intuition can often be misleading. This book collects and analyses a mass of such errors, drawn from the work of students, textbooks, and the media, as well as from professional mathematicians themselves.
Author: Alfred S. Posamentier
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1616147482
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 298
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Book Description
Two veteran math educators demonstrate how some "magnificent mistakes" had profound consequences for our understanding of mathematics' key concepts. In the nineteenth century, English mathematician William Shanks spent fifteen years calculating the value of pi, setting a record for the number of decimal places. Later, his calculation was reproduced using large wooden numerals to decorate the cupola of a hall in the Palais de la Découverte in Paris. However, in 1946, with the aid of a mechanical desk calculator that ran for seventy hours, it was discovered that there was a mistake in the 528th decimal place. Today, supercomputers have determined the value of pi to trillions of decimal places. This is just one of the amusing and intriguing stories about mistakes in mathematics in this layperson's guide to mathematical principles. In another example, the authors show that when we "prove" that every triangle is isosceles, we are violating a concept not even known to Euclid - that of "betweenness." And if we disregard the time-honored Pythagorean theorem, this is a misuse of the concept of infinity. Even using correct procedures can sometimes lead to absurd - but enlightening - results. Requiring no more than high-school-level math competency, this playful excursion through the nuances of math will give you a better grasp of this fundamental, all-important science.
Author: Underwood Dudley
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1470451719
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 184
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Book Description
Underwood Dudley is well known for his collection of books on mathematical cranks. Here he offers yet another--angle trisectors. It is impossible to trisect angles with straightedge and compass alone, but many people try and think they have succeeded. This book is about angle trisections and the people who attempt them. According to Dudley: ""Hardly any mathematical training is necessary to read this book. There is a little trigonometry here and there, but it may be safely skipped. There are hardly any equations. There are no exercises and there will be no final examination. The worst victim o.
Author: Eric W. Weisstein
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1420035223
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 3253
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Book Description
Upon publication, the first edition of the CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics received overwhelming accolades for its unparalleled scope, readability, and utility. It soon took its place among the top selling books in the history of Chapman & Hall/CRC, and its popularity continues unabated. Yet also unabated has been the d
Author: Steve Batterson
Publisher: The Mathematical Association of America
ISBN: 0883855909
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 244
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Book Description
At the turn of the twentieth century, mathematical scholarship in the United States underwent a stunning transformation. In 1890 no American professor was producing mathematical research worthy of international attention. Graduate students were then advised to pursue their studies abroad. By the start of World War I the standing of American mathematics had radically changed. George David Birkhoff, Leonard Dickson, and others were turning out cutting edge investigations that attracted notice in the intellectual centers of Europe. Harvard, Chicago, and Princeton maintained graduate programs comparable to those overseas. This book explores the people, timing, and factors behind this rapid advance. Through the mid-nineteenth century most American colleges followed a classical curriculum that, in mathematics, rarely reached beyond calculus. With no doctoral programs of any sort in the United States until 1860, mathematical scholarship lagged far behind that in Europe. After the Civil War, visionary presidents at Harvard and Johns Hopkins broadened and deepened the opportunities for study. The breakthrough for mathematics began in 1890 with the hiring, in consecutive years, of William F. Osgood and Maxime Bôcher at Harvard and E. H. Moore at Chicago. Each of these young men had studied in Germany where they acquired vital mathematical knowledge and taste. Over the next few years Osgood, Bôcher, and Moore established their own research programs and introduced new graduate courses. Working with other like-minded individuals through the nascent American Mathematical Society, the infrastructure of meetings and journals were created. In the early twentieth century Princeton dramatically upgraded its faculty to give the United States the stability of a third mathematics center. The publication by Birkhoff, in 1913, of the solution to a famous conjecture served notice that American mathematics had earned consideration with the European powers of Germany, France, Italy, England, and Russia.
Author: Alfred S Posamentier
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9811211434
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 1042
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Book Description
The primary aim of this book is to provide teachers of mathematics with all the tools they would need to conduct most effective mathematics instruction. The book guides teachers through the all-important planning process, which includes short and long-term planning as well as constructing most effective lessons, with an emphasis on motivation, classroom management, emphasizing problem-solving techniques, assessment, enriching instruction for students at all levels, and introducing relevant extracurricular mathematics activities. Technology applications are woven throughout the text.A unique feature of this book is the second half, which provides 125 highly motivating enrichment units for all levels of secondary school mathematics. Many years of proven success makes this book essential for both pre-service and in-service mathematics teachers.
Author: Edward J. Barbeau
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387226028
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 220
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Book Description
Pell's equation is part of a central area of algebraic number theory that treats quadratic forms and the structure of the rings of integers in algebraic number fields. It is an ideal topic to lead college students, as well as some talented and motivated high school students, to a better appreciation of the power of mathematical technique. Even at the specific level of quadratic diophantine equations, there are unsolved problems, and the higher degree analogues of Pell's equation, particularly beyond the third, do not appear to have been well studied. In this focused exercise book, the topic is motivated and developed through sections of exercises which will allow the readers to recreate known theory and provide a focus for their algebraic practice. There are several explorations that encourage the reader to embark on their own research. A high school background in mathematics is all that is needed to get into this book, and teachers and others interested in mathematics who do not have (or have forgotten) a background in advanced mathematics may find that it is a suitable vehicle for keeping up an independent interest in the subject.
Author: Peter Casazza
Publisher: The Mathematical Association of America
ISBN: 0883855852
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
Mathematicians have pondered the psychology of the members of our tribe probably since mathematics was invented, but for certain since Hadamard’s The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field. The editors asked two dozen prominent mathematicians (and one spouse thereof) to ruminate on what makes us different. The answers they got are thoughtful, interesting and thought-provoking. Not all respondents addressed the question directly. Michael Atiyah reflects on the tension between truth and beauty in mathematics. T.W. Körner, Alan Schoenfeld and Hyman Bass chose to write, reflectively and thoughtfully, about teaching and learning. Others, including Ian Stewart and Jane Hawkins, write about the sociology of our community. Many of the contributions range into philosophy of mathematics and the nature of our thought processes. Any mathematician will find much of interest here.
Author: John dePillis
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1614445176
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 464
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Book Description
"Assuming a minimum of technical expertise beyond basic matrix theory, the authors introduce inertial frames and Minkowski diagrams to explain the nature of simultaneity, why faster-than-light travel is impossible, and the proper way to add velocities. We resolve the twin paradox, the train-in-tunnel paradox, the pra-shooter paradox along with the lesser-known bug-rivet paradox that shows how rigidity is incompatible with special relativity. Since Einstein in his seminal 1905 paper introducing special relativity, acknowledged his debt to Clerk Maxwell, we fully develop Maxwell's four equations that unify the theories of electricity, optics, and magnetism. These equations also lead to a simple calculation for the frame independent speed of electromagnetic waves in a vacuum."--Cover.
Author: C. Edward Sandifer
Publisher: The Mathematical Association of America
ISBN: 0883855844
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 254
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Book Description
Sandifer has been studying Euler for decades and is one of the world’s leading experts on his work. This volume is the second collection of Sandifer’s “How Euler Did It” columns. Each is a jewel of historical and mathematical exposition. The sum total of years of work and study of the most prolific mathematician of history, this volume will leave you marveling at Euler’s clever inventiveness and Sandifer’s wonderful ability to explicate and put it all in context.
