Product Description

School maths is not the interesting part. The real fun is elsewhere. Like a magpie, Ian Stewart has collected the most enlightening, entertaining and vexing ‘curiosities’ of maths over the years…Now, the private collection is displayed in his cabinet. There are some 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, the real reason why you can’t divide anything by zero and some tips for making money by proving the obvious. Scattered among these are keys to unlocking the mysteries of Fermat’s last theorem, the Poincaré Conjecture, chaos theory, and the P/NP problem for which a million dollar prize is on offer. There are beguiling secrets about familiar names like Pythagoras or prime numbers, as well as anecdotes about great mathematicians. Pull out the drawers of the Professor’s cabinet and who knows what could happen…

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #337 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From the Back Cover
What's maths got to do with it? Delve into this curious cabinet to find out for yourself: - How to slice through your fingers without cutting them off - How to deduce without looking whether the rabbit under the hat is black or white - Why the M25 is shorted anti-clockwise than clockwise, and by how much - Why minus times minus equals plus - And how to extract that cherry from a cocktail glass (harder than you think!) Forget sudoku. For keeping your brain limber, nothing can compete with Professor Stewart's tasty assortment of numerical nibbles.

About the Author
Professor Stewart is best known for making Mathematics accessible and popular. He was awarded the Royal SocietyÂ’s Michael Faraday Medal for furthering the public understanding of science. His many popular science books include Does God Play Dice?, LifeÂ’s Other Secrets and Flatterland. He is the mathematics consultant for the New Scientist and is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick. In 2001 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Customer Reviews

fascinating
a well written and witty look at hundreds of mathematical puzzles, stories and jokes. I am a maths teacher and there is so much material here, it's amazing. I have already used a few of these with my classes and the puzzles have really caught their imagination. Highly recommended

although the solution to the problem on page 143 is wrong

A Must-Have for the lover of Puzzles and Logic
I picked this up to leaf through it the day it arrived, whilst already halfway through another book, AND I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!
Packed full of puzzles, and funny quirks of number patterns, this book is for readers of all abilities who have an interest in numerical gymnastics.
The other main component of the book is the history of mathematical research and development, in which Stewart gives an insight into the discovery of numerous maths theories and laws. And whilst this is -- at times -- heavy going, it's delivered in bite-size sections, interspersed throughout the book, which itself is given in tiny portions, allowing the reader to pick up and read at any time.
Brilliantly collected puzzles and stories with easy-to-understand solutions and explanations, Stewart's jovial delivery makes this book an unalloyed pleasure. 10/10!
Andy Gibson, 35, Fleet, Hampshire.

excellent value.
this book is perhaps one of his best books yet. the puzzles are varied enough to allow you to read through the whole book and/or dip in at various intervals. the presentation of the information and puzzles is very clear and consise and often leads to reading another of his books. however, the only bad point is that some of the puzzles have been done before by other books. excellent value for money and it has a charming style. suitable for first timers and the experienced