Product Description

The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics takes in all branches of pure and applied mathematics, from algebra to mechanics and from number theory to statistics. Invaluable for students at all levels, it is also a useful and versatile source book for economists, business people, engineers, technicians and scientists of all kinds who use mathematics in the course of their work.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #169030 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

From the Publisher

Some sample entries:

BISECT

To divide into two equal parts. For instance, bisection of an angle involves drawing a line through the vertex that cuts the angle in half. A point, line, plane, etc. that bisects something is a bisector.

The point that bisects the line segment joining two other points is called their midpoint. If their position vectors are a and b, the midpoint has position vector ½ (a + b).

SHANKS, WILLIAM (1812-82)

English mathematician noted for his calculation in 1873 of the first 707 places of Pi. It was shown in 1946 that he made a mistake and that the values from the 528th position were incorrect.

COMBINATORICS

The branch of mathematics involved in the study of discrete objects - those where continuity plays no role. Enumeration and graph theory are important examples of areas of combinatorics. The topic has applications in many branches of science, especially computer science.

About the Author
David Nelson has recently retired from his post as Lecturer in Education at Manchester University. He specialises in mathematical education and micro-computing. He lives in Inverness.

Customer Reviews

An irreplaceable help
This book was recommended to me by my teacher and has turned out to be immensely helpful and interesting. Since I don't speak English as my first language, I've used the book mainly to find explanations for unfamiliar words, but I'm sure it would be just as useful to an English-speaker who doesn't remember all the fine details of mathematical terminology. The pictures and examples provided in the book are clear and good. I've found this book very user-friendly and more than sufficient for my studies in Mathematics.

Basic
This dictionary is probably best for non-maths specialists just beginning undergraduate courses with a maths element. Most things that should be mentioned get a mention (if nothing more). There are some odd omissions - the phrase "closed under addition" is well hidden, if it is in the book. That seems part of the book's apparent wish to avoid 'jargon', but 'jargon' is what one needs a dictionary to explain (so one can read texts that insist on using it)! Some explanations are obscure - the article on tensors will leave few people more enlightened than they were to begin with. Some dictionaries are a pleasure to read just to bump into concepts one wasn't familiar with and send one off in odd directions learning new things: this book isn't quite one of those. But used copies are available so cheaply that it is probably worth getting for many.