How the Other Half Thinks: Adventures in Mathematical Reasoning - Softcover

Stein, Sherman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0071407987 ISBN 13: 9780071407984

Publisher: McGraw-Hill, 2002

Synopsis

With its ingeniously intuitive approach, "How the Other Half Thinks" will appeal to those enthusiasts who are charmed by mathematics and its style of thinking, as well as those more tentative readers who would like to find out why advanced mathematics casts a spell over so many of its followers. At once an entertaining, interactive mathematical exercise and an innovative exploration of mathematical reasoning, it will appeal to the enthusiast and the novice, the scientist and the humanist, and the left-brained and the right-brained.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"In some difficult musical compositions there are beautiful, but easy parts so simple a beginner could play them. So it is with mathematics as well." Sherman Stein from the Introduction

Some topics in advanced mathematics simply require arithmetic and common sense. How the Other Half Thinks by Sherman Stein uses this phenomenon to offer both the adept and the beginner eight fascinating illustrations of the mathematical way.

With a leisurely pace, Stein guides readers through each mathematical problem. His approach makes complex concepts like topology, set theory, and probability accessible and exciting. After the problem is solved, Stein shows how the related mathematics are applied in areas such as computers, measurement of astronomical distances, and cell growth.

The mathematical style of thinking is one that everyone can use to understand the world, whether they use the creative right half of the brain, or rely more on the analytical left half. How the Other Half Thinks is for the novice and the skilled, the poet and the scientist who can each be immersed in the mathematical world, not as a spectator, but as a participant.

About the Author

Sherman Stein, received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. After a one-year instructorship at Princeton University, he joined the faculty at the University of California, Davis, where he taught until 1993. His main mathematical interests are in algebra, combinatorics, and pedagogy. He has been the recipient of two MAA awards; the Lester R. Ford Award for Mathematical Exposition, and the Beckenbach Book Prize for Algebra and Tiling (with Sandor Szabo). He also received The Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of California, Davis, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Marietta College.

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0071407987
• ISBN 13: 9780071407984
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192