Problem Solving: The Creative Side of Mathematics - Softcover

Holton, Derek

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0906588707 ISBN 13: 9780906588703

Publisher: Mathematical Association, 2011

Synopsis

Be prepared to move frogs, change the course of fish, investigate parties, and consider flight maps. In the process be prepared to experience the same jubilation as Archimedes is reputed to have felt after bathing with a supposedly gold crown. Here there are problems to taunt and delight At a hectic writing pace the reader is taken on a journey through this creative mathematical landscape and shown the importance of experimenting, guessing, proving, finding counterexamples and even of giving up. But the reader's pace is up to them. This is a book that demands both thought and play by readers. In this sense the book is like an iceberg with only a relatively small percentage appearing in print while the rest is in the reader's heads and on their paper. The objects of the creativity here are problems that at some level are readily accessible to most secondary students. To make good progress, a knowledge of number and some basic logical skills are sufficient. Algebra isn't mandatory but a little knowledge is very useful. But the underlying aim of the book is to show that mathematics is more than a collection of results; that there is a creative, people side to the subject; that this side can be shown to secondary students; and they can experience the same highs and lows that professional mathematicians enjoy that keep them thinking motivated even after retirement.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mathematical Association
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0906588707
• ISBN 13: 9780906588703
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 212
• Editor: Lewis Barry