Alex's Adventures in Numberland - Softcover

Bellos, Alex

4.11

5,343 ratings by Goodreads

9781408808863: Alex's Adventures in Numberland

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1408808862 ISBN 13: 9781408808863

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2010

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

In this richly entertaining and accessible book, Alex Bellos explodes the myth that maths is best left to the geeks. Covering subjects from adding to algebra, from set theory to statistics, and from logarithms to logical paradoxes, he explains how mathematical ideas underpin just about everything in our lives. Alex explains the surprising geometry of the 50p piece, and the strategy of how best to gamble it in a casino. He shines a light on the mathematical patterns in nature, and on the peculiar predictability of random behaviour. He eats a potato crisp whose revolutionary shape was unpalatable to the ancient Greeks, and he shows the deep connections between maths, religion and philosophy. Alex weaves a journey from primary school to university level maths, from ancient history to the computing frontline, and from St Louis, Missouri, to Braintree, Essex. He meets the world's fastest mental calculators in Germany, consults a numerologist in the US desert, meets a startlingly numerate chimpanzee in Japan, and seeks advice from a venerable Hindu sage in India. An unlikely but exhilarating cocktail of history, reportage and mathematical proofs, Alex's dispatches from 'Numberland' show the world of maths to be a much friendlier and more colourful place than you might have imagined.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

'Original and highly entertaining' Sunday Times 'Will leave you hooked on numbers' Daily Telegraph 'A page turner about humanity's strange, never easy and, above all, never dull relationship with numbers' New Scientist 'Outstanding ... The style is laced with humour, but at all times, the star of the show is mathematics' Ian Stewart, Prospect

Book Description:

The Sunday Times bestseller
Shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.