"In this sparkling narrative, mathematics is indeed set free." -Michael Shermer, author of The Believing Brain
In classrooms around the world, Robert and Ellen Kaplan's pioneering Math Circle program, begun at Harvard, has introduced students ages six to sixty to the pleasures of mathematics, exploring topics that range from Roman numerals to quantum mechanics.
In Out of the Labyrinth, the Kaplans reveal the secrets of their highly successful approach, which embraces the exhilarating joy of math's "accessible mysteries." Stocked with puzzles, colorful anecdotes, and insights from the authors' own teaching experience, Out of the Labyrinth is both an engaging and practical guide for parents and educators, and a treasure chest of mathematical discoveries. For any reader who has felt the excitement of mathematical discovery-or tried to convey it to someone else-this volume will be a delightful and valued companion.
Robert Kaplan has taught mathematics to people from six to sixty, at leading independent schools and most recently at Harvard University. He is the author of the best-selling The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero, which has been translated into 10 languages, and, with his wife, Ellen, the co-author of The Art of the Infinite.
Ellen Kaplan has taught mathematics to people from six to sixty, at leading independent schools and most recently at Harvard University. With her husband, Robert, she wrote The Art of the Infinite. Ellen is also co-author of Chances Are: Adventures in Probability and Bozo Sapiens: Why to Err is Human, co-written with her son, Michael Kaplan.