The Art of Mathematics
The Art of Mathematics
$41.00
USDCan a Christian escape from a lion? How quickly can a rumour spread? Can you fool an airline into accepting oversize baggage? Recreational mathematics is full of frivolous questions where the mathematician's art can be brought to bear. But play often has a purpose. In mathematics, it can sharpen skills, provide amusement, or simply surprise, and books of problems have been the stock-in-trade of mathematicians for centuries. This collection is designed to be sipped from, rather than consumed in one sitting. The questions range in difficulty: the most challenging offer a glimpse of deep results that engage mathematicians today; even the easiest prompt readers to think about mathematics. All come with solutions, many with hints, and most with illustrations. Whether you are an expert, or a beginner or an amateur mathematician, this book will delight for a lifetime.
- Aimed at a broad audience ranging from professional mathematicians to interested amateur
- Entertaining mix of problems ranging from the frivolous to others that show how mathematicians discover new ideas
- Inspired by two of the twentieth century's leading mathematicians, Paul Erdos and J. E. Littlewood, who were both inveterate problem posers and solvers
Reviews & endorsements
"The Author considers these problems to be the type that two mathematical friends would pose to each other and discuss over a cup of coffee in a lounge. I agree with that premise, they are not too hard and there is a proof that is relatively easy to discover and even easier to understand. These problems satisfy all of the requirements for a good problem..."
Journal of Recreational Mathematics
Product details
September 2006Paperback
9780521693950
386 pages
228 × 161 × 19 mm
0.51kg
85 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Part I. The Problems
- Part II. The Hints
- Part III. The Solutions.
