Customer Reviews

Why Do Buses Come in Threes? The Hidden Mathematics of Everyday Life

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a superb sampler of interesting aspects of math. I found it very similiar to "A mathemetician reads the newspaper" by Paulos (also a great book). People who like Paulos will like this book a lot.

Parts that I particularly loved were the coverage of sections not treated in other, similiar texts. How fast to run in the rain to stay the driest, how to cut oddly shaped cakes into equal parts, etc.

Parts that I found the least exciting were the re-treatments of the stuff of standard layman's math books- does the world need another description of the travelling salesman problem, or Fibonacci sequences throughout nature? (though these descriptions are better than most that Ive read)

Overall, this book was very enjoyable. If you've read no "math and the world books" you will think it is 5 stars, and if you've read many of them you will think 4 stars (or just skip those chapters)

this is an entertaining look at math and how it permeates our lives and pervades nature. the authors cover a variety of topics ranging from explaining coincidences to why we always get stuck in traffic jams. the best chapter is ch.1, titled Why can't I find a four leaf clover? they explain how Fibonacci's series turn up so often in plants (the number of petals, for example, is always a, or a multiple of, a fibonacci number), as well as the golden ratio, pi, and why cells in beehives are shaped like hexagons. the pervasiveness of hidden mathematics in nature can make one wonder whether there's an intelligence behind it all.

the book also contains a number of mathematical formulas. i remember reading somewhere that for every equation given in a book, sales drop by 5000 (or some number like that). Hopefully that won't happen here.

While I was originally turned off by the title, which not only suggested an extremely narrow subject matter, but seemed pointed toward a younger audience (I have degrees in computer science and mathematics), I ended up reading it with great enthusiasm, usually unable to put it down for two or more hours at a time. The authors have searched far and wide for mathematical 'optical-illusions' that occur in a very broad range of everyday matters.

To put the sheer amount of subject matter crammed into this modestly sized book into perspective, the question posed by the title takes only a page or a page and a half of the book. The author(s) go from topic to topic quite rapidly, insuring that readers will never get bored. If you want indepth information, you're free to go elsewhere, but in few other places will you find so many amusing and surprising mathematical tidbits in one place.

This is a book that belongs on every elementary- and undergraduate-level instructor's bookshelf. What I remember most about my early education and what prompted me to go further in mathematics were the unintuitive ideas such as are presented in this book so well and so entertainingly. The 'birthday phenomenon' is a good example of a completely unintuitive phenomenon described by Eastaway; take a class of more than a mere 23 students, and there is a greater than 50% chance two of them will have the same birthday. How can this be so? There are 365 days in a year! There is a simple, easily understandable explanation to this. (And to illustrate my earlier point, this was honestly the only specific thing I remembered my professor explaining from my intro to statistics class).

There are probably a hundred or so examples of such mysteries presented in this book. I sincerely believe readers at all levels will enjoy the content as much as I did.

The two messages of this book are that mathematics is important to everyday life, and that it's fun. Like the earlier books of Martin Gardener, this book aims to make mathematics relevant and accessible, but with a British rather than American slant.

Have you ever wondered why flowers often have five petals, how bookies' odds work, how you always end up in the slowest queue, or, indeed, why buses come in threes? If so, then this is the book for you.

In the course of a humorous, chatty discourse on the mysteries of life the authors introduce a number of branches of mathematics, including probability, topology, statistics and queuing theory, to name just a few.

To aid casual readers or those who've previously found the subject forbidding the maths is kept at a fairly simple level. However there's still enough detail to be useful in other applications. I used this book as a reminder when trying to solve a problem related to software performance, and others who don't exercise their maths every day might also find it a useful memory jogger.

Whether as an introduction if you've never enjoyed maths before, or a reminder if you have, I thoroughly recommend this book. I can also recommend the companion volume "How Long is a Piece of String?"

I am a math major at The College of New Jersey and this book was intriguing and amazing. It answers most questions about everyday life in simple terms and easy definitions. There are also plenty humorous examples.

This lovely little book never fails to bring revelation as I read through the chapters. Praise should be given to the authors, not only for their insights in revealing the mathematical basis of ordinary issues, but also for their enthusiasm in promoting popular science through this successful work.

Interesting examples from daily life capable of arousing curiosity were utilized to illustrate otherwise "serious" mathematical concepts: temperature of shower water (negative-feedback), dating (game-theory), "wonder numbers" in nature (golden ratio), bad luck (probability)......etc. Concepts were well-elaborated, conducted in a comprehensive and attractive, but never shallow or over-simplified, manner. The authors were just good at alluring readers to think and explore things more than "skin-deep", beyond what they seems like at surface. The writing style is attractive and humorous.

This book is of immense value in enhancing reasoning, critical thinking and, most importantly, appreciation of life itself. Highly recommended.

Some people have a fear of mathematics, possibly because of the abstract teaching methods that were in use in my schooldays. I get the impression that things have changed somewhat since then, but in any case this book provides an easy to understand look at some of the things that happen in everyday life.

The first chapter begins with numbers that occur frequently in plants, explaining why four-leafed clovers are rare. Depending on the species, plants tend to have three leaves like clovers, or five leaves like buttercups, pansies and primroses, rather than four. The chapter then describes more curiosities about numbers and ratios that occur in plants.

The ninth chapter deals with the title of the book, explaining why buses that begin their journeys at evenly spaced intervals and travelling along the same route don't usually arrive at their destination at evenly spaced intervals. The author suggests that it is quite common for a bus to catch up the one ahead, but that it is most unlikely that a third bus will catch these two, so buses may come in twos but rarely threes.

Other chapters deal with route planning, opinion polls, betting, apparent coincidences, angles, making tea, cutting cake, secret codes, sports rankings, game theory, set theory, map reading, traffic jams, queues, scheduling, logic and deduction. If some of these sound intimidating, don't worry as they are all presented in an easy-going style that makes them more interesting than they might otherwise be.

The final chapter presents a few mathematical tricks that you can play on unsuspecting children as a good way to get them interested in numbers. All in all, this book presents mathematics in an entertaining and easily accessible way. If you enjoy it, there is a sequel, How long is a piece of string?, by the same author, but if you are choosing between them, I'd nominate this one is slightly the better of the two.

This book contains a great mixture of examples of applications of math to different areas. My favorites was learning why coins that are not round have an odd number of edges! Their example is the British 50 pence piece, which has seven rounded sides.

I think this book gives a great introduction to what mathematics is all about, and will be of interest to both mathematicians and non-mathematicians. Just read it!

Entertaining examples of probability, statistics, trigonometry. If you are interested in problemsolving and critical thinking skills, this book is a gem!

Why Do Buses Come in Threes takes the reader on a journey through the world of daily mathematics. "The Hidden Mathematics of Everyday Life" certainly describes the content of this book. It explains some of the most obscure of topics, while showing that math truly is pervasive in everything we do. Some of the many topics include: navigating a maze, the math of gambling, sports rankings, counting television viewers, and methods of coding. The authors illustrate each step of the math involved in these situations. Many of these calculations relate to probability and statistics.
Perhaps the most intriguing question answered by the book is that of the title: "why do buses come in threes?" In reality, buses usually come in twos. Only on long bus routes is it common for buses to come in threes. The reason for this phenomenon is that buses often make long stops to allow large groups of passengers to board. When this happens, the next bus on the route usually approaches before the bus preceding it departs. A bus route must be very long for a third bus to join the bunch. Therefore, buses usually come in twos; only on very long routes do they come in threes. This type of logic is used throughout the book.
Another chapter discusses coincidences. The chance of a "one-in-a-million" event happening is analyzed for several scenarios. The chance of a one-in-a-million event not happening is 0.999999. Supposing there are 100 chances for such an event to happen in a day, there is a 9,999 in 10,000 chance that it will not happen. This is derived by taking 0.999999 to the hundredth power. Therefore, there is a 1 in 10,000 chance of such an event happening. When this mathematical method is carried out for a twenty-year scenario, there is a 52% chance of such an event occurring. This type of thinking makes what may seem statistically impossible, possible.
The book concludes with a chapter on magic and its relations to math, to convey the true quirkiness of the field. While the book may seem like little more than a collection of random applications of math, it actually makes an interesting point. It shows that most seemingly unexplainable situations can be rationalized. It provides hints on how to improve one's odds when gambling, playing the lottery, or playing any game. Such reasoning can be useful in our daily lives. Why Do Buses Come in Threes is a great read for anyone interested in the underlying patterns in life. It puts daily questions in perspective using logic and mathematical reasoning. This book earns four stars for its understandable explanations and originality. The next time you're wondering why a buttercup has five petals; this book may be of interest.