Calculus and Pizza: A Cookbook for the Hungry Mind [Paperback]

Clifford A. Pickover (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471269875 | ISBN-13: 978-0471269878 | Publication Date: September 15, 2003

CALCULUS + PEPPERONI / FUN = MATH SUCCESS

Do you want to do well on your calculus exam? Are you looking for a quick refresher course? Or would you just like to get a taste of what calculus is all about? If so, you've selected the right book. Calculus and Pizza is a creative, surprisingly delicious overview of the essential rules and formulas of calculus, with tons of problems for the learner with a healthy appetite.

Setting up residence in a pizza parlor, Clifford Pickover focuses on procedures for solving problems, offering short, easy-to-digest chapters that allow you to quickly get the essence of a technique or question. From exponentials and logarithms to derivatives and multiple integrals, the book utilizes pepperoni, meatballs, and more to make complex topics fun to learn-emphasizing basic, practical principles to help you calculate the speed of tossed pizza dough or the rising cost of eggplant parmigiana. Plus, you'll see how simple math-and a meal-can solve especially curious and even mind-shattering problems.

Authoritatively and humorously written, Calculus and Pizza provides a lively-and more tasteful-approach to calculus.

"Pickover has published nearly a book a year in which he stretches the limits of computers, art, and thought."
-Los Angeles Times

"A perpetual idea machine, Clifford Pickover is one of the most creative, original thinkers in the world today."
-Journal of Recreational Mathematics

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

CALCULUS + PEPPERONI / FUN = MATH SUCCESS

Do you want to do well on your calculus exam? Are you looking for a quick refresher course? Or would you just like to get a taste of what calculus is all about? If so, you’ve selected the right book. Calculus and Pizza is a creative, surprisingly delicious overview of the essential rules and formulas of calculus, with tons of problems for the learner with a healthy appetite.

Setting up residence in a pizza parlor, Clifford Pickover focuses on procedures for solving problems, offering short, easy-to-digest chapters that allow you to quickly get the essence of a technique or question. From exponentials and logarithms to derivatives and multiple integrals, the book utilizes pepperoni, meatballs, and more to make complex topics fun to learn–emphasizing basic, practical principles to help you calculate the speed of tossed pizza dough or the rising cost of eggplant parmigiana. Plus, you’ll see how simple math–and a meal–can solve especially curious and even mind-shattering problems.

Authoritatively and humorously written, Calculus and Pizza provides a lively–and more tasteful–approach to calculus.

"Pickover has published nearly a book a year in which he stretches the limits of computers, art, and thought."
–Los Angeles Times

"A perpetual idea machine, Clifford Pickover is one of the most creative, original thinkers in the world today."
–Journal of Recreational Mathematics

About the Author

CLIFFORD A. PICKOVER is a research staff member at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. He is also a prolific author of books and articles relating to science, art, and mathematics, including Black Holes: A Traveler’s Guide and Keys to Infinity, both from Wiley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (September 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471269875
• ISBN-13: 978-0471269878
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 9.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

From my publisher:

Clifford A. Pickover received his Ph.D. from Yale University and is the author of over 30 books on such topics as computers and creativity, art, mathematics, black holes, religion, human behavior and intelligence, time travel, alien life, and science fiction.

Pickover is a prolific inventor with dozens of patents, is the associate editor for several journals, the author of colorful puzzle calendars, and puzzle contributor to magazines geared to children and adults.

WIRED magazine writes, "Bucky Fuller thought big, Arthur C. Clarke thinks big, but Cliff Pickover outdoes them both." According to The Los Angeles Times, "Pickover has published nearly a book a year in which he stretches the limits of computers, art and thought."
The Christian Science Monitor writes, "Pickover inspires a new generation of da Vincis to build unknown flying machines and create new Mona Lisas." Pickover's computer graphics have been featured on the cover of many popular magazines and on TV shows.

His web site, Pickover.Com, has received millions of visits. His Blog RealityCarnival.Com is one of his most popular sites.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!! But neccessarily incomplete., August 23, 2003

By 

a (The Sun's Inverse Heart) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Calculus and Pizza: A Cookbook for the Hungry Mind (Paperback)

This book served to demistify the entire basics of the calculus for me. Without it, I'd still be wondering about the derivative, or about limits or integrals. On the other hand, it contains about 5% of the stuff in a real calc book, which is why I'm glad I've got both. Even today I refer back to this when the definitions Swokowski gives me are too obscure to understand.

If you have trouble understanding calculus, buy this, not a copy of Schaum's outlines. This will open you up to fundamental concepts, and once you have those down, reading any normal calculus text will be a breeze.

The book is also very poetic. Pickover is a great writer, besides being a great mathematician.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A really fun read, and you learn Calculus too, August 20, 2003

By 

S. A. Corning (Gurnee, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Calculus and Pizza: A Cookbook for the Hungry Mind (Paperback)

This is a great book on many levels. The basics of Calculus are clearly communicated. There are lots of interesting examples, and problems to solve. The story of the pizza parlor involves great imagery, and fascinating characters. Plus the chapters are short, which helps retention. I bought the book as a review tool. A lot of calculus help books are geared to just doing well on tests. Completing this book should help anyone to get a real, "feel", for the beauty and usefulness of Calculus.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent, Practical Tour of Calculus, July 30, 2003

By 

Rose Jordan (Princeton, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Calculus and Pizza: A Cookbook for the Hungry Mind (Paperback)

Calculus is very important today in many branches of science, economics, and other fields. I am a high school calculus teacher and will be advising all my students to get this book in the fall. It covers all the essential calculus material in a fun way, using pizza examples. Where else would you find a pizza chef teaching calculus? In what other books will you study meatballs rolling down Fifth Avenue? College teachers will also find this book useful, but you don't have to be in school to enjoy this book. My friends find this book useful for a review of calculus. The book contains lots of problems and answers to see if readers truly understand the material.

The simultaneous discovery of calculus by Newton and Leibniz makes the author wonder why so many discoveries in science are made at the same time by people working independently. I wonder about this too.