Mathematics and the Imagination [Paperback]

Edward Kasner (Author), James Newman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2001

Anyone who gambles, plays cards, loves puzzles, or simply seeks an intellectual challenge will love this amusing and thought-provoking book. With wit and clarity, the authors deftly progress from simple arithmetic to calculus and non-Euclidean geometry. "Charming and exciting."  — Saturday Review of Literature. Includes 169 figures.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (March 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486417034
• ISBN-13: 978-0486417035
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #396,900 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat dated but still well worth reading, June 12, 2001

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mathematics and the Imagination (Paperback)

Originally published in 1940, the material in this book is beginning to show a little age. However, the quality of the writing renders those defects to near irrelevancy. Popular descriptions of mathematics are differentiated by the quality of the writing rather than the distinctiveness of the mathematics, and this one shines.
I like this book, starting with the title. It takes an enormous amount of imagination to do mathematics, something unappreciated by the public. It is easy to understand the use of linear segments to approximate the length of a curve. However, it requires an enormous leap of abstraction to believe that if they are made of zero length and then summed up, the result is the true length. Calculus students dutifully record and apply this, but in most cases don't appreciate the significance of the idea. In nearly all cases of major mathematical advancement, a fundamental change in thought processes was necessary. Those changes require imagination and the advances explained in this book are well documented and described.
Mathematicians are containers of some of the greatest concentrations of imagination that humans possess. Their leaps of abstraction often include descriptions of objects that cannot be visualized. Kasner and Newman capture this essential ingredient, serving it up in palatable portions.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oldie but Goodie, April 12, 2000

By 

Skip "skipflip" (Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mathematics and the Imagination (Tempus) (Paperback)

Having had this book around the house for ages, I picked it up and to my surprise within a few minutes really understood (not just enough to use, but actually understood) what logarithms really are, where they come from. The chapter on e, pi, and i is another great one to get the story behind the story, as it were. For me the book could better have continued in this vein of explaining concepts we've seen before but never really grasped intuitively, and perhaps because I'm not terribly interested in mathematical games I found that segment less fun. But in fairness, they've done a good job getting away from textbook math and into some interesting themes. I don't know if it's all still valid, as it is so old--references to Fermat's last theorem are at least outdated!

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indulge your enjoyment of mathematics and expand your mind, November 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Mathematics and the Imagination (Tempus) (Paperback)

My school teacher gave me this book to read when I was 13 years old, based on the interest I showed in Mathematics that went beyond the curriculum at school. In many ways it was way beyond my comprehension at the time, but little did I know that it would have such a lasting effect on me. Reading about concepts of infinity, that you could only describe to a fellow teenager as "different sizes of infinity", I realized that there really is a philosophy of mathematics that transcends all other subjects and that there is also an art to working with the subject. I can't recommend this book enough, and I never did give it back to my teacher!