The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Mathematics (Penguin Mathematics) [Paperback]

David Wells (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0140236031 | ISBN-13: 978-0140236033

A collection of strange mathematical facts and stories. This anthology covers a whole range of ages, maths and mathematicians, and includes probability paradoxes, jumbled Shakespearean sonnets, record-breaking monkeys and typewriters, and theories of big game hunting. Also featured are stories of people who looked for logical loopholes in the American Constitution, calmed their nerves with algebra or used sextants to measure the buttocks of Hottentot women.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140236031
• ISBN-13: 978-0140236033
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,716,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars epsilon math humor, where epsilon > 0., July 22, 2003

By 

James Arvo (Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Mathematics (Penguin Mathematics) (Paperback)

This is a book of mathematical fragments; that is, short self-contined blurbs involving mathematics or mathematicians. The blurbs include puzzles, limericks, anecdotes about famous mathematicians or mathematics teachers, famous theorems, tiny biographies, and interesting observations. Most are a single paragraph long, and nearly all are less than a page. Some are fascinating and some are not so fascinating. Some are quite amusing, and some are very dry. A few actually have some real mathematical content. The vast majority of them assume some mathematical acumen, such as familiarity with famous theorems or mathematicians, or knowledge of concepts such as a Taylor series. To give you and idea of what you will find in this book, I've picked three very different entries:

1) Here is a typical amusing anecdote: "G. H. Hardy was about to return from Denmark to England, by boat, in appalling weather. So he sent a postcard ahead to announce to the world that 'I have proved Riemann's Hypothesis', which was then as now the Holy Grail of professional mathematicians. Hardy reasoned that God (in whom Hardy did not profess to believe) would not allow the boat to sink, thereby leaving open the suspicion that Hardy had achieved this remarkable feat."

2) Here is a limerick by Paul Halmos, a famed contemporary mathematician:
"If you think that your paper is vacuous,
Use the first-order functional calculus,
It then becomes logic,
And, as if by magic,
The obvious is hailed as miraculous."

3) Here is an example of a puzzle with some actual mathematical content: "A medical researcher does a carefully controlled experiment whose result is that new medicine X is more effective on male patients than a placebo. The experiment is then repeated on female subjects, with the same result... The data from the two experiments are then added together, and they prove that overall the medicine is LESS effective then the placebo. Is this possible? Yes." [explanation provided in the back of the book]

While I like the idea of this book, and found a few entries that were really funny or interesting, over all I thought the collection was mediocre. It can be fun, if you are in to math, but don't expect too much. It's very light stuff.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Babling without end, January 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Mathematics (Penguin Mathematics) (Paperback)

The book is simply a collection of quotes and anecdotes about more or less (mostly less) known mathematicians. Almost no mathematical content. A pointless, boring and basically unintelligent book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unbeatable diversion for the throne room, May 14, 2001

By 

constantine_reeder (Germantown, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Mathematics (Penguin Mathematics) (Paperback)

Mensa members need read no further; this is NOT a puzzle book. It merely illustrates how Archimedes, Einstein, Erdos, etc. are (not) like the rest of us. In that it succeeds admirably, and that's enough for me. Bonus: for those of you who despaired of learning complex analysis, understanding of a simple pole is found herein.