Customer Reviews

Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, & Other Mathematical Explorations

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

 

 

I would agree with the back cover advanced praise for this book. I wanted to make a special note for people who consider themselves to be self-starters in terms of their interest in math: This book has problems throughout the book with SOLUTIONS. The best way to learn math is to do it. While I enjoy a lot of 'pop math' books out there, I am disappointed that there hasn't been an attempt to include a few illustrative problems with solutions (books without solutions aren't going to be useful to autodidacts or even more serious students of the subject). Well, finally this book offers what many of us have been looking for.

It should be easy for a mathematician to write a book on recreational mathematics, right? Ha! You can look through my reviews for some godawful examples of this genre.

It is not enough to know mathematics. The writer has to write well and to have an understanding of the mindset of those of us who are strictly amateurs. The material has to have intrinsic interest and the explanations have to be clear and well motivated but not condescending. The problems should be challenging but not impossible and they should serve to gain insight into the material. And they should come with answers!

All of this Ball accomplishes. The quality of the writing reminds me of Martin Gardner. There is one thing that I need to emphasize. This book contains proofs, because proofs are the heart and soul of mathematics. The proofs are exceptionally clear, but if mathematical proofs are not your thing then go elsewhere. If you are not intimidated by proofs and have a knowledge of high school matematics up through calculus then you are in for a real treat.

I particularly liked the chapter on continued fractions. This is the first time that I have seen a treatment of the matrix approach. I do have one very small quibble. The matrix approach allows for a very simple derivation of the formula for convergents, which I was able to discover for myself but which is not presented in the book. All of the other proofs I have seen for the formula do not provide a derivation, but instead do a proof by induction. I hope that future editions of the book include the derivation of the convegents formula.

On opening this Christmas present I inwardly groaned - didn't like the title and the subjects seemed to be ones that had been covered many times elsewhere. BUT...I was so wrong! The writing is clear and entertaining, and the subjects are covered in new and interesting ways. If you like 'popular maths' books then you'll find Ball to be a great new author to keep an eye on. If you are a math teacher or instructor you'll find lots of material here that can only enliven your lessons. One of the best popular maths books for a long time.

This is a book on recreational mathematics. As such, the topics covered are diverse - from number theory to more practical matters such as probability. However, the common denominator is the author's clarity of expression - an essential quality for a book of this nature. Because of this diversity of topics, some may be of more interest to the reader than others. In my case, I particularly enjoyed the chapters on shared birthdays, Stirling's formula for factorials and Pad? approximants. Suggested problems are found throughout, with solutions at the end of each chapter. Written in a very friendly style, this book will surely appeal to math buff at all levels.

Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits and other Mathematical Explorations contains a lot of interesting material but be prepared for some difficult problems as you read through the book. Strange Curves... is not light reading but rather a book you will want to spend some time digesting. The author's choice of material is somewhat unique; the author himself says he tried to cover material not found in other popular math books. I really enjoyed reading this book and attempting to solve the problems for which solutions are provided at the end of each chapter. I recommend Strange Curves.. for those interested in a book that is accessible but somewhat challenging and for those who have read many popular math books and feel they have read about all the topics there are to read about in the layperson mathematics press.