Underwood Dudley is well known for his collection of books on mathematical cranks. Here he offers yet another - angle trisectors. It is impossible to trisect angles with straightedge and compass alone, but many people try and think they have succeeded. This book is about angle trisections and the people who attempt them. According to Dudley: 'Hardly any mathematical training is necessary to read this book. There is a little trigonometry here and there, but it may be safely skipped. There are hardly any equations. There are no exercises and there will be no final examination. The worst victim of mathematics anxiety can read this book with profit and dry palms. It is quite suitable to give as a present.'
Underwood Dudley was born in New York City quite a number of years ago. He got bachelor's and master's degrees (mathematics) at what was then the Carnegie Institute of Technology. After working for a time for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, he gave up his promising future as an actuary to flee back to academia, attaining the Ph.D. degree (number theory) at the University of Michigan in 1965. After two years at the Ohio State University and thirty-seven at DePauw University (Greencastle, Indiana) he lay down his chalk and eraser and retired to Tallahassee, Florida, never again to grade a calculus test.
He has done quite a bit of editing in his time--the College Mathematics Journal for five years, the Pi Mu Epsilon Journal for three, the Dolciani Mathematical Expositions book series (six years), and the New Mathematical Library book series (three years). As a result he has a complete grasp of the distinction between "that" and "which" (very rare) and the conviction that no writing, including this, should appear before the public before passing through the hands, eyes, and brain of an editor. Take that, bloggers!
He believes that there is no greater achievement of the human intellect than mathematics, and that the study of mathematics provides great benefits, even to people who think that they hate it.
None of his four children or six grandchildren has entered the family business, but that's the way it goes.
