Wonders of Numbers: Adventures in Math, Mind, and Meaning [Hardcover]

Clifford A. Pickover (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195133420 | ISBN-13: 978-0195133424 | Publication Date: December 15, 2000 | Edition: 1st

If we actually received messages from the stars, what would we do with them? Who were the five strangest mathematicians in history? What are the ten most interesting numbers? Who is the Number King? Jam-packed with thought-provoking mathematical mysteries, puzzles, and games--as well as the answers to all of the above questions--Wonders of Numbers will enchant even the most left-brained of readers.
Hosted by the quirky Dr. Googol--who resides on an island in Sri Lanka and occasionally collaborates with Clifford Pickover--Wonders of Numbers focuses on creativity and the delight of discovery. Here is a potpourri of common and unusual number theory problems of varying difficulty--each presented in brief chapters that convey to readers the essence of the problem rather than the extraneous, convoluted history of it. Want to know about undulating numbers? Turn to Chapter 53 and in just a few pages you'll have a quick challenge. Interested in Fibonacci numbers? Turn to Chapter 74 for the same. Peppered throughout with illustrations that clarify many of the problems, Wonders of Numbers also includes fascinating "math gossip." How would we use numbers to communicate with aliens? Check out Chapter 31. What are the five saddest mathematical scandals? You'll find them in Chapter 35. Did you know that there is a Numerical Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? There is, and it's in Chapter 46.
Indeed, each chapter in Wonders of Numbers is a paradox and a mystery. From the beautiful formula of India's most famous mathematician to the Leviathan number so big it makes a trillion look small, Dr. Googol's witty, disarming, and straightforward approach to numbers will entice students, educators, and scientists alike to pick up a pencil and work a problem.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Who are the eight most influential female mathematicians? Why aren't Roman numerals used anymore? Why was the first woman mathematician brutally murdered? What were the Unabomber's ten most mathematical technical papers?

Prepare yourself for a shattering odyssey as Wonders of Numbers unlocks the doors of your imagination. The thought-provoking mysteries, puzzles, and problems range from the most beautiful formula of Ramanujan (India's most famous mathematician) to the Leviathan number, a number so big that it makes a trillion pale in comparison. The mysterious puzzles and games should cause even the most left-brained readers to fall in love with numbers. The quirky and exclusive surveys on mathematicians' lives, scandals, and passions will entertain people at all levels of mathematical sophistication.

Grab a pencil. Relax. Then take off on a mind-boggling journey to the ultimate frontier of math, mind, and meaning, as Dr. Clifford Pickover and legendary, eccentric mathematician Dr. Francis Googol explore some of the oddest and quirkiest highways and byways of the numerically obsessed. With numerous illustrations and appendices pointing to computer explorations, this is an original, fun-filled, and thoroughly unique introduction to numbers and their role in creativity, computers, games, practical research, and absurd adventures that teeter on the edge of logic and insanity.

From the Inside Flap

"The prolific Clifford Pickover has written another marvelous book. Through conversations between whimsical Dr. Googol and his pupil Monica, you can test your wits on an incredible variety of unusual mathematical puzzles and games. Along the way there are fascinating historical facts and math gossip to enjoy. You can't help absorbing a great deal of important math as you pick your way through Pickover's delightful pick of fresh, little-known gems of recreational mathematics."
-- Martin Gardner

"Pickover dazzles us once more with his book Wonders of Numbers. This big book of mathematical ideas provides hours, days, months if not years of entertaining numbers, puzzles, problems and novelties to explore. The book runs the gamut with such things as X-File numbers, Mozart numbers, Katydid sequences, and on and on. There's something for everyone's interest."

-- Theoni Pappas, author of The Joy of Mathematics

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1st edition (December 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195133420
• ISBN-13: 978-0195133424
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #475,651 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 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book, January 26, 2001

By 

Dennis W. Gordon (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wonders of Numbers: Adventures in Math, Mind, and Meaning (Hardcover)

Now here is a fine weekend escape - a delightful book to be read with one's feet up and an ice cold beverage all the while contemplating the wonders of numbers. Mostly about the integers, there are such mathematical adventures as 2, 3, and 4 dimensional magic squares, numbers so huge they require special notation and easily dwarf the number of atoms in the known universe, fractal number sequences, Mozart numbers, and lots of other fun things in the 125 chapters. My favorite numbers are the Schizophrenic numbers (Chapter 93) which when evaluated to 500 digits reveal patterns of seemingly random digits alternating with chains of repetitions of identical digits. The book is especially entertaining for the connections shown between some of these numbers and music, art, science, and other areas of mathematics.

For additional enjoyment the Further Exploring section offers additional background including references to books and web sites and also some challenges to readers - a few of which even include a cash prize. And, best of all Wonders of Numbers is written in plain English and accompanied by splendid graphics, lively anecdotes, and a generous supply of epigraphs. A fun way to while away a weekend.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gem for teachers, February 9, 2001

By 

Lynne Kelly (Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wonders of Numbers: Adventures in Math, Mind, and Meaning (Hardcover)

Pickover's latest book is wonderful! I specialise in teaching very able mathematics students and have used Clifford A. Pickover's books and web site with great success. The students really respond to his sense of humour.

Wonders of Numbers is exactly the sort of material which stimulates the bright kids (and their teachers!), and gets them thinking in depth long after the class has finished. It takes them beyond the idea of just "getting sums right" to the concept that mathematics is a glorious plaything.

Many of the chapters include computer related themes (fractals, programming) so students can see that mathematics is an evolving subject, not something which was all discovered long ago.

The constant inclusion of interesting people, the humour in the writing, the validity of the topics mathematically, the strange sidelines and the general sense of fun, ensures I have another gem to extend the students beyond the regular curriculum. The chapters are just the right size to initiate a topic and motivate the students to pursue it. It is lovely to have material to use which doesn't just lead to a correct answer and end to the problem, but leads them to take it further and further.

Wonderful!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More unusual mathematics from a master, May 24, 2004

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wonders of Numbers: Adventures in Mathematics, Mind, and Meaning (Paperback)

Narrated by the outstanding and eccentric mathematician Dr. Francis Google, this book is a collection of unusual mathematics problems, from those involving very large numbers to those defined by applying operations. For example, the Leviathan number (10^666)! is used to demonstrate that it is not necessary to compute a number to learn some of the properties that it has. Sets of numbers such as apocalyptic numbers, those that involve 666, the number of the beast, appear several times. One of my favorites are the Schizophrenic numbers, defined by the formula f(n) = 10 * f(n-1)+n, f(0) = 0, which is a set of integers demonstrating a simple pattern. However, the action starts when the square roots of the numbers are taken. These roots exhibit an unusual, repeated pattern in their digits.
Some incidents of mathematical history that are interesting trivia are also used. The number 365, 365, 365, 365, 365, 365 is supposedly the largest number that was ever squared in the head of a human. Other segments were based on surveys, where people answered questions such as, "Which would have had the greatest impact on the world as we know it today: `If Albert Einstein had lived another twenty years with a clear mind?', `If mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan had lived another twenty years with a clear mind?", If Steven Hawking was not afflicted with Lou Gehrig's disease?'." A ranking of the top eight female mathematicians of all time, a listing of the five greatest scandals in mathematics history, the ten most important unsolved mathematical problems, the ten most influential mathematicians of all time, the ten most influential mathematicians alive today and the ten most difficult areas of mathematics to understand provide additional intellectual fodder.
Every time I read a Pickover book, the number of ideas used as the seeds to generate the text astounds me. He always seems able to come up with new twists on old problems and sometimes new problems that set your brain moving in circular motions as you try to comprehend the consequences of the statements and attempt to follow the logical consequences of the transformations. While some of the best books keep you reading from page to page without stopping, others cause you to read a little, process a lot and then read some more. That is what this book did to me, and I am sure that it will do the same to you.

Published in the recreational mathematics e-mail newsletter, reprinted with permission.