Customer Reviews

From Zero to Infinity: What Makes Numbers Interesting

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

 

 

Few books capture the range and rapture of mathematics like this one. Even though only twelve numbers are discussed, (zero through 9, e and aleph-zero), many of the trials, tribulations and joys of numbers and their admirers comes through. The style cannot merely be described by the word clarity, as this is a work that can be read by virtually anyone, even though a lot of mathematics is presented.
With numbers being touched, almost lovingly fondled, rather than discussed, this book belongs in every library. And it should be read, and read, and read, . . .

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

Constance Reid is one of those authors where I ended up buying everything she wrote. If you are advanced in mathematics she might be a tad elementary; but if you are an imbecile when it comes to mathematics as I am, you may find her interesting. It is number theory; however Reid's relationship with the little fellows seems to be more personal, more introspective than many number theorists.

For those of us who have passed out of our secondary schools & liked Mathematics - though our yearly transcripts told a different story - this book is a wonderful walk down the memory lane. Without the fear of our scores in Mathematics being a reflection of our worth, number theory is not just interesting - as in a intellectual domain - but also awe inspiring - as in the philosophical domain around what these numbers are telling us by exhibiting all these relationships.

We have gotten more & more efficient at telling if a number is prime, & yet we have no method of generating one. We know the each number can be squared, & both the count of numbers & the corresponding count of their squares are infinite, yet the constructs of equality, congruence & basic mathematical operations are baffling when applied to infinity. In chapters dwelling from 0 to 9 & then going onto 'e' & 'aleph zero' - or infinity of first order cardinality - Reid brings alive the 'easiest to understand intuitively but very difficult to prove Mathematically' relationships, theorems & properties of the entire number system. To be fair, some of it was a little terse & made my head spin & imagination boggle, in Bertie Wooster's words, - but that could just be me - & some of it, was plain riveting.

Most of the chapters, contrary to my initial expectation, were actually about wider concepts than just the numbers themselves. For example, 2 was about the binary number system, 3 about the primes, 4 about squares, 6 about perfect numbers & 8 about cubes. With7, I was plainly baffled, & I have no recall of what that was about - perhaps primes of a different type or something. The chapter on 'aleph-zero' would take me a few rebirths, per the Hindu system, to comprehend.

On an idle Saturday, if you want to revisit what Maths at school was like - read this book. It'll bring joy or make you feel like an worthless nincompoop. I do not know any Maths to tell you which one of the two is more likely - & yes, I have heard of statistical probability & measures of confidence & all that. :)

I found this book very pleasant to read; the practice questions at the end of each chapter are very interesting and encourages deep thoughts and further reading. However, the book contains quite a few errors, mostly typos , and I found the logic of particular chapters difficult to follow (for example, the narration jumps from one topic to another with only loose connection, as if it was merely for bringing up the unrelated but important topic). Overall I feel this book is entertaining to read, but contains errors that need to be fixed.