Conics (Dolciani Mathematical Expositions)

by Keith Kendig (Author)

2 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0883853351

ISBN-10: 0883853353

Why is ISBN important?

Sell yours for a Gift Card
We'll buy it for $2.00
Learn More
Trade in now

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

More Buying Choices

10 New from $54.65 18 Used from $40.19

28 used & new from $40.19

See All Buying Options

Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

A CD containing 36 applets packaged with the book. This book engages the reader in a journey of discovery through a spirited discussion among three characters: Philosopher, Teacher and Student. Throughout the book, Philosopher pursues his dream of a unified theory of conics, where exceptions are banished. With a helpful teacher and example-hungry student, the trio soon finds that conics reveal much of their beauty when viewed over the complex numbers. In their odyssey, they uncover a goldmine of unsuspected results. They experience a series of “Aha!” moments as they stumble upon living brothers to familiar conics objects like foci and directrices. They also discover a normally-unseen ellipse spanning the gap between the branches of any hyperbola. On the applied side, they learn how two interfering wave sources create systems of hyperbolas; these are used in making astonishingly precise astronomical observations. All these discoveries are profusely illustrated with pictures, worked-out examples, a generous selection of exercises, and a CD containing 36 applets. If you've ever needed a conics formula for area, eccentricity, curvature and the like, look in the formula appendix. Here are dozens of useful formulas-a set for each of eight different ways of looking at a conic: as a cone slice; as the path of a planet moving under the influence of a fixed sun; constructed using two stakes and string; plus five other sets. CONICS is written in an easy, conversational style, and many historical tidbits and other points of interest are scattered throughout the text. Many students can self-study the book without outside help. This book is ideal for anyone having a little exposure to linear algebra and complex numbers. System Requirements for running the applets 128 MB of RAM Windows: Pentium 4: Windows NT/2000, or Windows XP Macintosh: G4 or G5 processor: Mac OS X v. 10.3.4 or later Safari browser recommended for the Mac

Conics (Dolciani Mathematical Expositions)

Available from these sellers.

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Prof. Keith Kendig

1

Paperback
$18.03
A. V. Akopyan

2

Paperback
$18.51
J. W. Downs

4

Paperback
$12.27
Tom Apostol

3

Hardcover
$75.00
Thomas Garrity

2

Paperback
$50.64
Nicholas J. Higham

6

Hardcover
$76.77

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product Details

Series: Dolciani Mathematical Expositions
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: The Mathematical Association of America (June 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0883853353
ISBN-13: 978-0883853351
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,716,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #786 in Books > Science & Math > Mathematics > Geometry & Topology > Topology
- #1594 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics > Geometry
- #16236 in Books > Science & Math > Mathematics > Applied

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars

5 star		0%
4 star		0%
3 star		100%
2 star		0%
1 star		0%

See both customer reviews

Share your thoughts with other customers

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful

Author gets in the way of the story

By Jerry on March 26, 2011

Format: Hardcover

This book is a treasure of information about conics, hyperbola, sphere etc. It is just a little above me, a Cal III student but with persistence I can learn a little here and there. Sadly, it is difficult to read; the author gets in the way. The author is trying too hard to be a narrative writer with dialog between the Philosopher, the Teacher and the Student. On numerous occasions he says things like 'This is interesting...' Any one who has taken a beginning writers course is taught 'Don't say "This is interesting..."; just say what you have to say and the reader would find it interesting.'

In addition, he insists on putting historical pieces throughout the text. The dialog and historical boxes get in the way of the ellipses, the concentric circles, the radii...

This is a shame: I wonder how many readers, like me, were turned away and unable to make it through the book.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful

Interesting if...

By André Gargoura on January 20, 2013