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William W. Dunham
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The Mathematical Universe: An Alphabetical Journey Through the Great Proofs, Problems, and Personalities 1st Edition

by William Dunham (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 103 ratings
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"Dunham writes for nonspecialists, and they will enjoy his piquantanecdotes and amusing asides -- Booklist

"Artfully, Dunham conducts a tour of the mathematical universe. . .he believes these ideas to be accessible to the audience he wantsto reach, and he writes so that they are." -- Nature

"If you want to encourage anyone's interest in math, get them TheMathematical Universe."
* New Scientist
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  1. ISBN-10
    9780471536567
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0471536567
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    Wiley
  5. Publication date
    July 28, 1994
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6.38 x 0.98 x 9.57 inches
  8. Print length
    314 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Like John Allen Paulos's Beyond Numeracy (LJ 4/1/91), this is an A-to-Z collection of mathematical essays. The advantage of this format is that it lets the author hit the highlights in essays that can be read independently. This collection is less cantankerous than Paulos's, and it is also somewhat more focused and mathematically challenging, though still written for a popular audience. Dunham (Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics, Wiley, 1990) is winner of the 1993 George Polya Award for excellence in math writing, an honor he richly deserves. He is fascinated by the nature of mathematical genius, and the theme of these essays is the personality and eccentricities of mathematicians and the brilliance of their discoveries. For sophisticated readers who don't mind equations (including algebra, geometry, and calculus), this is a rewarding and entertaining look at the history of mathematics.
Amy Brunvand, Fort Lewis Coll. Lib., Durango, Col.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Start with a for Arithmetic and wend your way to z, the symbol for complex numbers, and you will have completed Dunham's wonderfully informative tour of mathematics. Readers ought not turn away from this book because equations make them queazy and formulas leave them confused. Dunham writes for nonspecialists, and they will enjoy his piquant anecdotes and amusing asides even if they cannot follow all of his (simplified) derivations and illustrative problems. What president published an original proof of the Pythagorean theorem just four years before his election? What Nobel laureate unearthed a paradox that discredited his own logical system? What distinguished mathematician and scientist wrote almost a million words on alchemy? In providing the surprising answers to these and other questions, Dunham sheds light not only on the personalities--eccentric, vain, brilliant--of major mathematicians, but also on contemporary social issues, such as multiculturalism and gender equity. Readers who want to understand the cultural significance of mathematics would do well to begin with this book. Bryce Christensen

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0471536563
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley; 1st edition (July 28, 1994)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 314 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780471536567
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0471536567
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.44 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.38 x 0.98 x 9.57 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 103 ratings

About the author

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William W. Dunham

William W. Dunham

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William Dunham, Koehler Professor of Mathematics at Muhlenberg College, is the author of "Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics"; "The Mathematical Universe"; and "Euler: The Master of Us All". He has received the Mathematical Association of America's George Polya, Trevor Evans, and Lester R. Ford awards, as well as its Beckenbach Prize for expository writing.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
We don’t use a simple average to calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star. Our system gives more weight to certain factors—including how recent the review is and if the reviewer bought it on Amazon. Learn more
103 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

AzureBooth
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2023
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Fantastic book and so interesting! I would recommend it!
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Thomas Kotchka
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2021
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Used as a gift. I have my own copy and wished to share it with a friend who lives out of state. The book is informative and entertaining to those who are mathematically inclined, mixing history and technical concepts.
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Mike
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable for dipping
Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2006
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I really enjoyed  Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics , so was looking forward to peeling the cover off this book, however i was a little disappointed to find repeated text from the earlier book. That Ramanujan is missing is surprising (only mentioned in a passing reference to discuss gender imbalance). It would have been nice to have heard a little about this mathematical phenomenon, even if to just discuss the number 1729, if his theorems were deemed to difficult for a general audience. For these 2 points it loses a star.

Dunham utilizes his gift for giving clear expositions in an entertaining and engaging manner. Another good read.
5 people found this helpful
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Marc
5.0 out of 5 stars Great for the masses, but not for math people
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2012
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This is my least favorite Dunham book, and not because it is for the non-math masses.

This book does not really seem to have any real organization to it as his other works. And his writing is targeted to appeal to the pedestrian reader he tries a bit hard to be amusing.

It almost seems that Dunham is out of his comfort zone trying to write for the masses and not turn people off with the math.

Yes there is the math in the book, but it really is nothing of interest to the math student or math types. Unlike Journey through Genius, where he does not seem to worry about whether he lost the average reader and writes more towards the math crowd who want the math and historical.

In his other works he really does a great job of presenting the topics in a cohesive manner which develops the context and almost tells a story. In this book the organization is almost random.

The 5 stars is because for the masses, this is an easy read and hopefully will entice readers to really go back and at least try to develop a deeper understanding of math.

Also, Dunham does have his favorites and he makes that clear in his books. Everyone will have their favorites in a subject so broad with such a long history of great discovery.
6 people found this helpful
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Rune Mønnike
3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, but Kindle version in a pretty bad state.
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2016
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Enjoyable as a quick dip into a range of different fields of mathematics. Unfortunately, the Kindle version suffers from many, many typos misformatting in the mathematical equations. In some cases they are completely illegible, and the reader is left to guess what a symbol was supposed to have been.
6 people found this helpful
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Stephen Barker
5.0 out of 5 stars It keeps you interested
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2009
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This book was an incredible addition to my mathematical reading. The format is an alphabetical chapter list of mathematical topics. It was a great way to organize each thought and topic. The topics range from arithmetic to algebraic and many, many in between. He helped me link some things historically and fundamentally that I had already been practicing, which led to an even better understanding of many "basic" (not always simple) mathematical proofs. I am so happy I purchased this book, and would recommend it for the layman and and the pro.
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AmazonFan LF
5.0 out of 5 stars fun
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2014
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I love the manageable pieces and the choice of topics. A chapter on pi and a chapter on e for example are just what hope find. I'm not disappointed as math books go, this is page turner.
One person found this helpful
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Daniel Johnson
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun read. Good gift for someone interested in mathematics.
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2016
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Much easier subject matter than some of this author's other books. If you're interested in studying mathematics, you might pick this one up to see what it's about. If you like it, read "Journey Through Genius" next.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Bogdan
1.0 out of 5 stars Book content & quality
Reviewed in the Netherlands on November 16, 2021
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The content of the book is absolutely fascinating; I believe that, like Morris Kline, William Dunham is a fantastic writer of subjects related to mathematics;
The book is a delight to read: you learn about the Fundamental Theory of Arithmetic and get a proof of why there is an infinite number of primes in the 1st chapter!
However... turning to the quality of the "hardcover"... my lord! What a piece of garbage!
I opened it and the 1st page almost came flying out. All other pages are slowly coming out after turning them once. The pages are glued together, not sewn.
Therefore, I extend a very large middle finger to John Wiley & Sons for charging almost 40 EUR for such a terrible product.
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars curiosita' e metodo
Reviewed in Italy on August 29, 2019
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mi e' piaciuto il metodo della ricerca dimostrativa e la curiosita'delle notizie intorno agli oggetti matematici e ai loro protagonisti.avrei solo preferito che fosse un po' piu' approfondito .Ma capisco gli scopi dell'autore.
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K. K.
4.0 out of 5 stars 初等的話題に徹している
Reviewed in Japan on January 31, 2022
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日本でいうとおおよそ中学と高等学校で習う数学を説明している．あとは少しだけ伝記（ラッセルとかコワレフスカヤ（ただしアルファベット表記では異なる））もある．数式による表現は抑えられている．文章は英語を母語にしない人にも親しめるものでないかと思う（英語を仕事上必要としないし，英語教育にも無関係な人間の感想）．初等的な内容に徹しているため私には食い足りなかった．この否定的な感想はあくまで個人的なものである．
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Vinaya C.
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on September 10, 2015
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Very good book for a beginner.
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Geordie Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful (and humorous) introduction to the fantastic world of mathematics
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2014
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Mathematics underpins almost everything in our technological society, from computers to machines to communications, and is essential to the functioning of that society. Yet it is a closed book to the vast majority of us.
William Dunham is one of a small select band of people: professional mathematicians who can also write in a very entertaining way.
In just 26 alphabetic chapters, he takes us through some of the basic theorems of mathematics, and the lives of some of the extraordinary men (and occasional women) who have created this wondrous repository of mathematical knowledge.

One of his chapters does ask the difficult question why there have not been more great female mathematicians. Their number has been few, it's true, although they have also included some of the very greatest and original thinkers among their number like Emmy Noether.

If you want to get a clever youngster interested in mathematics, then this is the book to do it. But it's also a great book for the adult non-mathematician to learn a little about this strange and entrancing world.
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