The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Numbers: Revised Edition: Wells, David: 9780140261493: Amazon.com: Books

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The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Numbers: Revised Edition Paperback – May 1, 1998

by David Wells (Author)

4.5 84 ratings

Part of: Penguin Press Science (4 books)

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Everything you wanted to know about numbers is included in this book, including aliquot sequences, the cattle problem, Pascal’s triangle, and the Syracuse algorithm.

Why was the number of Hardy’s taxi significant? Why does Graham’s number need its own notation? How many grains of sand would fill the universe? What is the connection between the Golden Ratio and sunflowers? Why is 999 more than a distress call?

All these questions and a host more are answered in this fascinating book, now revised with nearly 200 extra entries as well as 250 additions to the original entries. There is even a comprehensive index for those annoying occasions when you remember the name but can’t recall the number.

Part of series

Penguin Press Science
Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Books
Publication date

May 1, 1998
Grade level

12 and up
Reading age

18 years and up
Dimensions

5.25 x 0.75 x 7.75 inches
ISBN-10

9780140261493
ISBN-13

978-0140261493
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Wells was born in 1940. He had the rare distinction of being a Cambridge scholar in mathematics and failing his degree. He subsequently trained as a teacher and after working on computers and teaching machines taught mathematics and science in primary schools and mathematics in secondary schools. While at university he became the British under-21 chess champion, and in the mid 1970s was a game inventor, a puzzle composer, and the puzzle editor of Games and Puzzles magazine. From 1981 to 1983 he published The Problem Solver, a magazine of mathematical problems for students. He has published several books of problems and popular mathematics including The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry, The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Puzzles, The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Mathematics, and, also for Penguin, You Are a Mathematician.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0140261494
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Revised, Subsequent edition (May 1, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780140261493
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140261493
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 12 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.75 x 7.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #930,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #124 in Number Systems (Books)
- #204 in Number Theory (Books)
- #217 in Mathematics Reference (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 84 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

84 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

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Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2012

Verified Purchase

For me, this is a dream book: I can read it on the bus to work (with the necessary ear-plugs inserted to filter out cellphone conversations) and marvel at the succinct, witty and colorful entries & all that they convey about the magic of numbers. I recommend it to anyone who loves mathematics and who occasionally gives rein to the impulse to tell other people all about the amazingly weird thing one just discovered about a certain number ...

BUT.

I wanted to dock this half a star. I also wanted to seek out David Wells and shake him down, because ... a number of entries mention a function, phi(n) (this is not "the golden ratio," by the way, although that phi is also discussed in this book). I had no idea what this function was or entailed, so checked in the index, according to which the function is defined under the entry for the number 30. I repaired to the entry for the number 30 and found ... no such definition. Aiee! I looked again. And again. Could not find it. There _is_ an anomalous blank line in the paragraph under the heading '30' ... perhaps it was there and somehow got dropped (and never re-inserted) in a reprinting? I don't know.

I eventually looked the function up in other books, and it IS interesting ... but what happened to Well's entry?

Eventually I will have read through the entire book and, if it is in there somewhere, I will find it -- and come back here to update this review (either that or someone will point out to me where it is).

UPDATE 11.2.12: Of course I found it -- it is defined, along with a number of other functions / things, in the Glossary at the front of the book.

I should also add that the Kindle edition should be avoided. My experience with Kindle + mathematical content has been woeful.

11 people found this helpful

Glad to have this gem in digit form: I found an error on page 5 (the copy/paste calls it page 6)

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

My paper copy has started to come apart so I was glad to see a digit one available. This is a must for number fanatics.

I've just started but I've found an error and don't know what to do:

On page five (the Kindle cut/paste says page 6) in the digit copy there is this:

A friend of Pascal, Antoine Arnauld, argued that if negative numbers exist, then − 1/ 1 must equal − 1/ 1, which seems to assert that the ratio of a smaller to a larger quantity is equal to the ratio of the same larger quantity to the same smaller.

(Wells, David. The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers (Penguin Press Science) (p. 6). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition. )

That is a mistake and my 1986 hard copy has it correct: "...then -1/1 must equal 1/-1, which seems to assert..."

4 people found this helpful

Kevin Todd Clepps

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2015

Verified Purchase

It is great book.it is very informative. i think most people would LOVE this book

The Laughing Man

a little outdated, but the only book of its kind

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2011

Verified Purchase

This book is fantastic. It delves very heavily into the history and character of mathematics and particularly mathematicians. Furthermore, it shows all the tantalizing structures to numbers that most people ignore. This kind of point by point scrutiny of the landscape of numbers is very enlightening and indeed interesting. There is also a lot of humor in the writing, which is much appreciated.

The only problem is the outdated state of the book. I can only wonder what new amazing things we have discovered floating up in the hundreds of digits of numbers that have appeared to us thanks to our invention of computers. The beasts there are much more curious and bizarre (as many functions that we take for granted only appear as nice as they do because we examine them when they are close to a few select points close to 0).

4 people found this helpful

Gandalf Greyhame

Math Teacher's Friend!

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2020

Verified Purchase

This little book is full of numbers, and why the author thought they were interesting. If you're teaching math to grade school level kids, this is chock full of interesting little bits that will perk the student's interest, but will also may trigger them to understand one or another aspect of mathematics.

And if you're a math buff, it's just plain a fun read.

...Wish I could give this book at least SIX stars!!

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2013

Verified Purchase

...If I were allowed to possess only one mathematics-related book, this probably would be the one. It is like a lifelong dream that
came true...an amazing collection of fun, fabulous facts about e, i, pi, -1, 0, most whole numbers under 100, and hundreds more
numbers, leading to the largest then-known primes and Graham's Number. If ONLY this book existed decades ago, and if ONLY
the millions of school pupils struggling with/disliking/hating math could see the numeric beauties in this volume! As it, the book is
an exhilirating reminder of how and why I enjoy the mathematics and properties of numbers so much !! This book deserves at least several thousand reviews!

One person found this helpful

Aileen M Zsenyuk

Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2013

Verified Purchase

I purchased this as a gift for my grandson who is fascinated by numbers. I know he'll love the book.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Worth it on Kindle

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2019

Verified Purchase

Very interesting at the book ends... ie small and large numbers. Middle is a little dull.

Buy on Kindle

Top reviews from other countries

George HH

Interesting read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 29, 2024

Verified Purchase

Got this as a Christmas present for younger brother who loves maths.
I had a flick through it and there's loads of random interesting facts, equations and methods to read about.
It's not just about the numbers themselves, it expands into more.
Suitable for any academic level for people interested in maths generally.

archana bora

Good

Reviewed in India on October 31, 2019

Verified Purchase

Good

Mik

Figure fascination

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 16, 2013

Verified Purchase

Curious and Interesting is right. If numbers grab you, this needs to be on your bookshelf. There is some deep mathematics, but you can either revel or skip it. Algebra, arithmetic and geometry abound, but its attraction is the huge amount of fascination available by just plain messing about with numbers in a massive way. Whimsy, biographical snippets, and surprises are everywhere. It's a dipping book for relaxation and a practical book for special birthday comments! Did you know that 18 is the sum of the digits of its cube?

4 people found this helpful

Woody Friend

Fibonacci coming on?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

Too clever by half. But the half I do understand is a joy. And maybe I can aspire to 'too clever by a third'.

2 people found this helpful

J Z A

For the curious and numerate

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 30, 2015

Verified Purchase

An old fashioned sort of book and full of intellectual curiosities for those who enjoy numbers. Some more illustrations would have been nice.

One person found this helpful

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