Nice Numbers
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Beschreibung
In this intriguing book, John Barnes takes us on a journey through aspects of numbers much as he took us on a geometrical journey in Gems of Geometry. Similarly originating from a series of lectures for adult students at Reading and Oxford University, this book touches a variety of amusing and fascinating topics regarding numbers and their uses both ancient and modern. The author intrigues and challenges his audience with both fundamental number topics such as prime numbers and cryptography, and themes of daily needs and pleasures such as counting one's assets, keeping track of time, and enjoying music. Puzzles and exercises at the end of each lecture offer additional inspiration, and numerous illustrations accompany the reader. Furthermore, a number of appendices provides in-depth insights into diverse topics such as Pascal’s triangle, the Rubik cube, Mersenne’s curious keyboards, and many others. A theme running through is the thought of what is our favourite number.
Written in an engaging and witty style and requiring only basic school mathematical knowledge, this book will appeal to both young and mature readers fascinated by the curiosities of numbers.
In this intriguing book, John Barnes takes us on a journey through aspects of numbers much as he took us on a geometrical journey in Gems of Geometry. Similarly originating from a series of lectures for adult students at Reading and Oxford University, this book touches a variety of amusing and fascinating topics regarding numbers and their uses both ancient and modern.
The author informs and intrigues his audience with both fundamental number topics such as prime numbers and cryptography, and themes of daily needs and pleasures such as counting one's assets, keeping track of time, and enjoying music. Puzzles and exercises at the end of each lecture offer additional inspiration, and numerous illustrations accompany the reader. Furthermore, a number of appendices provides in-depth insights into diverse topics such as Pascal's triangle, the Rubik cube, Mersenne's curious keyboards, and many others. A theme running through is the thought of what is our favourite number.
Written in an engaging and witty style and requiring only basic school mathematical knowledge, this book will appeal to both young and mature readers fascinated by the curiosities of numbers.
Entertains, amuses and captivates with insights on the presence of numbers in daily life Provides countless color illustrations Explains the mathematics behind music Includes a fascinating chapter on bell-ringing Supplies a number of in-depth appendices on specific topics such as Rubik’s cube Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Autor*in
John Barnes
Themen in »Nice Numbers«
numbers primes cryptography bellringing music calendar probability rubik cube babylonian
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“Nice numbers delivers a multi-layered experience to readers of differing mathematical knowledge. … The versatility of this book means that it is suitable for anything between a few paragraphs' glance up to a serious level of study. Those of all mathematical abilities will be able to pick it up and find something that interests them and their level of engagement.” (Harry Gray, Plus, plus.maths.org, August, 2018)
“The lectures comprise the ten chapters of the book. … the book is suitable for any reader who can do high school level mathematics and has the interest and curiosity to follow Barnes on his wide-ranging explorations. Each chapter ends with suggestions for further reading; most chapters have someexercises for the reader to attempt … .” (Michael Caulfield, MAA Reviews, July, 2017)
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