The Mathematics Lover’s Companion: Masterpieces for Everyone

Twenty-three mathematical masterpieces for exploration and enlightenment

How can a shape have more than one dimension but fewer than two? What is the best way to elect public officials when more than two candidates are vying for the office? Is it possible for a highly accurate medical test to give mostly incorrect results? Can you tile your floor with regular pentagons? How can you use only the first digit of sales numbers to determine if your accountant is lying? Can mathematics give insights into free will?
 
Edward Scheinerman, an accomplished mathematician and enthusiastic educator, answers all these questions and more in this book, a collection of mathematical masterworks. In bite-sized chapters that require only high school algebra, he invites readers to try their hands at solving mathematical puzzles and provides an engaging and friendly tour of numbers, shapes, and uncertainty. The result is an unforgettable introduction to the fundamentals and pleasures of thinking mathematically.

• The Calculus Story: A Mathematical Adventure
• Reverse Mathematics: Proofs from the Inside Out
• A Most Elegant Equation: Euler’s Formula and the Beauty of Mathematics
• Finding Fibonacci: The Quest to Rediscover the Forgotten Mathematical Genius Who Changed the World
• Drawing Physics: 2,600 Years of Discovery From Thales to Higgs (The MIT Press)
• Numbers and the Making of Us: Counting and the Course of Human Cultures
• Significant Figures: The Lives and Work of Great Mathematicians
• The Prime Number Conspiracy: The Biggest Ideas in Math from Quanta (The MIT Press)
• Ten Great Ideas about Chance
• Foolproof, and Other Mathematical Meditations (The MIT Press)