Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Mathematical Circusby Martin Gardner
None Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. no reviews | add a review
Is contained in
The twenty chapters of this book are nicely balanced between all sorts of stimulating ideas, suggested by down-to-earth objects like match sticks and dollar bills as well as by faraway objects like planets and infinite random walks. We learn about ancient devices for arithmetic and about modern explanations of artificial intelligence. There are feasts here for the eyes and hands as well as for the brain. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)793.74The arts Recreational and performing arts Indoor games and amusements Non-action games, puzzles [boardgames now 794] Mathematical games and puzzlesLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
This book is more designedly for entertainment than my usual math reads, but there were points where the mathematical sophistication was every bit as challenging. Of special interest to me were the chapters on hyperspheres, Boolean algebra, and palindromes. The "Solar System Oddities" chapter is surprisingly unencumbered by antiquated references to Pluto, and has a really fascinating digest of solar system paradigms from Pythagoras to Einstein. Chess material is confined to one item each in the two smorgasbord chapters.
A full bibliography indicates Gardner's sources.