1089 and All That - A Journey into Mathematics

Much of David Acheson’s accessible overview of some of the highpoints of mathematics is delightful and even amazing. There is something startling about seeing the beauty of a proof for a theorem for the first time. And whether it is Pythagoras or Pi or e or i, the story of discovery in the history of the subject lends support to belief that we (well, some smart people at least) may be able to solve almost any problem, even problems we don’t even imagine yet. Acheson catches this enthusiasm nicely.

The risk, of course, for anyone of Acheson’s mathematical prowess writing for the general public is that almost anything that might be included in such a book will be seen as “simple” by him. Indeed, whether it is the following simple show more example, or something that can be seen simply, or by performing some simple algebra, the general reader rather quickly gets the impression that it is they themselves who are simple. That’s not really a complaint. No one reads a book like this hoping to learn that mathematicians are no more clever than the rest of us. We read it, I suspect, to be amazed. And for the most part, I was.

Gently recommended. show less

Fun little book on maths. The author aims at a technically literate audience, and is not afraid of an equation or a diagram. But maths is lots of fun. He is also clearly fascinated with the history of his subject, which is an excellent way to learn about maths. Some of the demonstrations are truly astounding, like the famous upside down triple jointed pendulum, which can be made to stand up if the fulcrum is vibrated in the correct way. He teaches fluid mechanics and differential equations, and makes these arcane subjects actually mean something.

If you enjoyed this book, and actually want to learn something, read Acheson's [Calculus and Chaos], which is a general course in calculus and differential equations, and with a bit of show more persistance you will actually understand these difficult subjects, which are not really difficult at all. show less

Minireview: This slight volume, both slim and small, introduces some of the central ideas and most famous results of mathematics, focusing on methods of proof and interesting applications. Few details are given for any topic, but the prose is clean and clear. I appreciated the book as someone who was already familiar with most of the main ideas, but I'm not sure how much a true novice would get out of it.

A marvel of minimalism: starting from the Pythagorean theorem, just 170 undersized, large-print pages manage to introduce, without seeming to hurry, number theory, algebra, analytic geometry, calculus, infinite series, chaos theory, complex exponentials, and more.

A very interesting book written by a Mathematician for the general public. Everyone can enjoy the book; no strong Mathematics background is required. With a little knowledge of Calculus, you can explore the whole journey created by the author.

A nice very short book. Suitable for someone at O level or above.

Herleitung der Ableitung war schön.

Veranschaulichung des Variationsprinzips mittels Seifenfilmen war auch schön.