Coincidences, Chaos, And All That Math Jazz: Making Light Of Weighty Ideas - Hardcover

Burger, Edward B.; Starbird, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393059456 ISBN 13: 9780393059458

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2005

Synopsis

An irreverent and accessible explanation of challenging puzzles within the world of mathematics considers such topics as the link between a pineapple's spirals and the famous Fibonacci numbers, the shape of the universe as reflected by a twisted strip of paper, and the parallels between the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations. 50,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author:

Edward B. Burger (Williams College) and Michael Starbird (University of Texas at Austin) are award-winning professors, authors, and speakers.

From Booklist:

As if they were comedy-club stand-ups, Burger and Starbird employ puns and silly scenarios to tickle those who wouldn't ordinarily pick up a math book. Everyone, however fearful of the topic, uses math in daily life. Two popular fixations with numbers that the authors home in on include the amazing similarities between John Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln and playing the lottery. Describing the easy math beneath superficially wondrous things, often no more complicated than enumeration and arithmetic, Burger and Starbird dispel the astounding to reveal what a little logical rigor can do, and they use their schtick to keep things light. Avoiding alarming announcements, they never charge headlong into a topic such as the Golden Ratio, but circumscribe it by counting swirls on pineapples and noting the ratio's frequent appearance in nature and in art. Likewise, Burger and Starbird don't bludgeon readers with number theory, geometry, or topology; they take up origami or spin a yarn about a tsetse fly. A profusely illustrated, bemusingly unorthodox introduction to math. Gilbert Taylor
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About this edition

• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0393059456
• ISBN 13: 9780393059458
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 276