Five Golden Rules: Great Theories of 20th-Century Mathematics--and Why They Matter - Hardcover

Casti, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471002615 ISBN 13: 9780471002611

Publisher: Wiley, 1995

Synopsis

Praise for Five Golden Rules

"Casti is one of the great science writers of the 1990s. . . . If you'd like to have fun while giving your brain a first-class workout, then check this book out."-Keay Davidson in the San Francisco Examiner.

"Five Golden Rules is caviar for the inquiring reader. . . . There is joy here in watching the unfolding of these intricate and beautiful techniques. Casti's gift is to be able to let the nonmathematical reader share in his understanding of the beauty of a good theory." -Christian Science Monitor.

"Merely knowing about the existence of some of these golden rules may spark new, interesting-maybe revolutionary-ideas in your mind." -Robert Matthews in New Scientist (United Kingdom).

"This book has meat! It is solid fare, food for thought. Five Golden Rules makes math less forbidding and much more interesting." -Ben Bova in the Hartford Courant

"With this groundbreaking work, John Casti shows himself to be a great mathematics writer. Five Golden Rules is a feast of rare new delights all made perfectly comprehensible." -Rudy Rucker, author of The Fourth Dimension.

"With the lucid informality for which he has become known, John Casti has written an engaging and articulate examination of five great mathematical theorems and their myriad applications." -John Allen Paulos, author of A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper.

About this title

Review:

What do mathematicians do all day, and why in the world should we care? Science writer John L. Casti approaches these questions with characteristic flair in Five Golden Rules, a short work explaining five important 20th-century mathematical theories and their importance in our daily lives. The reader is left with a new appreciation for the men and women who are paid to do little but think and convince their peers that their thoughts are important. Von Neumann's minimax theorem, crucial for modern economics and military strategy, is first up, and Casti expresses its simple elegance in terms that even those with the rustiest high school math can handle. Four other theories, covering topology, computing, optimization, and singularities, get their turn, and each is a work of beauty much like the greatest poems or paintings of our time. Some of the practical applications are surprising (who knew that geometrical analysis can tell us if a joke will be funny?) but more surprising still is our general ignorance of the role math plays in our lives. Though the material gets more involved as the book progresses, elementary algebra and geometry, coupled with a willingness to work things out before proceeding, will suffice for most readers. Casti has once again gifted us with a clear, penetrating book covering a subject still largely uncovered. Five Golden Rules will make math real even to the most hardened number-phobe. --Rob Lightner

From the Publisher:

An accessible and engaging treatment of the world's greatest mathematical theorems. Devoted to one theorem, each chapter introduces the mathematicians who created the theorem and the history of math at that time. Explains, in simple terms, what the theorem says and how it was proved. Numerous diagrams, cartoons and examples illustrate how the theorem works and bring the math to life.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0471002615
• ISBN 13: 9780471002611
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256