And this book is also an answer (without actually trying to be) to all those people who ask – 'Why do we learn math if it has no real application in life?

It's no mean feat to be able to explain concepts like Zeno's paradox, regression to the mean, squaring a circle and Riemann's non-Euclidean geometry without using any equations. Most of the anecdotes and stories about former mathematicians I already knew, but it’s nice to have them all in one place. org In addition to cataloging number sequences, there is a tool for converting the sequence into musical notes.It is incredibly neutral in its treatment of all the branches of math, no matter how bogus they may seem (I'm looking at you, Vedic math). The style is laced with humour, but at all times, the star of the show is mathematics Ian Stewart, Prospect It is to be hoped that the uncountable delights of Bellos’s book, its verve and feeling for mathematics, convey its enchantments to a new generation. In December 2009, the record for determining the digital expansion of pi was broken, and now stands at 2. But you would be hard-pressed to find a book on this subject with the same humour, wonder, and with the comfort of knowing that the author is resolutely on your side on this (sometimes difficult) adventure through the land of numbers and shapes.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Logarithms exposed the limitations of a brain that can memorise useless facts but could not hope to make the abstract concrete in a month of infinite Sundays. Bellos starts his tour of the mathematical world with some anthropology, asking whether numbers are something natural to humans, or whether they are learned and constructed. It is not included in promotions available to our main range products, as stated in our terms of service. Their lines tended to compress the distances between higher numbers — a logarithmic as opposed to linear depiction.

The insights and intuition you get for the most basic tenets of mathematics from this book Is just exquisite. It is noticeable that the author is trying to offer something to readers who have little or nothing to do with numbers and maths. In my opinion it was a more appropriate title, mirroring some of the spirit of Lewis Carroll's verbal playfulness.