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Math Adventures with Python: An Illustrated Guide to Exploring Math with Code
Learn math by getting creative with code! Use the Python programming language to transform learning high school-level math topics like algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus!
Math Adventures with Python will show you how to harness the power of programming to keep math relevant and fun. With the aid of the Python programming language, you'll learn how to visualize solutions to a range of math problems as you use code to explore key mathematical concepts like algebra, trigonometry, matrices, and cellular automata.
Once you've learned the programming basics like loops and variables, you'll write your own programs to solve equations quickly, make cool things like an interactive rainbow grid, and automate tedious tasks like factoring numbers and finding square roots. You'll learn how to write functions to draw and manipulate shapes, create oscillating sine waves, and solve equations graphically.
You'll also learn how to:
- Draw and transform 2D and 3D graphics with matrices
- Make colorful designs like the Mandelbrot and Julia sets with complex numbers
- Use recursion to create fractals like the Koch snowflake and the Sierpinski triangle
- Generate virtual sheep that graze on grass and multiply autonomously
- Crack secret codes using genetic algorithms
As you work through the book's numerous examples and increasingly challenging exercises, you'll code your own solutions, create beautiful visualizations, and see just how much more fun math can be!
Math Adventures with Python will show you how to harness the power of programming to keep math relevant and fun. With the aid of the Python programming language, you'll learn how to visualize solutions to a range of math problems as you use code to explore key mathematical concepts like algebra, trigonometry, matrices, and cellular automata.
Once you've learned the programming basics like loops and variables, you'll write your own programs to solve equations quickly, make cool things like an interactive rainbow grid, and automate tedious tasks like factoring numbers and finding square roots. You'll learn how to write functions to draw and manipulate shapes, create oscillating sine waves, and solve equations graphically.
You'll also learn how to:
- Draw and transform 2D and 3D graphics with matrices
- Make colorful designs like the Mandelbrot and Julia sets with complex numbers
- Use recursion to create fractals like the Koch snowflake and the Sierpinski triangle
- Generate virtual sheep that graze on grass and multiply autonomously
- Crack secret codes using genetic algorithms
As you work through the book's numerous examples and increasingly challenging exercises, you'll code your own solutions, create beautiful visualizations, and see just how much more fun math can be!
276 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2019
59 people are currently reading
235 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 17, 2020
I loved the book because the examples were presented in a very clear/visual way.
The complexity also was gradually increased, so a person starting from the beginning could go through all of the examples in the book and have a better understanding of how math is applied in programming/science. There were some typos and the author used camelCase which for Python I found unusaul, but other than these small caveats the book was great.
The complexity also was gradually increased, so a person starting from the beginning could go through all of the examples in the book and have a better understanding of how math is applied in programming/science. There were some typos and the author used camelCase which for Python I found unusaul, but other than these small caveats the book was great.
February 5, 2020
I could not wait to read Math adventures with python. I was so excited to learn how to use processing for math. I never knew that python had a turtle. I thought only Logo had a turtle. And I was excited to learn about Mandelbrot sets, Julia sets, Cellular Automata, genetic algorithms.
I read thought the book. And then I was going to copy the code by hand into a text file or processing. I made it all the way to the grid program. I kept getting an error so then I decided to download all the code from git instead of copying all the code from the book by hand. Now I can read the code on my computer and run it knowing that I will not get any errors.
This book was fun to read. It made math very understandable. I am not saying I can remember a lot of what I read. I am no math wiz after all.
I hope that math adventures with python starts me on a path to using python to solve math problems. It was well worth the time it took me to read Math adventures with python.
I read thought the book. And then I was going to copy the code by hand into a text file or processing. I made it all the way to the grid program. I kept getting an error so then I decided to download all the code from git instead of copying all the code from the book by hand. Now I can read the code on my computer and run it knowing that I will not get any errors.
This book was fun to read. It made math very understandable. I am not saying I can remember a lot of what I read. I am no math wiz after all.
I hope that math adventures with python starts me on a path to using python to solve math problems. It was well worth the time it took me to read Math adventures with python.
December 1, 2020
*** Possible Spoilers ***
This book was well written, enjoyable and quite interesting; however, if you're hoping to acquire skills in Python you may be disappointed. There is very little independent practice for the reader. The author poses a topic, proceeds to implement it in Python and you can follow along but there's a big difference between copying code presented in a book and acquiring the skill to formulate that code. What you will have when you finish is a pretty good library of examples on which to draw going forward and, in my experience, when developing a program, grabbing a piece of code similar to the one underdevelopment is a good starting place. On the other hand, you won't be entirely comfortable with the language until you invest quite a bit more time working on problems of your own.
This book was well written, enjoyable and quite interesting; however, if you're hoping to acquire skills in Python you may be disappointed. There is very little independent practice for the reader. The author poses a topic, proceeds to implement it in Python and you can follow along but there's a big difference between copying code presented in a book and acquiring the skill to formulate that code. What you will have when you finish is a pretty good library of examples on which to draw going forward and, in my experience, when developing a program, grabbing a piece of code similar to the one underdevelopment is a good starting place. On the other hand, you won't be entirely comfortable with the language until you invest quite a bit more time working on problems of your own.
December 21, 2022
Interesting book to learn some basic math and programming. but with caveats.
While the first part of the guides you step by step through some basic math and more complex math in an interesting way (something i can see children and teenagers may like), the last few chapters skip quite a lot on the math, and focus more on the programming, and advanced concepts that are not fully explained.
Also, while this book indicates it uses python, it actually uses "processing". a graphical interface that can be combined with Python. Use version 3.5.4, because the latest one did now allow for python-mode installation.
Overall, fun and interesting book, but I would try to improve a bit more on the last 3 chapters, providing more intuition on what they are aiming to achieve. Specially if the goal is to attract School level math/programmers.
While the first part of the guides you step by step through some basic math and more complex math in an interesting way (something i can see children and teenagers may like), the last few chapters skip quite a lot on the math, and focus more on the programming, and advanced concepts that are not fully explained.
Also, while this book indicates it uses python, it actually uses "processing". a graphical interface that can be combined with Python. Use version 3.5.4, because the latest one did now allow for python-mode installation.
Overall, fun and interesting book, but I would try to improve a bit more on the last 3 chapters, providing more intuition on what they are aiming to achieve. Specially if the goal is to attract School level math/programmers.
October 7, 2024
Probably high school level math and programing, but was a fun book to help me get going on python programming.
Most of the examples require the Processing application, but can easily be adapted into regular python programs.
Most of the examples require the Processing application, but can easily be adapted into regular python programs.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews