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The Pleasures of Pi,e and Other Interesting Numbers
This is a mathematics book written specifically for the enjoyment of non-mathematicians and those who hated math in school. The book is organized into two (I) Beauty for the Eye (shallow water for the non-swimmer); and (II) A Feast for the Mind (slowly getting deeper for the more adventurous).
- GenresMathematics
266 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 28, 2012
Every now and then, I like to pick up a book about math (rather than a generic "math book"). I'm not sure what I'm looking for, and what I might find that I haven't seen before. One thing I know: I usually get lost or bogged down halfway through when I get to long series of equations that I possibly could get through if I bothered. The problem is that after a while I don't want to bother.
Readability is the first factor in favor of The Pleasures of Pi,e and Other Interesting Numbers (2006) (Note: I'm not sure if there is supposed to be a space between the comma and the "e" or not. There is a picture of a pie on the cover, so I suspect no space.)
Y E O Adrian, M.A., Ph.D. (Cambridge University), keeps the tone of the book light and interesting for the first 140 pages or so. In each chapter, the reader will be shown a series on the left-hand page, and a passage with some explanation, interesting fact or even encouragement for the reader to figure something out on the right-hand page. The first few series tend to infinity (with an explanation of what that means), but soon the sums start to converge on 1 or 2 or some multiple or fraction of e or pi.
Are there proofs of these sums? Sure. They're just let for later. The back 100 pages lists the proofs from easy to advanced, relying on things previously established, and explaining in a way that's easy to comprehend. I think high school students (ones who have had trigonometry) will be able to follow along.
It was a nice little diversion from my usual summer fare. I enjoyed reading it, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a "fun" math book to read. Yes, some of those actually exist. It's not a null set.
One final note -- and this was almost the lead, but I held off out of respect -- if you were to remove the interesting number, e, from the author's name, what would you have left?
YO Adrian!
A Rocky finish to my review, to be sure.
Readability is the first factor in favor of The Pleasures of Pi,e and Other Interesting Numbers (2006) (Note: I'm not sure if there is supposed to be a space between the comma and the "e" or not. There is a picture of a pie on the cover, so I suspect no space.)
Y E O Adrian, M.A., Ph.D. (Cambridge University), keeps the tone of the book light and interesting for the first 140 pages or so. In each chapter, the reader will be shown a series on the left-hand page, and a passage with some explanation, interesting fact or even encouragement for the reader to figure something out on the right-hand page. The first few series tend to infinity (with an explanation of what that means), but soon the sums start to converge on 1 or 2 or some multiple or fraction of e or pi.
Are there proofs of these sums? Sure. They're just let for later. The back 100 pages lists the proofs from easy to advanced, relying on things previously established, and explaining in a way that's easy to comprehend. I think high school students (ones who have had trigonometry) will be able to follow along.
It was a nice little diversion from my usual summer fare. I enjoyed reading it, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a "fun" math book to read. Yes, some of those actually exist. It's not a null set.
One final note -- and this was almost the lead, but I held off out of respect -- if you were to remove the interesting number, e, from the author's name, what would you have left?
YO Adrian!
A Rocky finish to my review, to be sure.
April 19, 2022
Nothing better than bite-sized pure mathematics to nourish the soul.
August 13, 2024
Tante formule di serie infinite per i ragazzi
Adrian ha detto di avere scritto questo libro per le sue nipotine, per mostrarle come le serie infinite possano arrivare a darci risultati inaspettati. Il testo in effetti è molto sparso, nel senso che soprattutto la prima parte, quella con l'esposizione delle serie, ha pagine quasi del tutto vuote.
Se si parte dall'assunto di Adrian, che quindi il testo sia pensato per quelli che "odiavano matematica a scuola", forse la prima parte può risultare interessante, proprio perché è "bellezza per gli occhi" con la struttura delle formule. Che funzioni davvero non lo so, più facile che a essere interessati siano i ragazzi che non conoscono ancora molta matematica ma apprezzano le strutture qui mostrate, e potranno magari capire come funzionano leggendo la seconda parte, "una festa per la mente", con le dimostrazioni poste in ordine crescente di difficoltà. Però non so quanti possono davvero apprezzare il testo.
Ah: non è possibile che nessuno abbia riletto il testo e non si sia accorto che Adrian scrive sempre "Liebniz" anziché "Leibniz"!
Adrian ha detto di avere scritto questo libro per le sue nipotine, per mostrarle come le serie infinite possano arrivare a darci risultati inaspettati. Il testo in effetti è molto sparso, nel senso che soprattutto la prima parte, quella con l'esposizione delle serie, ha pagine quasi del tutto vuote.
Se si parte dall'assunto di Adrian, che quindi il testo sia pensato per quelli che "odiavano matematica a scuola", forse la prima parte può risultare interessante, proprio perché è "bellezza per gli occhi" con la struttura delle formule. Che funzioni davvero non lo so, più facile che a essere interessati siano i ragazzi che non conoscono ancora molta matematica ma apprezzano le strutture qui mostrate, e potranno magari capire come funzionano leggendo la seconda parte, "una festa per la mente", con le dimostrazioni poste in ordine crescente di difficoltà. Però non so quanti possono davvero apprezzare il testo.
Ah: non è possibile che nessuno abbia riletto il testo e non si sia accorto che Adrian scrive sempre "Liebniz" anziché "Leibniz"!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews