Alex's Adventures in Numberland: Dispatches from the Wonderful World of Mathematics
Apr 2010 · A&C Black
4.1star
43 reviewsreport
Ebook
448
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About this ebook
A tenth anniversary edition of the iconic book about the wonderful world of maths
Sunday Times bestseller | Shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize
'Original and highly entertaining' Sunday Times
'A page turner about humanity's strange, never easy and, above all, never dull relationship with numbers' New Scientist
'Will leave you hooked on numbers' Daily Telegraph
In this richly entertaining and accessible book, Alex Bellos explodes the myth that maths is best left to the geeks, and demonstrates the remarkable ways it's linked to our everyday lives.
Alex explains the surprising geometry of the 50p piece, and the strategy of how best to gamble it in a casino. He shines a light on the mathematical patterns in nature, and on the peculiar predictability of random behaviour. He eats a potato crisp whose revolutionary shape was unpalatable to the ancient Greeks, and he shows the deep connections between maths, religion and philosophy.
From the world's fastest mental calculators in Germany to numerologists in the US desert, from a startlingly numerate chimpanzee in Japan to venerable Hindu sages in India, these dispatches from 'Numberland' are an unlikely but exhilarating cocktail of history, reportage and mathematical proofs. The world of maths is a much friendlier and more colourful place than you might have imagined.
This anniversary edition is fully revised and updated.
Sunday Times bestseller | Shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize
'Original and highly entertaining' Sunday Times
'A page turner about humanity's strange, never easy and, above all, never dull relationship with numbers' New Scientist
'Will leave you hooked on numbers' Daily Telegraph
In this richly entertaining and accessible book, Alex Bellos explodes the myth that maths is best left to the geeks, and demonstrates the remarkable ways it's linked to our everyday lives.
Alex explains the surprising geometry of the 50p piece, and the strategy of how best to gamble it in a casino. He shines a light on the mathematical patterns in nature, and on the peculiar predictability of random behaviour. He eats a potato crisp whose revolutionary shape was unpalatable to the ancient Greeks, and he shows the deep connections between maths, religion and philosophy.
From the world's fastest mental calculators in Germany to numerologists in the US desert, from a startlingly numerate chimpanzee in Japan to venerable Hindu sages in India, these dispatches from 'Numberland' are an unlikely but exhilarating cocktail of history, reportage and mathematical proofs. The world of maths is a much friendlier and more colourful place than you might have imagined.
This anniversary edition is fully revised and updated.
Ratings and reviews
4.1
43 reviews
A Google user
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March 23, 2019
its the very good book to make interest in maths.
5 people found this review helpful
Vijay
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February 22, 2019
amazing book. love this book
5 people found this review helpful
Charin Sophia
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February 23, 2014
:)
2 people found this review helpful
About the author
Alex Bellos has a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from Oxford University. He has worked for the Guardian
in London and Rio de Janeiro, where he was the paper's unusually
numerate foreign correspondent. In 2002 he wrote a critically acclaimed
book about Brazilian football and in 2006 ghostwrote Pelé's
autobiography, which was a number one bestseller.
in London and Rio de Janeiro, where he was the paper's unusually
numerate foreign correspondent. In 2002 he wrote a critically acclaimed
book about Brazilian football and in 2006 ghostwrote Pelé's
autobiography, which was a number one bestseller.
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