Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, and Other Mathematical Explorations (Paperback)
$25.61 - Save $3.91 13% off - RRP $29.52 Free delivery worldwide (to United States and
all these other countries) Usually dispatched within 48 hours | |Short Description for Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, and Other Mathematical Explorations How does mathematics enable us to send pictures from space back to Earth? Where does the bell-shaped curve come from? Drawing on areas of mathematics from probability theory, number theory, and geometry, this work highlights how ideas, mostly from pure math, can answer these questions. It includes puzzles and problems of varying difficulty.
Full description- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Published: 16 October 2006
- Format: Paperback 272 pages
- See: Full bibliographic data
- Categories: Probability & Statistics | Applied Mathematics
- ISBN 13: 9780691127972 ISBN 10: 0691127972
- Sales rank: 652,010
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Full description for Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, and Other Mathematical Explorations
How does mathematics enable us to send pictures from space back to Earth? Where does the bell-shaped curve come from? Why do you need only 23 people in a room for a 50/50 chance of two of them sharing the same birthday? In "Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, and Other Mathematical Explorations", Keith Ball highlights how ideas, mostly from pure math, can answer these questions and many more. Drawing on areas of mathematics from probability theory, number theory, and geometry, he explores a wide range of concepts, some more light-hearted, others central to the development of the field and used daily by mathematicians, physicists, and engineers. Each of the book's ten chapters begins by outlining key concepts and goes on to discuss, with the minimum of technical detail, the principles that underlie them. Each includes puzzles and problems of varying difficulty. While the chapters are self-contained, they also reveal the links between seemingly unrelated topics. For example, the problem of how to design codes for satellite communication gives rise to the same idea of uncertainty as the problem of screening blood samples for disease. Accessible to anyone familiar with basic calculus, this book is a treasure trove of ideas that will entertain, amuse, and bemuse students, teachers, and math lovers of all ages.
