Mariner The Joy Of X: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity

Muy bueno de principio a fin , con muchas referencias y temas explicados de manera sencilla.

Det är en bok jag ville ha. Supersnabb leverans. Inte ens ett dygn efter order. Tack!

The challenge with non-textbook mathematics is to guess whether I am the the right reader for this. And when the subject is maths, many would turn away from it by mere mention of the name. This book, to a significant extent, can be enjoyed by Grade 9th and above students and all adults who have some fascination for maths. Even if you have no fascination for maths, you would not regret reading this book. Infinity, series, primes, calculus, trigonometry, geometrical shapes like ellipse, parabola, hyperbola are explained in a very simple terms. Added to it are some knowledge I didn't have previously like Google's search algorithms explained in a really simple language. Complex numbers, topology, magic of exponential e were some the topics that really enlightened me; to add to it 3 D geometry. How sin in trigonometry is related to sine wave was indeed a lesson for me after so many years :-) How Archimedes arrived at the approximate value of Pi is very well explained with diagrams. I wish author would have included how Egyptians were able to arrive to the figure as close as to 3.16 !! A very interesting read. It is amazing how author puts the complex subject in such a lucid language well supported by illustrations wherever needed. This is the way one should look at Maths..an inquiry into the surrounding. Mathematics is an abstraction of the illusive visible world around us!! Believe me.. reading a book on maths is just a fun, when you don't have to give exam on it :-)

Though several stories told are not new to the educated public, there nevertheless always is a new persepctive that is added by Steve Strogatz. For those who want to dig a bit deeper the extensive footnotes (the last part of the book) are extremely important. Even as a member of the faculty of mathematics at a university of technology I learned a lot.

The joy of x is indeed what the author claims it to be in its subtitle: a tour through the enchanting and often intriguing world of mathematics by a wise and selective guide intent on passing over his enthusiasm for the subject regardless of former mathematical training. I must say I have been a fan of Strogatz since I first read his (more technical) Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos. His lucidity in explaining advanced mathematical concepts made me wish he wrote a book on the more introductory realms of mathematics, and intended for a much broader audience. Soon enough, I heard about his series in the NY times, which clearly indicated his expertise in this arena. And now that it is has been expanded and put out as a hardcover, I made sure I ordered a copy right away! Strogatz focuses not on those who were math wiz-kids in high school. His pace and clarity particularly are meant to encourage those who were even scared of areas of mathematics to try and read this book. As to those who can digest more advanced math, the book still is charming; offering a "snack", to quote Strogatz himself, in any chapter of his work. And this is not a complete book in any-sub area of math, but merely an attempt at revising and rediscovering elementary concepts of the subject. The book is divided into six parts, constructed more or less in a sequence that resembles the way we are (or at least, should be) introduced to elementary mathematics. The first two build up on what numbers mean, their properties, the need for larger number sets, their relationships, and a whirlwind primer to algebra. Strogatz constantly focuses on insight, often digressing into alternative methods to understand concepts, and with a generous supply of figures to support that. He then moves on to Geometry, followed up by a short but extremely illustrative companion to introductory calculus. His examples are interesting and often ingeniously pulled out of daily life. Particularly worth mentioning is the fact that proofs, when presented, are discovered as a child learning math should rather than merely presented, as unfortunately the case is in most introductory textbooks. The penultimate chapter focuses on why statistics and probability should be at the fingertips of anyone today (a point not justified in most education systems today), followed by the extremely interesting final section on the 'frontiers', where topics from prime numbers to differential geometry to the meaning of infinity are touched upon (arguably my favorite section). Who is this book intended for? In my opinion, this work is qualified to be supplementary reading at a high school level. No, this is not a stand alone book in number theory or algebra or calculus or any branch of introductory math, and the author clearly does not intend to make this one. This is a tour, a joyous ride, a display piece that swiftly (half a day in my case, un-put-down-able!) takes you through the intricacies and beauty of mathematics without the terrors of rigor or the banality of (most) textbooks. I would recommend even that every parent of math students attempt to read this, to try and learn (and hopefully enjoy) the beauty of the subject along with their kids. Advanced students of math (like myself) can read this for a tour back into the days when they first meddled with introductory concepts, and see how much easier and more elucidating this could have been. And instructors of math must try this for wonderful pedagogic tools and original ideas that could make passing the tricks on to the next generation so much easier and enjoyable to both parties. PS: For those interested and motivated in more, the 250 or so snippet-notes at the back of the book (sadly not cited systematically through the course of the book except in a handful of occasions) are a treasure trove of information. Keep a log of it along with the chapters you read, and you can unearth a ton of references, links and in many cases deeper insights into the point being conveyed.