The History Book Club discussion

The Joy of x: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity

by Steven H. Strogatz

Synopsis:

A world-class mathematician and regular contributor to the New York Times hosts a delightful tour of the greatest ideas of math, revealing how it connects to literature, philosophy, law, medicine, art, business, even pop culture in ways we never imagined

Did O.J. do it? How should you flip your mattress to get the maximum wear out of it? How does Google search the Internet? How many people should you date before settling down? Believe it or not, math plays a crucial role in answering all of these questions and more.

Math underpins everything in the cosmos, including us, yet too few of us understand this universal language well enough to revel in its wisdom, its beauty — and its joy. This deeply enlightening, vastly entertaining volume translates math in a way that is at once intelligible and thrilling. Each trenchant chapter of The Joy of x offers an “aha!” moment, starting with why numbers are so helpful, and progressing through the wondrous truths implicit in π, the Pythagorean theorem, irrational numbers, fat tails, even the rigors and surprising charms of calculus. Showing why he has won awards as a professor at Cornell and garnered extensive praise for his articles about math for the New York Times, Strogatz presumes of his readers only curiosity and common sense. And he rewards them with clear, ingenious, and often funny explanations of the most vital and exciting principles of his discipline.

Whether you aced integral calculus or aren’t sure what an integer is, you’ll find profound wisdom and persistent delight in The Joy of x.

I would like to know how to flip my mattress properly, so if you unlock that secret please pass it on! :-D I figured this book would appeal to math fans.

Cool! I was really seriously thinking about buying this book, now I will add to my xmas wishlist! Thanks for the review!

This is great, Kathy, lol, thanks.

Terrific Kathy.

Re "historical fiction centered on Mathematics":

I heartily recommend Measuring The World, which follows the lives of German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss and German geographer Alexander von Humboldt:

by Daniel Kehlmann

I'm currently working on Chaos by James Gleick. While I cannot truly speak to the mathematics discussed, it seems to be a very interesting and well researched book so far! I seem to be having some problems with citation. I can't find the "radio button" mentioned in the mechanics of the board thread.

by James Gleick

Interesting post on calculus. In a former life I was a mathematics teacher and would have loved having such a book as a resource. I ended up getting a masters in civil engineering, which of course if full of calculus. I could discipline roads and water flow but not kids. Thanks for the book tip.

This one is for casual reading.
Pi: A Biography of the World's Most Mysterious Number

by Alfred S. Posamentier

Synopsis

We all learned that the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter is called pi and that the value of this algebraic symbol is roughly 3.14. What we weren't told, though, is that behind this seemingly mundane fact is a world of mystery, which has fascinated mathematicians from ancient times to the present. Simply put, pi is weird. Mathematicians call it a "transcendental number" because its value cannot be calculated by any combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root extraction.

In this delightful layperson's introduction to one of math's most interesting phenomena, Drs. Posamentier and Lehmann review pi's history from prebiblical times to the 21st century, the many amusing and mind-boggling ways of estimating pi over the centuries, quirky examples of obsessing about pi (including an attempt to legislate its exact value), and useful applications of pi in everyday life, including statistics.

This enlightening and stimulating approach to mathematics will entertain lay readers while improving their mathematical literacy.

Another good one is:
Stories about Maxima and Minima

byVladimir M. Tikhomirov(no photo)

Synopsis

Throughout the history of mathematics, maximum and minimum problems have played an important role in the evolution of the field. Many beautiful and important problems have appeared in a variety of branches of mathematics and physics, as well as in other fields of sciences. The greatest scientists of the past - Euclid, Archimedes, Heron, the Bernoullis, Newton and many others - took part in seeking solutions to these concrete problems. The solutions stimulated the development of the theory, and, as a result, techniques were elaborated that made possible the solution of a tremendous variety of problems by a single method. This book, copublished with the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), presents fifteen stories designed to acquaint readers with the central concepts of the theory of maxima and minima, as well as with its illustrious history. Unlike most AMS publications, the book is accessible to high school students and would likely be of interest to a wide variety of readers. In Part One, the author familiarizes readers with many concrete problems that lead to discussion of the work of some of the greatest mathematicians of all time.

News: Maryam Mirzakhani becomes the first woman mathematician to win the mathematician's Nobel:The Fields Medal in 2014

The Fields Medal, officially known as International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics, is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians not over 40 years of age at each International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The Fields Medal is often viewed as the greatest honour a mathematician can receive.The Fields Medal and the Abel Prize have often been described as the "mathematician's Nobel Prize".
(For more on Fields see here:http://www.mathunion.org/general/priz... and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fields_M...)

Maryam Mirzakhani is a 37 year old Iranian mathematician who is a professor of mathematics at Stanford University.Her research topics include Teichmüller theory, hyperbolic geometry, ergodic theory, and symplectic geometry.

In 2014,Mirzakhani became both the first woman and the first Iranian honored with the Fields Medal.The award's committee cited her work in understanding the symmetry of curved surfaces.

At the time of the award, Wisconsin professor Jordan Ellenberg explained her research to a popular audience:

... [Her] work expertly blends dynamics with geometry. Among other things, she studies billiards. But now, in a move very characteristic of modern mathematics, it gets kind of meta: She considers not just one billiard table, but the universe of all possible billiard tables. And the kind of dynamics she studies doesn't directly concern the motion of the billiards on the table, but instead a transformation of the billiard table itself, which is changing its shape in a rule-governed way; if you like, the table itself moves like a strange planet around the universe of all possible tables ... This isn't the kind of thing you do to win at pool, but it's the kind of thing you do to win a Fields Medal. And it's what you need to do in order to expose the dynamics at the heart of geometry; for there's no question that they're there.(source:Wikipedia)

It is indeed a proud moment for the women in the field of mathematics.It was seriously a long-overdue first in mathematics.

On that note as a proud Indian,I would also like to mention fellow winner,the Number Theorist and Princeton University professor Manjul Bhargava(Erdos number:2) who became the first mathematician of Indian origin to win the Fields Medal in 2014.

More:
http://www.simonsfoundation.org/quant...

Thanks Kathy.

I just had to put this up with all these learned books since I can barely balance my check book!!! Seriously, this series of books is quite helpful for anyone who uses technical math in the job and need a refresher course.

Technical Math for Dummies

by Barry Schoenborn (no photo)

Synopsis:


Technical Math For Dummies is your one-stop, hands-on guide to acing the math courses you’ll encounter as you work toward getting your degree, certifacation, or license in the skilled trades.

You’ll get easy-to-follow, plain-English guidance on mathematical formulas and methods that professionals use every day in the automotive, health, construction, licensed trades, maintenance, and other trades. You’ll learn how to apply concepts of algebra, geometry, and trigonometry and their formulas related to occupational areas of study. Plus, you’ll find out how to perform basic arithmetic operations and solve word problems as they’re applied to specific trades.
Maps to a course commonly required by vocational schools, community and technical college, or for certification in the skilled trades Covers the basic concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry Helps professionals keep pace with job demands

Whether you’re a student currently enrolled in a program or a professional who is already in the work force, Technical Math For Dummies gives you everything you need to improve your math skills and get ahead of the pack.

Fibonacci's Liber Abaci: A Translation into Modern English of Leonardo Pisano's Book of Calculation

by Leonardo Fibonacci

Synopsis:

First published in 1202, Fibonacci's Liber abaci was one of the most important books on mathematics in the Middle Ages, introducing Arabic numerals and methods throughout Europe. Its author, Leonardo Pisano, known today as Fibonacci, was a citizen of Pisa, an active maritime power, with trading outposts on the Barbary Coast and other points in the Muslim Empire. As a youth, Fibonacci was instructed in mathematics in one of these outposts; he continued his study of mathematics while traveling extensively on business and developed contacts with scientists throughout the Mediterranean world. A member of the academic court around the Emperor Frederick II, Leonardo saw clearly the advantages for both commerce and scholarship of the Hindu positional number system and the algebraic methods developed by al-Khwarizmi and other Muslim scientists. Though it is known as an introduction to the Hindu number system and the algorithms of arithmetic that children now learn in grade school, "Liber abaci" is much more: an encyclopaedia of thirteenth-century mathematics, both theoretical and practical. It develops the tools rigorously, establishing them with Euclidean geometric proofs, and then shows how to apply them to all kinds of situations in business and trade - conversion of measures and currency, allocations of profit, computation of interest, alloying of currencies, and so forth. It is rigorous mathematics, well applied, and vividly described. As the first translation into a modern language of the "Liber abaci," this book will be of interest not only to historians of science, but to all mathematicians and mathematics teachers interested in the origins of their methods.

Thanks for all of the adds on the threads

Thank you Kathy for all of the adds on the HMC threads

Mathematics: The Science of Patterns: The Search for Order in Life, Mind and the Universe

by Keith J. Devlin

Synopsis:

To most people, mathematics means working with numbers. But as Keith Devlin shows in Mathematics: The Science of Patterns, this definition has been out of date for nearly 2,500 years. Mathematicians now see their work as the study of patterns—real or imagined, visual or mental, arising from the natural world or from within the human mind.

Using this basic definition as his central theme, Devlin explores the patterns of counting, measuring, reasoning, motion, shape, position, and prediction, revealing the powerful influence mathematics has over our perception of reality. Interweaving historical highlights and current developments, and using a minimum of formulas, Devlin celebrates the precision, purity, and elegance of mathematics.

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure

by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Synopsis:

The international best-seller that makes mathematics a thrilling exploration.

In twelve dreams, Robert, a boy who hates math, meets a Number Devil, who leads him to discover the amazing world of numbers: infinite numbers, prime numbers, Fibonacci numbers, numbers that magically appear in triangles, and numbers that expand without. As we dream with him, we are taken further and further into mathematical theory, where ideas eventually take flight, until everyone - from those who fumble over fractions to those who solve complex equations in their heads - winds up marveling at what numbers can do.

Hans Magnus Enzensberger is a true polymath, the kind of superb intellectual who loves thinking and marshals all of his charm and wit to share his passions with the world. In The Number Devil, he brings together the surreal logic of Alice in Wonderland and the existential geometry of Flatland with the kind of math everyone would love, if only they had a number devil to teach it to them.

Men of Mathematics

by Eric Temple Bell (no photo)

Synopsis:

Here is the classic, much-read introduction to the craft and history of mathematics by E.T. Bell, a leading figure in mathematics in America for half a century. Men of Mathematics accessibly explains the major mathematics, from the geometry of the Greeks through Newton's calculus and on to the laws of probability, symbolic logic, and the fourth dimension. In addition, the book goes beyond pure mathematics to present a series of engrossing biographies of the great mathematicians -- an extraordinary number of whom lived bizarre or unusual lives. Finally, Men of Mathematics is also a history of ideas, tracing the majestic development of mathematical thought from ancient times to the twentieth century. This enduring work's clear, often humorous way of dealing with complex ideas makes it an ideal book for the non-mathematician.

e: the Story of a Number

by Eli Maor (no photo)

Synopsis:

The story of pi has been told many times, both in scholarly works and in popular books. But its close relative, the number e, has fared less well: despite the central role it plays in mathematics, its history has never before been written for a general audience. The present work fills this gap. Geared to the reader with only a modest background in mathematics, the book describes the story of e from a human as well as a mathematical perspective. In a sense, it is the story of an entire period in the history of mathematics, from the early seventeenth to the late nineteenth century, with the invention of calculus at its center. Many of the players who took part in this story are here brought to life. Among them are John Napier, the eccentric religious activist who invented logarithms and - unknowingly - came within a hair's breadth of discovering e; William Oughtred, the inventor of the slide rule, who lived a frugal and unhealthful life and died at the age of 86, reportedly of joy when hearing of the restoration of King Charles II to the throne of England; Newton and his bitter priority dispute with Leibniz over the invention of the calculus, a conflict that impeded British mathematics for more than a century; and Jacob Bernoulli, who asked that a logarithmic spiral be engraved on his tombstone - but a linear spiral was engraved instead! The unifying theme throughout the book is the idea that a single number can tie together so many different aspects of mathematics - from the law of compound interest to the shape of a hanging chain, from the area under a hyperbola to Euler's famous formula e^(i*pi) = -1, from the inner structure of a nautilus shell to Bach's equal-tempered scale and to the art of M. C. Escher. The book ends with an account of the discovery of transcendental numbers, an event that paved the way for Cantor's revolutionary ideas about infinity. No knowledge of calculus is assumed.

This one requires a bit more mathematical background to read completely: at minimum, the reader needs to be comfortable with calculus. A bit of complex analysis and analytic number theory will also be helpful. The chapters alternate between history and mathematics, so the general reader could just skip the mathematics and still enjoy the book. The mathematical chapters are susprisingly solid, considering that the author is better known as a conservative political columnist, not a mathematician, although if I recall correctly, he did his undergraduate studies in mathematics.

Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics

by John Derbyshire

Synopsis:

In 1859, Bernhard Riemann, a little-known thirty-two year old mathematician, made a hypothesis while presenting a paper to the Berlin Academy titled “On the Number of Prime Numbers Less Than a Given Quantity.” Today, after 150 years of careful research and exhaustive study, the Riemann Hyphothesis remains unsolved, with a one-million-dollar prize earmarked for the first person to conquer it.Alternating passages of extraordinarily lucid mathematical exposition with chapters of elegantly composed biography and history, Prime Obsession is a fascinating and fluent account of an epic mathematical mystery that continues to challenge and excite the world.

Beautiful, Simple, Exact, Crazy: Mathematics in the Real World

by Apoorva Khare (no photo)

Synopsis:

In this vibrant work, which is ideal for both teaching and learning, Apoorva Khare and Anna Lachowska explain the mathematics essential for understanding and appreciating our quantitative world. They show with examples that mathematics is a key tool in the creation and appreciation of art, music, and literature, not just science and technology. The book covers basic mathematical topics from logarithms to statistics, but the authors eschew mundane finance and probability problems. Instead, they explain how modular arithmetic helps keep our online transactions safe, how logarithms justify the twelve-tone scale commonly used in music, and how transmissions by deep space probes are similar to knights serving as messengers for their traveling prince. Ideal for coursework in introductory mathematics and requiring no knowledge of calculus, Khare and Lachowska’s enlightening mathematics tour will appeal to a wide audience.

A classix of recreational maths. (smile)

Polyominoes: the Fascinating New Recreation in Mathematics

by Solomon W. Golomb (no photo)

Synopsis:

This is the first book on the popular mathematical recreation, polyominoes. Written by the man who introduced it to American puzzle fans & invented many of the problems presented in this book. Book includes more than 190 diagrams and a set of pentominoes.

The Mathematics Devotional: Celebrating the Wisdom and Beauty of Mathematics

by Clifford A. Pickover

Synopsis:

“It is impossible to be a mathematician without being a poet in soul.” —Sofia Kovalevskaya, Recollections of Childhood, 1895

From the ingenious author of The Math Book and The Physics Book comes an inspirational volume that celebrates the beauty and wisdom of mathematics. Every page of this yearlong devotional presents a sage remark alongside a stunning image relating to the world of math. The quotes offer insight from such brilliant thinkers as Pythagoras, Richard Feynman, and Robert Heinlein, and the art showcases everything from gorgeous fractals to splendid architecture. The calendar also includes the birthdays of notable mathematicians, so readers can see which ones share theirs. A brief biographical dictionary provides additional information on the people whose wonderful words appeared through the book.

A Curious History of Mathematics

by Joel Levy (no photo)

Synopsis:

Because learning the language of mathematics can be daunting, many people abandon the attempt as soon as they leave school, missing out on the beauty and mystery of the Empress of the Sciences. Now, Joel Levy opens new doors into this amazing world. By taking a historical perspective, he explains how mathematical science advanced through the ages, introducing the most important concepts—from simple arithmetic, through algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and calculus, up to chaos and infinity theory—in understandable, nontechnical language.

by Jordan Ellenberg (no photo)

Synoposis

The Freakonomics of math—a math-world superstar unveils the hidden beauty and logic of the world and puts its power in our hands

The math we learn in school can seem like a dull set of rules, laid down by the ancients and not to be questioned. In How Not to Be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg shows us how terribly limiting this view is: Math isn’t confined to abstract incidents that never occur in real life, but rather touches everything we do—the whole world is shot through with it.

Math allows us to see the hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of our world. It’s a science of not being wrong, hammered out by centuries of hard work and argument. Armed with the tools of mathematics, we can see through to the true meaning of information we take for granted: How early should you get to the airport? What does “public opinion” really represent? Why do tall parents have shorter children? Who really won Florida in 2000? And how likely are you, really, to develop cancer?

How Not to Be Wrong presents the surprising revelations behind all of these questions and many more, using the mathematician’s method of analyzing life and exposing the hard-won insights of the academic community to the layman—minus the jargon. Ellenberg chases mathematical threads through a vast range of time and space, from the everyday to the cosmic, encountering, among other things, baseball, Reaganomics, daring lottery schemes, Voltaire, the replicability crisis in psychology, Italian Renaissance painting, artificial languages, the development of non-Euclidean geometry, the coming obesity apocalypse, Antonin Scalia’s views on crime and punishment, the psychology of slime molds, what Facebook can and can’t figure out about you, and the existence of God.

Ellenberg pulls from history as well as from the latest theoretical developments to provide those not trained in math with the knowledge they need. Math, as Ellenberg says, is “an atomic-powered prosthesis that you attach to your common sense, vastly multiplying its reach and strength.” With the tools of mathematics in hand, you can understand the world in a deeper, more meaningful way. How Not to Be Wrong will show you how.

Great add Peter - just a couple of things on format - no period needed after (no photo)

Synopsis has a colon after it and is bold as you have done - colon missing - Synopsis:

Then leave one blank line under the word Synopsis:

A Man for all Markets

by Edward O. Thorp

Synopsis:

The incredible true story of the card-counting mathematics professor who taught the world how to beat the dealer and, as the first of the great quantitative investors, ushered in a revolution on Wall Street.

A child of the Great Depression, legendary mathematician Edward O. Thorp invented card counting, proving the seemingly impossible: that you could beat the dealer at the blackjack table. As a result he launched a gambling renaissance. His remarkable success--and mathematically unassailable method--caused such an uproar that casinos altered the rules of the game to thwart him and the legions he inspired. They barred him from their premises, even put his life in jeopardy. Nonetheless, gambling was forever changed.

Thereafter, Thorp shifted his sights to -the biggest casino in the world- Wall Street. Devising and then deploying mathematical formulas to beat the market, Thorp ushered in the era of quantitative finance we live in today. Along the way, the so-called godfather of the quants played bridge with Warren Buffett, crossed swords with a young Rudy Giuliani, detected the Bernie Madoff scheme, and, to beat the game of roulette, invented, with Claude Shannon, the world's first wearable computer.

Here, for the first time, Thorp tells the story of what he did, how he did it, his passions and motivations, and the curiosity that has always driven him to disregard conventional wisdom and devise game-changing solutions to seemingly insoluble problems. An intellectual thrill ride, replete with practical wisdom that can guide us all in uncertain financial waters, A Man for All Markets is an instant classic--a book that challenges its readers to think logically about a seemingly irrational world.

Praise for A Man for All Markets

-In A Man for All Markets, [Thorp] delightfully recounts his progress (if that is the word) from college teacher to gambler to hedge-fund manager. Along the way we learn important lessons about the functioning of markets and the logic of investment. ---The Wall Street Journal

-[Thorp] gives a biological summation (think Richard Feynman's Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!) of his quest to prove the aphorism 'the house always wins' is flawed. . . . Illuminating for the mathematically inclined, and cautionary for would-be gamblers and day traders --- Library Journal

-Thorp's in-the-trenches account of gaming the system(s) is a pleasure--and instructive, too.

-An amazing book by a true icon . . . Edward O. Thorp launched revolutions in Vegas and on Wall Street by turning math into magic, and here he weaves his own life lessons into a page-turner as hot as a deck full of aces. Loved it! ---Ben Mezrich, New York Times bestselling author of Bringing Down the House and The Accidental Billionaires

-Whether you are an aspiring professional player, a casual gambler, or an occasional visitor to Las Vegas, you can feel the impact of Edward O. Thorp's intellect on that desert city.---Nicholas G. Colon, professional advantage gambler and managing director, Alea Consulting Group

-This book is in part the gripping story of how one man's genius and dedication has solved so many problems in diverse fields. But more important, it's a fascinating insight into the thought processes of someone with little interest in fame, who has mostly stayed under the radar, yet who has followed his inquisitive mind wherever it has led him, and reaped the resulting rewards.---Paul Wilmots, founder, Wilmots magazine

Three books that I borrowed from the library:

by Marcus du Sautoy details the search for any pattern in prime numbers and their cryptographic uses.

by Andrew Hodges (no photo)

by Charles Seife.

Jim

Very good Jim - you found it.

Just a couple of examples on the above: (bookcover, by, author's photo, author's link) when no author's photo - put (no photo) at end and when there is no bookcover - put (no image) at the beginning.

by Charles Seife

by Marcus du Sautoy

I understand, as opposed to oversit. I need to post both the author's photo, if there is one, as well as his/her link.

Jim

You can practice by editing the ones that I showed you in your original post - it gets easier and when you do it this way - it allows the goodreads software to populate our group site as well as the goodreads one - and when you do it correctly - it populates the white space to the right of each thread - with a list of books and authors cited on the thread and how many times they have been cited - additionally if you see the words other topics - it will take you to the threads where either the book or author has also been mentioned or is being discussed. Otherwise your post is not accessible from any other thread on our site or on goodreads. This way it is linked in.

Principia Mathematica (1686)

by Isaac Newton

Synopsis:

Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Latin for Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), often referred to as simply the Principia, is a work in three books by Isaac Newton, in Latin, first published 5 July 1687.

After annotating and correcting his personal copy of the first edition, Newton also published two further editions, in 1713 and 1726.

The Principia states Newton's laws of motion, forming the foundation of classical mechanics; Newton's law of universal gravitation; and a derivation of Kepler's laws of planetary motion (which Kepler first obtained empirically). The Principia is "regarded as one of the most important works in the history of science".

The French mathematical physicist Alexis Clairaut assessed it in 1747: "The famous book of mathematical Principles of natural Philosophy marked the epoch of a great revolution in physics.

The method followed by its illustrious author Sir Newton ... spread the light of mathematics on a science which up to then had remained in the darkness of conjectures and hypotheses."

A more recent assessment has been that while acceptance of Newton's theories was not immediate, by the end of a century after publication in 1687, "no one could deny that" (out of the Principia) "a science had emerged that, at least in certain respects, so far exceeded anything that had ever gone before that it stood alone as the ultimate exemplar of science generally."

In formulating his physical theories, Newton developed and used mathematical methods now included in the field of calculus. But the language of calculus as we know it was largely absent from the Principia; Newton gave many of his proofs in a geometric form of infinitesimal calculus, based on limits of ratios of vanishing small geometric quantities.

In a revised conclusion to the Principia (see General Scholium), Newton used his expression that became famous, Hypotheses non fingo ("I contrive no hypotheses")

Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity (Great Discoveries)

by David Foster Wallace

Synopsis:

The best-selling author of Infinite Jest on the two-thousand-year-old quest to understand infinity.

One of the outstanding voices of his generation, David Foster Wallace has won a large and devoted following for the intellectual ambition and bravura style of his fiction and essays. Now he brings his considerable talents to the history of one of math's most enduring puzzles: the seemingly paradoxical nature of infinity.

Is infinity a valid mathematical property or a meaningless abstraction? The nineteenth-century mathematical genius Georg Cantor's answer to this question not only surprised him but also shook the very foundations upon which math had been built. Cantor's counterintuitive discovery of a progression of larger and larger infinities created controversy in his time and may have hastened his mental breakdown, but it also helped lead to the development of set theory, analytic philosophy, and even computer technology.

Smart, challenging, and thoroughly rewarding, Wallace's tour de force brings immediate and high-profile recognition to the bizarre and fascinating world of higher mathematics.