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halfmanhalfbook's review against another edition
3.0
Think of a number, any number...
Multiply it by 2
Add 10
Then divide by 2
Subtract your original number
And I will tell you your answer later on.
Stewart has a knack of making complicated and difficult mathematical concepts easy to comprehend and understand. In this book he introduces us to the numbers that we come across day in and day out. Some will be familiar, zero, one and Pi for example. Other are less familiar, from logs (not trees) to that strange areas of mathematics that encompass imaginary numbers and the vastness of infinity.
In this journey we venture through the primes, peers back into the history of mathematicians, informs us what is a rational number, traverses the circular numbers, plumbs the depths of fractals and explains the birthday paradox. There is a brief sojourn to the really small, before seeing the really really large numbers stretching away in the distance, and reaching the restaurant at the end of the universe with a reservation at table 42.
Occasionally complex, most of this is written with the layman in mind. Stewart writes with clarity on a subject that he knows and loves, and what really comes across is his enthusiasm to get other to love, or at the very least like maths once again.
Oh, and the answer is 5.
Multiply it by 2
Add 10
Then divide by 2
Subtract your original number
And I will tell you your answer later on.
Stewart has a knack of making complicated and difficult mathematical concepts easy to comprehend and understand. In this book he introduces us to the numbers that we come across day in and day out. Some will be familiar, zero, one and Pi for example. Other are less familiar, from logs (not trees) to that strange areas of mathematics that encompass imaginary numbers and the vastness of infinity.
In this journey we venture through the primes, peers back into the history of mathematicians, informs us what is a rational number, traverses the circular numbers, plumbs the depths of fractals and explains the birthday paradox. There is a brief sojourn to the really small, before seeing the really really large numbers stretching away in the distance, and reaching the restaurant at the end of the universe with a reservation at table 42.
Occasionally complex, most of this is written with the layman in mind. Stewart writes with clarity on a subject that he knows and loves, and what really comes across is his enthusiasm to get other to love, or at the very least like maths once again.
Oh, and the answer is 5.
adam84's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.5
Ian Stewart se řídí heslem: Neexistuje nudné a nebo nezajímavé číslo. A v této knize se tímto přístupem snaží popularizovat matematiku a strhnout tak bariéry, které často u lidí k vůli nudnému výkladu vzniknou již na základních a středních školách.
Od samotného vzniku čísel, až po složité výpočty fyziky teorie strun, je kniha ilustrována, ovzorečkována a doplněna hravými výpočty tak, že se čte často až s komiksovou lehkostí. Samozřejmě je autor doslova nabitý vědomostmi o číslech, které si nehodlá nechat pro sebe, takže čtenář narazí i na složité kapitoly (či spíše části kapitol), laikovi téměř nepřístupné. Přesto si myslím, že je kniha vhodná i pro čtenáře matematikou téměř nepolíbeného, protože informacemi v ní autor zůstává na povrchu, zahltí spíš jejich počtem než hloubkou. A to je dle mého i úskalí knihy, doslova každá kapitola si zaslouží knihu vlastní (a většina i svou knihu samozřejmě má), takže hloubaví čtenář by ocenil spíše podrobný výklad konkrétního matematického pojmu, než sumář všech.
Od samotného vzniku čísel, až po složité výpočty fyziky teorie strun, je kniha ilustrována, ovzorečkována a doplněna hravými výpočty tak, že se čte často až s komiksovou lehkostí. Samozřejmě je autor doslova nabitý vědomostmi o číslech, které si nehodlá nechat pro sebe, takže čtenář narazí i na složité kapitoly (či spíše části kapitol), laikovi téměř nepřístupné. Přesto si myslím, že je kniha vhodná i pro čtenáře matematikou téměř nepolíbeného, protože informacemi v ní autor zůstává na povrchu, zahltí spíš jejich počtem než hloubkou. A to je dle mého i úskalí knihy, doslova každá kapitola si zaslouží knihu vlastní (a většina i svou knihu samozřejmě má), takže hloubaví čtenář by ocenil spíše podrobný výklad konkrétního matematického pojmu, než sumář všech.
bombach's review against another edition
3.0
This book is seems to shoot from one topic to another in a rather random fashion. Nothing is treated too deeply which I suppose id not surprising for a book about numbers that is as broad as this. However, it struck me as just meh.
mystifiedbulb22's review against another edition
3.0
Some really intriguing insights into number theory (and many other areas of mathematics) but I think the idea of spawning discussions about various mathematical topics rooted from the numbers themselves can get quite messy. Jumping between various concepts all because they are linked to the number 6, for an example, just doesn't make the book flow easily like it could if it had a slightly tweaked structure. But then maybe that would undermine the whole purpose of the book itself...
profejennifer's review against another edition
4.0
I docked it a star because I wasn't quite sure who his intended audience is - the math is rather technical and complex to be accessible to a non-specialist, even one who enjoys math and isn't scared of numbers, yet I'm not sure a mathematician would need a book like this, as I suspect most of the information is covered somewhere along the way in a math degree. Still, it did give a sense of the wide range of questions mathematicians play with, and I found myself wanting to read on even when I didn't quite follow the technical explanations.
halfmanhalfbook's review against another edition
3.0
Think of a number, any number...
Multiply it by 2
Add 10
Then divide by 2
Subtract your original number
And I will tell you your answer later on.
Stewart has a knack of making complicated and difficult mathematical concepts easy to comprehend and understand. In this book he introduces us to the numbers that we come across day in and day out. Some will be familiar, zero, one and Pi for example. Other are less familiar, from logs (not trees) to that strange areas of mathematics that encompass imaginary numbers and the vastness of infinity.
In this journey we venture through the primes, peers back into the history of mathematicians, informs us what is a rational number, traverses the circular numbers, plumbs the depths of fractals and explains the birthday paradox. There is a brief sojourn to the really small, before seeing the really really large numbers stretching away in the distance, and reaching the restaurant at the end of the universe with a reservation at table 42.
Occasionally complex, most of this is written with the layman in mind. Stewart writes with clarity on a subject that he knows and loves, and what really comes across is his enthusiasm to get other to love, or at the very least like maths once again.
Oh, and the answer is 5.
Multiply it by 2
Add 10
Then divide by 2
Subtract your original number
And I will tell you your answer later on.
Stewart has a knack of making complicated and difficult mathematical concepts easy to comprehend and understand. In this book he introduces us to the numbers that we come across day in and day out. Some will be familiar, zero, one and Pi for example. Other are less familiar, from logs (not trees) to that strange areas of mathematics that encompass imaginary numbers and the vastness of infinity.
In this journey we venture through the primes, peers back into the history of mathematicians, informs us what is a rational number, traverses the circular numbers, plumbs the depths of fractals and explains the birthday paradox. There is a brief sojourn to the really small, before seeing the really really large numbers stretching away in the distance, and reaching the restaurant at the end of the universe with a reservation at table 42.
Occasionally complex, most of this is written with the layman in mind. Stewart writes with clarity on a subject that he knows and loves, and what really comes across is his enthusiasm to get other to love, or at the very least like maths once again.
Oh, and the answer is 5.