Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz: Making Light of Weighty Ideas

by Edward B. Burger, Michael Starbird

Overview

“A profusely illustrated, bemusingly unorthodox introduction to math.”—Booklist

A book for the eternally curious, Coincidences fuses a professor’s understanding of the hidden mathematical skeleton of the universe with the sensibility of a stand-up comedian, making life’s big questions accessible and compelling. Each chapter opens with a surprising insight—not a mathematic formula, but a common observation. From there, the authors leapfrog over math and anecdote toward profound ideas about nature, art, and music. Coincidences is a book for lovers of puzzles and posers of outlandish questions, lapsed math aficionados and the formula-phobic alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393329315
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/17/2006
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Edward B. Burger is professor of mathematics and chair at Williams College. He has won several prestigious teaching and writing awards from the Mathematical Association of America. He lives in Massachusetts.

Michael Starbird is a University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin and is a member of UT’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He lives in Texas.

Table of Contents

	Opening Thoughts	vii
Part I	Understanding Uncertainty: Coincidences, Chaos, and Confusion	1
1	Unbridled Coincidences: Likelihood, Lady Luck, and Lady Love	3
2	Chaos Reigns: Why We Can't Predict the Future	20
3	Digesting Life's Data: Statistical Surprises	42
Part II	Embracing Figures: Sensing Secrecy, Magnificent Magnitudes, and Nature's Numbers	63
4	Secrets Held, Secrets Revealed: Cryptography Decrypted	65
5	Sizing Up Numbers: How Many? How Big? How Quick?	78
6	A Synergy Between Nature and Number: A Search for Pattern	100
Part III	Exploring Aesthetics: Sexy Rectangles, Fiery Fractals, and Contortions of Space	121
7	From Precise Beauty to Pure Chaos: Picturing Aesthetics Through the Lens of Mathematics	123
8	Origami for the Origamically Challenged: From Paper Folding to Computers and Fiery Fractals	146
9	A Twisted Turn in an Amorphous Universe: An Exploration of an Elasticized World	166
Part IV	Transcending Reality: The Fourth Dimension and Infinity	199
10	The Universe Next Door: The Magic of the Fourth Dimension	201
11	Moving Beyond the Confines of Our Nutshell: A Journey Into Infinity	231
12	In Search of Something Still Larger: A Journey Beyond Infinity	246
	Closing Thoughts	267
	Acknowledgments	268
	Further Resources	269
	Permissions	270
	Index	271

Editorial Reviews

"I once had a math teacher who used to throw books at us. If only this had been one of them."

New Scientist - Ben Longstaff

"Informative, intelligent, and refreshingly irreverent. A roller-coaster ride along the frontiers of today’s mathematics, and anyone can climb on board. I enjoyed it immensely."

Ian Stewart

Award-winning professors Edward Burger and Michael Starbird are convinced that mathematics doesn't deserve its bad rep. Their profusely illustrated Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz draws arithmophobes painlessly into the world of mathematical thinking. They explain what the spirals on a pineapple can teach us about Fibonacci numbers and describe how a twisted piece of paper can help us conceptualize the shape of the universe. Proof positive that "fun math" isn't an oxymoron.

Two award-winning math professors take a lighthearted approach to explaining the mysteries of math to the rest of us. Who knew that pineapples could lead us to the fabled Golden Ratio? With a four-city tour. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

The average American has one testicle and one ovary, state the authors of this text for the math-phobic. They are quite right. That statistics are misleading is comically demonstrated by Burger (Mathematics/Williams Coll.) and Starbird (Mathematics/Univ. of Texas, Austin). These antic authors make accessible information about cosmology and topology, some theories of chance and randomness, and thoughts about fractals, factors, Fibonaci progressions and use of a quincunx. Readers will discover how two accurate computers can yield different answers to the same problem and will learn many facts about the square of the hypotenuse. Instruction on how to reverse your pants while your ankles are tied together may not be part of the usual math course, but it is prime Burger and Starbird. They have our number, and from Turing's thinking machines to LeCorbusier's use of the Golden Triangle, it's all calculated to appeal. Let them count the ways they love numbers: prime, infinite or even twice infinite. (Yes, they discuss that concept too.) They leap from academia to engage nerdy enthusiasts and the seriously math-challenged alike. "There are," they declare, "three types of people: those who count precisely and those who don't." The gags and the countless puns may strain, but the teaching is lucid and accessible. Throughout, the illustrations make excellent additions as the authors enumerate the charms and grandeurs of numbers. A bit of math in a nutshell, totaling fun.

Kirkus Reviews