John Allen Paulos: A Numerate Life
- Yhteenveto
- Kategoria: luonnontieteet, alakategoria: matematiikka
- Materiaali: Pokkari
- Kustantaja: PROMETHEUS BOOKS
- Kieli: englanti
- ISBN: 9781633881181
- Lisätiedot
- Katseltu: 179 krt
- Suosituksia: 1 kpl
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Kuvaus (211 sanaa, lukemiseen kuluu n. minuutti)
Employing intuitive ideas from mathematics, this quirky 'meta-memoir' raises questions about our lives that most of us don't think to ask, but arguably should: What part of memory is reliable fact, what part creative embellishment? Which favorite presuppositions are unfounded, which statistically biased? By conjoining two opposing mindsets--the suspension of disbelief required in storytelling and the skepticism inherent in the scientific method--bestselling mathematician John Allen Paulos has created an unusual hybrid, a composite of personal memories and mathematical approaches to re-evaluating them. Entertaining vignettes from Paulos's biography abound--ranging from a bullying math teacher and a fabulous collection of baseball cards to romantic crushes, a grandmother s petty larceny, and his quite unintended role in getting George Bush elected president in 2000. These vignettes serve as springboards to many telling perspectives: simple arithmetic puts life-long habits in a dubious new light; higher dimensional geometry helps us see that we're all rather peculiar; nonlinear dynamics explains the narcissism of small differences cascading into very different siblings; logarithms and exponentials yield insight on why we tend to become bored and jaded as we age; and there are tricks and jokes, probability and coincidences, and much more. For fans of Paulos or newcomers to his work, this witty commentary on his life--and yours--is fascinating reading. '