Kategoria BISAC: Mathematics >> Recreations & Games

Math--the application of reasonable logic to reasonable assumptions--usually produces reasonable results. But sometimes math generates astonishing paradoxes--conclusions that seem completely unreasonable or just plain impossible but that are nevertheless demonstrably true. Did you know that a losing sports team can become a winning one by adding worse players than its opponents? Or that the thirteenth of the month is more likely to be a Friday than any other day? Or that cones can roll unaided uphill? In Nonplussed --a delightfully eclectic collection of paradoxes from many...

The book presents 18 games and develops the concepts of game analysis and winning strategies. Students are encouraged to play these mathematical games together, collect data developed through their play, and analyze the data to develop a winning strategy. The book provides the basis for a six- to eight-week unit on mathematical games. Each chapter also functions as a self-contained and independent exploration so that selected chapters may be used as supplementary classroom investigations or as independent projects. The book includes both familiar games (such as Quadrangles and Nim) and...

Extensively researched, this book traces the life and work of Abraham De Moivre as well as the state of probability and statistics in eighteenth-century Britain. It is the first extensive biography of De Moivre and is based on recently discovered material and translations, including some of De Moivre s letters.

The book begins with discussions on De Moivre s early life in France and his initial work in pure mathematics with some excursions into celestial mechanics. It then describes his fundamental contributions to probability theory and applications, including those in...

At a time when the mathematical experience touches and attracts more laypeople than ever, such a book contributes to our understanding and entertains through...

Every time we download music, take a flight across the Atlantic or talk on our cell phones, we are relying on great mathematical inventions. In The Number Mysteries, one of our generation's foremost mathematicians Marcus du Sautoy offers a playful and accessible examination of numbers and how, despite efforts of the greatest minds, the most fundamental puzzles of nature remain unsolved. Du Sautoy tells about the quest to predict the future--from the flight of asteroids to an impending storm, from bending a ball like Beckham to forecasting population growth. He brings to life the...

Transforming a body of text into corresponding mathematical expressions and models is traditionally viewed and taught as a mathematical problem; it is also a task that most find difficult. The Language of Mathematics: Utilizing Math in Practice reveals a new way to view this process--not as a mathematical problem, but as a translation, or language, problem. By presenting the language of mathematics explicitly and systematically, this book helps...

From mathematics to word puzzles, from logic to lateral thinking, veteran puzzle maker Derrick Niederman delights in tackling the trickiest brainteasers in a new way. Among the old chestnuts he cracks wide open are the following classics:
Knights and knaves
The monk and the mountain
The dominoes and the chessboard
The unexpected hanging
The Tower of Hanoi

Using real-world analogies, infectious humor, and a fresh approach, this deceptively simple volume will challenge, amuse, enlighten, and surprise even the most experienced puzzle...

Unexpected Expectations: The Curiosities of a Mathematical Crystal Ball explores how paradoxical challenges involving mathematical expectation often necessitate a reexamination of basic premises. The author takes you through mathematical paradoxes associated with seemingly straightforward applications of mathematical expectation and shows how these unexpected contradictions may push you to reconsider the legitimacy of the applications.

The book requires only an understanding of basic algebraic operations and includes supplemental mathematical background in...