The Math Book: From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimension, 250 Milestones in the History of Mathematics

9 reviews for The Math Book: From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimension, 250 Milestones in the History of Mathematics

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Ray Erskins – September 12, 2009

   “The Math Book” could not have come at a better time. I say this because we are living in “The Information Age” and most Americans have access to a PC; therefore, we could very well be at the crossroads of our nation’s destiny. But then, every instant is most likely the crossroads of any nation’s destiny. What we say, think, and do affects every tick of the clock. Which is why I believe that “The Math Book” could not have come at a better time.

   Among young Americans entering college, interest in mathematics, science, and engineering is declining at an alarming rate. This is not true of international students, especially among Asians. Millions upon millions of Chinese students have acquired a ferocious interest in math, science, and engineering. And some estimate that in the very near future 90 percent of all the scientists and engineers in the world will live and work in Asia. It is as if Western Civilization is passing the torch of its scientific genius to the East. And the East is more than willing to take that torch and run with it.

   This is why “The Math Book” needs to be in the backpack of every high school student in America. And it should even be in the backpacks of their more precocious siblings in junior high. Moreover, all of them need to take it with them when they enter college so as not to lose their nerve when they enter that first calculus class — which is usually more difficult than they anticipated.

   What this book does so well is elevate numbers to the level of transcendental Splendor and makes them seem holy. But it does so gradually. Your Odyssey begins and you find yourself traveling down an ancient road whereupon you encounter the milestones that mark important mathematical breakthroughs. The milestones are chronologically arranged, and this is important because you soon discover that dice and the concept of random numbers have been around for 5000 years, but the use of knots occurred even earlier — an astounding 100, 000 years ago — give or take a few millenniums. You may wonder: What does this have to do with math? Well, read on and you will soon discover that knots are being used to create models of the very fabric of reality in today’s world of computer assisted mathematics.

   Speaking of the “fabric of reality”, “The Math Book” performs a magic trick by taking you into an oracle of higher mathematical understanding by stimulating your Right and Left Brain simultaneously. You open the book and you see the text on the left and often a striking visual image on the right. Thus, a single page of succinct, well-written prose distills the essence of each mathematical milestone into “linear” thought, i.e., plain English and mathematical symbols. Then on the right is the eye-catching color illustration, some of which were rendered by Teja Krasek, an artistic associate of Cliff Pickover’s, and these enable you to better contemplate the haunting Splendor of Numbers. In other cases, photographs and/or reproductions of famous prints as well as artistic renderings by various visual artists further illuminate your mind as you strive for cognition after reading Pickover’s explanation of the topic at hand.

   For instance, there is a photograph of a flaming zero on page 81 that is worth a thousand words. On page 125 you will see an example of Jos Ley’s “gorgeous” fractal art after reading about Rafael Bombelli’s imaginary numbers on page 124. (Imaginary numbers played a role in the production of Ley’s startling work of fractal art in this case). And then on page 63 there is “Eratosthenes” by Polish artist Andreas Guskos, which is an excellent illustration for Cliff Pickover’s commentary upon the Sieve of Eratosthenes on page 62. These and many other graphic designs may awaken what has been dormant in your psyche for a long time after you’ve read a few of Pickover’s nuggets of wisdom. He’s opened a vein of gold here. And before all is said and done he may turn out to be one of our better angels.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Gradient Vector Field – February 6, 2010

   I thought this was simply a wonderful book. This is the first book I’ve ready by Clifford Pickover and seeing that he has written many others I think I will go track some of those down. This book basically covers the history of Mathematics in a very concise, but thoughtful way.

   Although the book is not a complete history, then again 500 pages would be barely enough to cover a complete history, but “The Math Book” covers some essential points. Pickover tried to do a couple of things when he wrote this book. Give the readers a good overview of Mathematics history and he also wanted to include Mathematical problems that interested him. In that regard the book can touch upon some little known historical elements in the field of Mathematics, which I think many will appreciate. Everyone hears the stories of Archimedes and his discovery of displacement, but there are lesser known problems and people as well and that’s where I think this book manages to get a little interesting. In the past one hundred years the field of mathematics has completely exploded and a great portion of this book deals with properties found in more modern times, which I think is great because most history books I’ve read don’t put it into the perspective of what’s going on in the field now.

   If you’re not totally math savvy, don’t worry. Pickover has written this book for the layman, so even the least experienced can gain an appreciation for the world and history of mathematics. One aspect of the book that really drew me to purchase this was each entry has one page of text describing the historical nature and the page opposite is a picture. Sometimes this is a picture of the person who discovered the property, but a lot of times it is an illustration of a mathematical object, which I think people will appreciate rather than just reading a mathematical narrative trying to describe an abstract object. Working with programs like Mathematica have surely enabled Pickover to bring some of these more complex geometries to life for everyone to see. I think this is one of the aspects that sets it apart from other books.

   I would highly recommend this to any math enthusiast regardless of background. However, if you are looking for a very detailed history of mathematics I would recommend you seek out other books. “The Math Book” is much lighter and designed to engage readers quickly, rather than get into the real details of the history.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Oliver Kolle – April 18, 2014

   Voll auf ihre Kosten kommen hier besonders (Laien-)Mathematiker mit gehobenem Background! Denn das Buch regt mathematisch Interessierte an, sich mit den Themen weiter zu befassen. Man kann es natürlich auch wie ein Bilderbuch auffassen; oder sich ab und zu einen Beitrag zu Gemüte zu führen.
   Oft ist es unabdingbar, mittels Wikipedia/Abbildungen/Tubes oder weiterer Fachbücher tiefer einzudringen, um sich buchstäblich ein Bild zu machen, worum es überhaupt geht. Die vielen Kurven und geometrischen Figuren/Körper muss man machmal animiert sehen, um sie zu verstehen. Mathe-Software (Mathematica oder ein Graphenplotter o.ä.) kann auch helfen.
   Wer ein bisschen – wie ich – selbst dazu Programmieren will, kann das spaßeshalber tun.
   Wahnsinn, was die Mathematiker schon allein des 18. und 19. Jh. drauf hatten – und das ohne Computer! Im letzten Viertel des Buches wird es naturgemäß z.T. recht schwer, weil die vorgestellten Theorien sehr “abgehoben” sind.
   Es ist (wahrscheinlich) besser, dieses Original zu lesen als die deutsche Übersetzung, da dies oft bei entsprechenden Werken der Fall ist.

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Fernando Garcia Rebolledo – May 16, 2015

   Excelente libro de consulta/curiosidades. Y un diseño y fotografias muy cuidado. Para adolescentes y profesores de matematicas. Una buena compra.

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Caffi – April 7, 2016

   Libro molto interessante. Molto utile come fonte di spunti per approfondire qualche discorso matematico con colleghi o amici. Molto belle anche le immagini. Sicuramente un libro che vale la pena acquistare.

6. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Texas70 – August 23, 2023

   Originally ordered this for my middle school grandson who loves math but it is too advanced for him. His older sister is studying advanced math so she wanted it. The book is well organized and very informative.

7. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   function – October 6, 2023

   Nice

8. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Om Prakash Mandal – October 3, 2024

   I bought this book on August 2018. The greatest mathematicians and their greatest works are explained in brief. Page quality and printed photographs are very good.

9. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Jules – October 15, 2024

   I loved the way the author expressed complex mathematical concepts in easy to understand terms. I especially liked the mathematical descriptions of common games such as tic tact toe and checkers.