Alex through the looking-glass : how numbers reflect life and life reflects numbers /
By: Bellos, Alex
Title By: McCoy, Surreal [Illustrated by]
Material type: BookPublisher: London : Bloomsbury, c2014.Description: xi, 339 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.ISBN: 9781408817773Subject(s): Mathematics -- Social aspects -- Popular works | MathematicsDDC classification: 510 BE AL Online resources: Location MapItem type | Home library | Call number | Status | Notes | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
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REGULAR | University of Wollongong in Dubai Main Collection | 510 BE AL (Browse shelf) | Available | Nov2018 | T0061356 |
, Shelving location: Main Collection Close shelf browser
510 BA CO College mathematics for business, economics, life sciences and social sciences | 510 BA ES Essential mathematical skills : | 510 BA ES Essential mathematical skills : | 510 BE AL Alex through the looking-glass : | 510 BE BA Basic college mathematics : | 510 BO PU Pure mathematics : 1. | 510 BO PU Pure mathematics : 2. |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 304-322) and index.
Every number tells a story -- The long tail of the law -- Love triangles -- Coneheads -- Bring on the revolution -- All about e -- The positive power of negative thinking -- Professor calculus -- The titlk of this chapter contains three erors -- Cell mates.
From triangles, rotations and power laws, to fractals, cones and curves, bestselling author Alex Bellos takes you on a journey of mathematical discovery with his signature wit, engaging stories and limitless enthusiasm. As he narrates a series of eye-opening encounters with lively personalities all over the world, Alex demonstrates how numbers have come to be our friends, are fascinating and extremely accessible, and how they have changed our world.
He turns even the dreaded calculus into an easy-to-grasp mathematical exposition, and sifts through over 30,000 survey submissions to reveal the world's favourite number. In Germany, he meets the engineer who designed the first roller-coaster loop, whilst in India he joins the world's highly numerate community at the International Congress of Mathematicians. He explores the wonders behind the Game of Life program, and explains mathematical logic, growth and negative numbers. Stateside, he hangs out with a private detective in Oregon and meets the mathematician who looks for universes from his garage in Illinois.