Title: Mathematics:
An Illustrated History of Numbers
Author: Tom
Jackson
Review: This is a big, beautiful book on Mathematics. The pages are full of color with facts and
photo illustration. Do you want to know
about Game Theory? Or how about the
Golden Ratio, maybe String Theory or Logarithms, how about the Platonic
Solids(my kids learned about these in math camp and then folded paper to form them), or the Magic Square ? This book contains 100 breakthoughs that
changed history…..Who did what and when they did it. This is a great coffee table book for any
home. Think of the conversations this
could start and the trivia contest you could win with this knowledge? Are you a math or science teacher? You need this book if you teach. Any elementary classroom would be enhanced with this book or the whole series.
The back of the book includes a fold-out timeline with over
1000 milestone facts. My kids love this
item. What happened in mathematics and
science and what was going on in the world at the same time? What was happening with the culture and civilization
of the world as these items were being discovered and talked about for the very
first time? Well it is here and fits
inside the back of the book in a little pocket so you always know where it
is.
The series includes two other books, one on the elements and
one on the universe. Each is unique and
different. My kids love the illustrations
and the large size pages. This book is easy
to look through and find interesting facts to share. There is also a section on great mathematicians
in history, 101 Mathematics a guide, and imponderables.
This is a great series of books to have sitting around for
your children to pick and read. A coffee
table book, yes…..but so much more also.
Check it out…it is well worth the small price tag.
Publisher: Shelter
Harbor Press 10/9/12
ISBN: 9780985323042
Copyright: 2012
Pages: 168
Quick Review: 4
stars out of 5
Where I Obtained the
Book: Sent to me by the publisher for review.
Synopsis: Legend has it that the first magic square,
where all lines and diagonals add up to the same figure, was revealed more than
2,000 years ago when a river turtle appeared to have ancient Chinese numerals
inscribed on sections of its shell. Patterns are everywhere in nature, and
counting, measuring, and calculating changes are as old as civilization itself,
as are many of the theorems and laws of math. The Pythagorean Theorem was used
to plot out fields for planting crops before the ancient Greek Pythagoras was
even born, but the story begins long before that, with tally marks on rock and
bone surviving from the Stone Age.
Here is the essential guide to mathematics, an authoritative
reference book and timeline that explores the work of history's greatest
mathematicians. From the teasing genius of Pierre de Fermat, who said he knew
the answers but rarely gave them up, to the fractal pattern discovered by
Waclaw Sierpinski now used to plan the route a mailman takes, here are 100
landmark moments in this intensely rigorous discipline, seen through the eyes
of the people who lived them.
Glimpse the abstract landscape of infinite numbers and
multi-dimensional shapes as you learn about the most famous math men of all.
Pythagoras had a love of numbers so strong it led to a violent death. Then
there is Fibonacci, whose guide for bookkeepers changed the way we add and
Descartes, who took inspiration from a fly to convert numbers into shapes and
back again, changing math forever.
Over many centuries, great minds puzzled over the evidence
and, step-by-step, edged ever closer to the truth. Behind every one of these
breakthrough moments there's a story about a confounding puzzle that became a
discovery and changed the way we see the world. Here are one hundred of the
most significant and we call these Ponderables. In Mathematics: An Illustrated
History of Numbers, you'll get a peak into the Imponderables, too, the
mysteries yet to be solved that will one day lead great thinkers forward to an
even greater understanding of the universe.
Includes a removable fold-out concertina neatly housed in
the back of the book. This fold-out provides a 12-page Timeline History of
Mathematics that embeds the story in historical context and shows Who Did What
When at a glance. The reverse side features some of the greatest mathematical
enigmas and interesting facts about the world of numbers.
Author Biography: Tom
Jackson is a science author based in the United Kingdom who has written many
books, covering everything from axolotls to Zoroastrianism. Mr. Jackson studied
zoology at the University of Bristol, and still lives in that city with his
wife and three children, where he can be found mainly in the attic.
Other Reviews:
Others Book in the Series:
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