The Mathematical Universe: An Alphabetical Journey Through the Great Proofs, Problems, and Personalities 1st Edition by William Dunham (PDF)

Description

Dunham writes for nonspecialists, and they will enjoy his piquantanecdotes and amusing asides — Booklist Artfully, Dunham conducts a tour of the mathematical universe. . .he believes these ideas to be accessible to the audience he wantsto reach, and he writes so that they are.” — Nature “If you want to encourage anyone’s interest in math, get them TheMathematical Universe.” * New Scientist

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I really enjoy this book, and I keep consulting it. But I really don’t know whether what I’m learning from it is correct or not. Here’s the problem: The two entries with which I have the most familiarity are just plain wrong.The entry on the “Russell Paradox” reads like a hagiography of Bertrand Russell. It makes it appear that Russell ceased working on the Principia Mathematica because he could not find a solution to his paradox–whether a set, all of whose members are not members of themselves, contains itself. According to Dunham, his inability to find a satisfactory solution spelled the end of his quest for the development of a logical foundation for mathematics, which he communicated to Frege, who gave up on his attempts as well. This is pure fiction. The entire Principia Mathematica is based on Russell’s theory of ramified types (the stipulation that a set cannot be a member of itself), which he confidently asserted as being the solution to the paradox throughout the work. What put an end to Russell and Whitehead’s project, as well as Frege’s, was Goedel’s incompleteness theorem, totally ignored by Dunham.Dunham’s treatment of Venn diagrams is even worse because it is deprecating of John Venn and his work–and totally wrong. Dunham states that the diagrams that are named after him were Venn’s only contribution to mathematics and then makes disparaging remarks about them, particularly that they lacked any originality. Here’s the reality: John Venn was an extremely competent mathematician/logician whose many contributions included the furtherance of George Boole’s innovations. Dunham’s picture of a Venn diagram–a rectangle with two large circles that do not overlap and a small circle completely inside of one of the large ones–is absolutely wrong and misses the genius of Venn’s contribution. Dunham is right that other mathematicians, e.g. Euler, had drawn diagrams such as the one he pictures, but those are not what Venn did. The point of Venn’s diagrams is that they reflect the Boolean understanding of the hypothetical nature of a universal statement. Thus a statement like “All frogs are amphibians,” is drawn with two overlapping circles, and the area that represents frogs outside of the “amphibian” circle is shaded out, meaning we know it is not populated, but leaving it open whether there is a population in the overlap area. This technique makes a huge difference in the understanding of logical relationships; it is a revolution after some two thousand years of Aristotelian assumptions. Dunham can do no better than belittle it.Thus, I come back to my original thought. These are two entries in the area with which I am familiar, and they are both just plain wrong. How much credence can I give the other entries when I try to learn from them?

⭐This is my least favorite Dunham book, and not because it is for the non-math masses.This book does not really seem to have any real organization to it as his other works. And his writing is targeted to appeal to the pedestrian reader he tries a bit hard to be amusing.It almost seems that Dunham is out of his comfort zone trying to write for the masses and not turn people off with the math.Yes there is the math in the book, but it really is nothing of interest to the math student or math types. Unlike Journey through Genius, where he does not seem to worry about whether he lost the average reader and writes more towards the math crowd who want the math and historical.In his other works he really does a great job of presenting the topics in a cohesive manner which develops the context and almost tells a story. In this book the organization is almost random.The 5 stars is because for the masses, this is an easy read and hopefully will entice readers to really go back and at least try to develop a deeper understanding of math.Also, Dunham does have his favorites and he makes that clear in his books. Everyone will have their favorites in a subject so broad with such a long history of great discovery.

⭐Used as a gift. I have my own copy and wished to share it with a friend who lives out of state. The book is informative and entertaining to those who are mathematically inclined, mixing history and technical concepts.

⭐I really enjoyed

⭐, so was looking forward to peeling the cover off this book, however i was a little disappointed to find repeated text from the earlier book. That Ramanujan is missing is surprising (only mentioned in a passing reference to discuss gender imbalance). It would have been nice to have heard a little about this mathematical phenomenon, even if to just discuss the number 1729, if his theorems were deemed to difficult for a general audience. For these 2 points it loses a star.Dunham utilizes his gift for giving clear expositions in an entertaining and engaging manner. Another good read.

⭐This book was an incredible addition to my mathematical reading. The format is an alphabetical chapter list of mathematical topics. It was a great way to organize each thought and topic. The topics range from arithmetic to algebraic and many, many in between. He helped me link some things historically and fundamentally that I had already been practicing, which led to an even better understanding of many “basic” (not always simple) mathematical proofs. I am so happy I purchased this book, and would recommend it for the layman and and the pro.

⭐Enjoyable as a quick dip into a range of different fields of mathematics. Unfortunately, the Kindle version suffers from many, many typos misformatting in the mathematical equations. In some cases they are completely illegible, and the reader is left to guess what a symbol was supposed to have been.

⭐Much easier subject matter than some of this author’s other books. If you’re interested in studying mathematics, you might pick this one up to see what it’s about. If you like it, read “Journey Through Genius” next.

⭐I love the manageable pieces and the choice of topics. A chapter on pi and a chapter on e for example are just what hope find. I’m not disappointed as math books go, this is page turner.

⭐Mathematics underpins almost everything in our technological society, from computers to machines to communications, and is essential to the functioning of that society. Yet it is a closed book to the vast majority of us. William Dunham is one of a small select band of people: professional mathematicians who can also write in a very entertaining way.In just 26 alphabetic chapters, he takes us through some of the basic theorems of mathematics, and the lives of some of the extraordinary men (and occasional women) who have created this wondrous repository of mathematical knowledge.One of his chapters does ask the difficult question why there have not been more great female mathematicians. Their number has been few, it’s true, although they have also included some of the very greatest and original thinkers among their number like Emmy Noether.If you want to get a clever youngster interested in mathematics, then this is the book to do it. But it’s also a great book for the adult non-mathematician to learn a little about this strange and entrancing world.

⭐Sometimes you just have to feed your inner geek, and if so this is just the ticket. It is very well written, and is really the sort of book to be seen to be reading if you aspire to be the thinking man’s/woman’s crumpet! I wouldnt go as far as saying a completely understand the theorums, but at least I now know their names.

⭐The best thing about this book is the large number of mathematicians introduced. There is a profile on quite a number of them, and chapters are also dedicated to some historically important discoveries and contrivances of mathematics. The biographical sections are very subjective, (in my subjective view), and Descartes is made out to be almost a villain. I think that Dunham would have done well to take into account that Descartes was the owner of one of the greatest minds in the history of man, and that if he had a few eccentricities such as some degree, (even if not insubstantial), of arrogance, this is forgivable and his work should be treated seperately from his personality. But I own that I found the biographical sections amusing to read even when a particular stance was taken: this isn’t flawlessly objective history; it is a lot more light-hearted and should shape no minds, but should offer a very readable and amusing intruduction to the main areas of maths, from a historical perspective. The Leibnitz-Newton dispute is touched upon, though fortunately little more than touched upon; it is a so oft quoted and discussed piece of history that it works like glue on my eyelids whenever I read an anecdote about it. The chapter on Newton more emphasises the incredible duel abilities of Newton as one of the few best mathematicians ever and also one of the few best physicists ever. Of course – as Dunham explains – the distinction between physicist [natural philosopher] and mathematician would have been quite blurry, and really much of the work that natural philosophers would do would be maths, (even if you look in a physics journal today you will realise that all you see is mathematics most of the time). There is a section on Euler, as there should be, and this displays a theorem of geometry that I hadn’t seen in a book before.If you know anyone that is intrigued by maths but doesn’t have really any knowledge of it beyond school level, or if you are a mathematician with surprisingly little knowledge of the history of maths then this could be a good book to buy. It is probably best suited to college students that intend to do a maths degree or for someone who is doing a maths degree, (and ought to know about the history of their subject).

⭐I bought this for a friend and he was very pleased with it. He already owned another book by the same author and rates him very highly.

⭐Great technical and historical insights. Beautifully written, educational and a pleasure to read.

Keywords

Free Download The Mathematical Universe: An Alphabetical Journey Through the Great Proofs, Problems, and Personalities 1st Edition in PDF format
The Mathematical Universe: An Alphabetical Journey Through the Great Proofs, Problems, and Personalities 1st Edition PDF Free Download
Download The Mathematical Universe: An Alphabetical Journey Through the Great Proofs, Problems, and Personalities 1st Edition 2007 PDF Free
The Mathematical Universe: An Alphabetical Journey Through the Great Proofs, Problems, and Personalities 1st Edition 2007 PDF Free Download
Download The Mathematical Universe: An Alphabetical Journey Through the Great Proofs, Problems, and Personalities 1st Edition PDF
Free Download Ebook The Mathematical Universe: An Alphabetical Journey Through the Great Proofs, Problems, and Personalities 1st Edition