Alex Through the Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life by (PDF)

Description

Alex Bellos, author of Snowflake Seashell Star, takes the reader on a tour of his favourite mathematical concepts to reveal the hidden numbers that underpin our everyday lives. In the course of his travels he explores the Ordnance Survey’s obsession with trigonometry, explains why rollercoasters are a monument to Newton’s innovations, ponders why we have superstitions about certain numbers, delves into the mysteries of hyperboloids and meets an anonymous member of a secret mathematical sect.

User’s Reviews

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

⭐I’m only partway way through the Looking-Glass, and already I’ve seen an impressive range of matters mathematical: Benford’s Law, synaesthesia, self-reference, Conway’s Life, Ulam spirals, square-wheeled bicycles… Some of these topics I recognize from previous explorations, but the book always manages to add details that I didn’t know, or didn’t understand as well as I thought. Plenty of good illustrations, and the occasional mathematical equations seem to be nicely balanced by clear plain-English* explanations and juicy historical details.* I assume that the _Grapes of Math_ version will be in plain American, just didn’t want to wait around for the translation. I kind of like the flavo[u]r of the extra ‘s’ and ‘z’ in “maths whizz”, anyway…!

⭐cool book if you are interested in science and math

⭐This is an excellent collection of essays, above average for lucidity and general interest. The illustrations are great.

⭐When the book downloads to my tablet I will be about to read it and comment on it, the books does look like interesting reading.

⭐If you love math, you’ll love this book.

⭐A wonderful book for curious minds everywhere.

⭐Enjoyed it immensely. Sorry when it finished.

⭐Because I picked this up in Australia I got the English version but I expect Grapes of Math is similar since they have the same subtitle. I just finished this book and I am impressed with the effort and happy to have read it in the same way I am impressed by and happy to have read the better books on physics or biology written for the intelligent layperson. Below lays out the foundations of mathematics and shows lots of interesting relationships between aspects of math that may seem to be concerned with different things – thus figures like pi, i and e keep reappearing in algebraic and geometric contexts. There is enough math to follow that the person who wants to read the math closely and be satisfied that what Bellos writes is true and follows in the way he says it does will leave feeling a kind of thirst has been satisfied. But this is not me. I followed some of the mathematical proofs and explications, but if this required much effort I didn’t have the time to pour over things. However, even without doing this Bellos manages to clearly explain many fundamental concepts and relationships in the world of mathematics, many of which I had not seen as clearly explained, if they were explained at all, before. Reading it I thought it might make an excellent gift for a young teenager who was fascinated by mathematics but was not being challenged enough or well enough versed on fundamental concepts in school. For those who might find it easy to get overdosed on numbers and formulas, the book had an additional virtue. It is chock full of historical notes, anecdotes, character studies of significant figures in math and the like it make it of interest even if one simply accepts everything Bellos writes on faith and doesn’t try to wrestle with any of his numbers, diagrams or formulas. The writing is clear so that the book is easy to follow, and to my surprise there were even times where I found it hard to put down. Hence I give it five stars. But it probably is not for everyone. So if possible to take peeks inside you may wish to do this before purchasing.

⭐Alex Bellos is a fantastic writer. I highly recommend him to those interested or just wondering about the world of math applied to everyday life. He uses real stories and life to put across mathematical principles – and not in a jargonistic or complicated way but simply. I highly recommend this book as well as his other book ‘Alex’s adventures in numberland’.

⭐In his latest book Alex Bellos devotes a chapter to each of the various fields of mathematics from basic principles through negative and imaginary numbers, trigonometry, calculus, and how they relate to real life events with which we are all familiar. The unique feature of this book is that each chapter can be dipped into without having studied previous chapters. Publications on maths often qualify for the “most boring book of the year award”. This book is at the other end of the spectrum , amusing, entertaining and instructive and provides the reader with an excellent overall view of each topic.

⭐Alex Bellos is a fab author bringing maths to life, fully explaining its history and everyday applications – recommend reading all his titles – makes maths interesting and accessible to all

⭐There’s no dumbing-down (and quite a few formulas) but it’s still very accessible to anyone who once did o-level maths. I found the whole thing absolutely fascinating and constantly entertaining. Definitely recommended.

⭐Superbly written: a page turner, and nlot afraid to be honest about the maths, either. I’ve already cajoled my non-mathematical wife to get it!

Keywords

Free Download Alex Through the Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life in PDF format
Alex Through the Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life PDF Free Download
Download Alex Through the Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life PDF Free
Alex Through the Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life PDF Free Download
Download Alex Through the Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life PDF
Free Download Ebook Alex Through the Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life