Pi: A Biography of the World’s Most Mysterious Number by Alfred S. Posamentier (PDF)

Description

We all learned that the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter is called pi and that the value of this algebraic symbol is roughly 3.14. What we weren’t told, though, is that behind this seemingly mundane fact is a world of mystery, which has fascinated mathematicians from ancient times to the present. Simply put, pi is weird. Mathematicians call it a “transcendental number” because its value cannot be calculated by any combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root extraction. In this delightful layperson’s introduction to one of math’s most interesting phenomena, Drs. Posamentier and Lehmann review pi’s history from prebiblical times to the 21st century, the many amusing and mind-boggling ways of estimating pi over the centuries, quirky examples of obsessing about pi (including an attempt to legislate its exact value), and useful applications of pi in everyday life, including statistics.This enlightening and stimulating approach to mathematics will entertain lay readers while improving their mathematical literacy.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “There is something for everyone in this book and everyone should read this book because it will be for some, a revelation that mathematics can be fun and beautiful, something they may not have realized during earlier encounters. Math teachers will find a host of ideas to enrich their instruction since Pi, as you know, comes up everywhere. This book is highly recommended and should provide a major step toward increasing the popularity of mathematics.”-Education Update “A joyful exploration…written in a conversational style reminiscent of children’s science books. The writing is clear and crisp and draws the reader into the author’s enthusiasm…I highly recommend [this book] to high school and college students and teachers of both. The book captures the excitement and fascination of pi and can serve as a starting point for more detailed discussion.”-Mathematics Teacher“I enjoyed reading the book…for its many applications, curiosities, and anecdotes.”-Science “Readers curious about pi could start here…Recommended.” -Choice About the Author Alfred S. Posamentier is dean of the School of Education and professor of mathematics education at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Previously, he had the same positions at the City College of the City University of New York for forty years. He has published over fifty-five books in the area of mathematics and mathematics education, including The Fabulous Fibonacci Numbers (with Ingmar Lehmann). Ingmar Lehmann is retired from the mathematics faculty at Humboldt University in Berlin. For many years he led the Berlin Mathematics Student Society for gifted secondary-school students, with which he is still closely engaged today. He is the coauthor with Alfred S. Posamentier of The Secrets of Triangles, The Glorious Golden Ratio, and three other books.

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

⭐Very interesting book about π. Very easy to read. A couple family members are about to finish HS, and go for Engineering, this book will give them a good introduction about π.. My only grief is all those page trying to illustrate the endless property of π, one page plus the ellipses would have been fine to indicate that π is an infinite number, we all know that anyway. Who will read all those numbers? I tell you that right now: no body! Other than that, highly recommended. Number are very deep into our lives. Think for a moment and take the numbers away, our civilization will stop right there!

⭐An informative and amusing read. It is a great text for an average reader who may like to expose themselves to something different and start thinking about “numbers”. If you had high school math you should be able to enjoy it, though a section or two may require you to think about what you just read. (But that is not really a bad thing!)

⭐I bought this for my 11 year old son for his birthday. He loves Pi. It has all kinds of facts about Pi and even has 100,000 digits of Pi printed out for easy memorizing! Anyone who loves Pi will love this book.

⭐Structurally sound binding.

⭐Great!

⭐excellent book, very insightful!

⭐excellent book to be introduced into the world of Pi

⭐Intelligent, readable, and imaginative

⭐if you are interested in mathematics and especially to know more about the mysterious number pi, read this book. it is written in a very simple language with lots of examples!!

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