Mathematical Explorations

Mathematical Explorations

Author: Alan F. Beardon

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-10-13

Total Pages: 129

ISBN-13: 131661056X

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Provides readers with experience of working on difficult unsolved problems. No deep mathematical background is required.


Explorations in Mathematical Physics

Explorations in Mathematical Physics

Author: Don Koks

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2006-09-15

Total Pages: 549

ISBN-13: 0387309438

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Have you ever wondered why the language of modern physics centres on geometry? Or how quantum operators and Dirac brackets work? What a convolution really is? What tensors are all about? Or what field theory and lagrangians are, and why gravity is described as curvature? This book takes you on a tour of the main ideas forming the language of modern mathematical physics. Here you will meet novel approaches to concepts such as determinants and geometry, wave function evolution, statistics, signal processing, and three-dimensional rotations. You will see how the accelerated frames of special relativity tell us about gravity. On the journey, you will discover how tensor notation relates to vector calculus, how differential geometry is built on intuitive concepts, and how variational calculus leads to field theory. You will meet quantum measurement theory, along with Green functions and the art of complex integration, and finally general relativity and cosmology. The book takes a fresh approach to tensor analysis built solely on the metric and vectors, with no need for one-forms. This gives a much more geometrical and intuitive insight into vector and tensor calculus, together with general relativity, than do traditional, more abstract methods. Don Koks is a physicist at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation in Adelaide, Australia. His doctorate in quantum cosmology was obtained from the Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics at Adelaide University. Prior work at the University of Auckland specialised in applied accelerator physics, along with pure and applied mathematics.


Mathematical Expeditions

Mathematical Expeditions

Author: Frank J. Swetz

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2012-07-16

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 1421404370

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"A collection of over 500 culturally and historically diverse mathematical problems carefully chosen to enrich mathematics teaching from middle school through the college level."--Provided by publisher.


Early Mathematical Explorations

Early Mathematical Explorations

Author: Nicola Yelland

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-01-20

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1107618827

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This book presents teachers with a sound theoretical framework for encouraging children to explore mathematical concepts and become numerate in the 21st century. It shows that mathematical learning can occur in a variety of ways, including when children explore ideas through play, problem solving and problem posing, engage in a rich variety of multimodal learning experiences, pursue self-directed activities and cooperate with others, and make connections between ideas and experiences in their everyday worlds. - Back cover


Playing with Infinity

Playing with Infinity

Author: Rozsa Peter

Publisher:

Published: 1986-01

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780844652351

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Popular account ranges from counting to mathematical logic and covers many concepts related to infinity: graphic representation of functions; pairings, other combinations; prime numbers; logarithms, circular functions; more. 216 illustrations.


Mathematical Expeditions

Mathematical Expeditions

Author: Reinhard Laubenbacher

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-12-01

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1461205239

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The stories of five mathematical journeys into new realms, pieced together from the writings of the explorers themselves. Some were guided by mere curiosity and the thrill of adventure, others by more practical motives. In each case the outcome was a vast expansion of the known mathematical world and the realisation that still greater vistas remain to be explored. The authors tell these stories by guiding readers through the very words of the mathematicians at the heart of these events, providing an insightinto the art of approaching mathematical problems. The five chapters are completely independent, with varying levels of mathematical sophistication, and will attract students, instructors, and the intellectually curious reader. By working through some of the original sources and supplementary exercises, which discuss and solve -- or attempt to solve -- a great problem, this book helps readers discover the roots of modern problems, ideas, and concepts, even whole subjects. Students will also see the obstacles that earlier thinkers had to clear in order to make their respective contributions to five central themes in the evolution of mathematics.


Cows in the Maze

Cows in the Maze

Author: Ian Stewart

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2010-04-22

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0191624802

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From the mathematics of mazes, to cones with a twist, and the amazing sphericon - and how to make one - Ian Stewart is back with more mathematical stories and puzzles that are as quirky as they are fascinating, and each from the cutting edge of the world of mathematics. We find out about the mathematics of time travel, explore the shape of teardrops (which are not tear-drop shaped, but something much, much more strange!), dance with dodecahedra, and play the game of Hex, amongst many more strange and delightful mathematical diversions.


Mathematical Explorations

Mathematical Explorations

Author: Alan F. Beardon

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-10-13

Total Pages: 129

ISBN-13: 1316721086

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Mathematical Explorations follows on from the author's previous book, Creative Mathematics, in the same series, and gives the reader experience in working on problems requiring a little more mathematical maturity. The author's main aim is to show that problems are often solved by using mathematics that is not obviously connected to the problem, and readers are encouraged to consider as wide a variety of mathematical ideas as possible. In each case, the emphasis is placed on the important underlying ideas rather than on the solutions for their own sake. To enhance understanding of how mathematical research is conducted, each problem has been chosen not for its mathematical importance, but because it provides a good illustration of how arguments can be developed. While the reader does not require a deep mathematical background to tackle these problems, they will find their mathematical understanding is enriched by attempting to solve them.


Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, & Other Mathematical Explorations

Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, & Other Mathematical Explorations

Author: Keith Ball

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 0691127972

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How does mathematics enable us to send pictures from space back to Earth? Where does the bell-shaped curve come from? Why do you need only 23 people in a room for a 50/50 chance of two of them sharing the same birthday? In Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, and Other Mathematical Explorations, Keith Ball highlights how ideas, mostly from pure math, can answer these questions and many more. Drawing on areas of mathematics from probability theory, number theory, and geometry, he explores a wide range of concepts, some more light-hearted, others central to the development of the field and used daily by mathematicians, physicists, and engineers. Each of the book's ten chapters begins by outlining key concepts and goes on to discuss, with the minimum of technical detail, the principles that underlie them. Each includes puzzles and problems of varying difficulty. While the chapters are self-contained, they also reveal the links between seemingly unrelated topics. For example, the problem of how to design codes for satellite communication gives rise to the same idea of uncertainty as the problem of screening blood samples for disease. Accessible to anyone familiar with basic calculus, this book is a treasure trove of ideas that will entertain, amuse, and bemuse students, teachers, and math lovers of all ages.


Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, & Other Mathematical Explorations

Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, & Other Mathematical Explorations

Author: Keith Ball

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2011-10-16

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1400841240

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How does mathematics enable us to send pictures from space back to Earth? Where does the bell-shaped curve come from? Why do you need only 23 people in a room for a 50/50 chance of two of them sharing the same birthday? In Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, and Other Mathematical Explorations, Keith Ball highlights how ideas, mostly from pure math, can answer these questions and many more. Drawing on areas of mathematics from probability theory, number theory, and geometry, he explores a wide range of concepts, some more light-hearted, others central to the development of the field and used daily by mathematicians, physicists, and engineers. Each of the book's ten chapters begins by outlining key concepts and goes on to discuss, with the minimum of technical detail, the principles that underlie them. Each includes puzzles and problems of varying difficulty. While the chapters are self-contained, they also reveal the links between seemingly unrelated topics. For example, the problem of how to design codes for satellite communication gives rise to the same idea of uncertainty as the problem of screening blood samples for disease. Accessible to anyone familiar with basic calculus, this book is a treasure trove of ideas that will entertain, amuse, and bemuse students, teachers, and math lovers of all ages.