Mathematics in Popular Culture

Mathematics in Popular Culture

Author: Jessica K. Sklar

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 0786489944

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Mathematics has maintained a surprising presence in popular media for over a century. In recent years, the movies Good Will Hunting, A Beautiful Mind, and Stand and Deliver, the stage plays Breaking the Code and Proof, the novella Flatland and the hugely successful television crime series NUMB3RS all weave mathematics prominently into their storylines. Less obvious but pivotal references to the subject appear in the blockbuster TV show Lost, the cult movie The Princess Bride, and even Tolstoy's War and Peace. In this collection of new essays, contributors consider the role of math in everything from films, baseball, crossword puzzles, fantasy role-playing games, and television shows to science fiction tales, award-winning plays and classic works of literature. Revealing the broad range of intersections between mathematics and mainstream culture, this collection demonstrates that even "mass entertainment" can have a hidden depth.


A Wealth of Numbers

A Wealth of Numbers

Author: Benjamin Wardhaugh

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2012-04-29

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 0691147752

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An entertaining and informative anthology of popular math writing from the Renaissance to cyberspace Despite what we may sometimes imagine, popular mathematics writing didn't begin with Martin Gardner. In fact, it has a rich tradition stretching back hundreds of years. This entertaining and enlightening antholog—the first of its kind—gathers nearly one hundred fascinating selections from the past 500 years of popular math writing, bringing to life a little-known side of math history. Ranging from the late fifteenth to the late twentieth century, and drawing from books, newspapers, magazines, and websites, A Wealth of Numbers includes recreational, classroom, and work mathematics; mathematical histories and biographies; accounts of higher mathematics; explanations of mathematical instruments; discussions of how math should be taught and learned; reflections on the place of math in the world; and math in fiction and humor. Featuring many tricks, games, problems, and puzzles, as well as much history and trivia, the selections include a sixteenth-century guide to making a horizontal sundial; "Newton for the Ladies" (1739); Leonhard Euler on the idea of velocity (1760); "Mathematical Toys" (1785); a poetic version of the rule of three (1792); "Lotteries and Mountebanks" (1801); Lewis Carroll on the game of logic (1887); "Maps and Mazes" (1892); "Einstein's Real Achievement" (1921); "Riddles in Mathematics" (1945); "New Math for Parents" (1966); and "PC Astronomy" (1997). Organized by thematic chapters, each selection is placed in context by a brief introduction. A unique window into the hidden history of popular mathematics, A Wealth of Numbers will provide many hours of fun and learning to anyone who loves popular mathematics and science.


Popular Lectures on Mathematical Logic

Popular Lectures on Mathematical Logic

Author: Hao Wang

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2014-09-22

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0486171043

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Noted logician discusses both theoretical underpinnings and practical applications, exploring set theory, model theory, recursion theory and constructivism, proof theory, logic's relation to computer science, and other subjects. 1981 edition, reissued by Dover in 1993 with a new Postscript by the author.


Famous Problems of Geometry and How to Solve Them

Famous Problems of Geometry and How to Solve Them

Author: Benjamin Bold

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2012-05-11

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 0486137635

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Delve into the development of modern mathematics and match wits with Euclid, Newton, Descartes, and others. Each chapter explores an individual type of challenge, with commentary and practice problems. Solutions.


Mathematics Form and Function

Mathematics Form and Function

Author: Saunders MacLane

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 486

ISBN-13: 1461248728

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This book records my efforts over the past four years to capture in words a description of the form and function of Mathematics, as a background for the Philosophy of Mathematics. My efforts have been encouraged by lec tures that I have given at Heidelberg under the auspices of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, at the University of Chicago, and at the University of Minnesota, the latter under the auspices of the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications. Jean Benabou has carefully read the entire manuscript and has offered incisive comments. George Glauberman, Car los Kenig, Christopher Mulvey, R. Narasimhan, and Dieter Puppe have provided similar comments on chosen chapters. Fred Linton has pointed out places requiring a more exact choice of wording. Many conversations with George Mackey have given me important insights on the nature of Mathematics. I have had similar help from Alfred Aeppli, John Gray, Jay Goldman, Peter Johnstone, Bill Lawvere, and Roger Lyndon. Over the years, I have profited from discussions of general issues with my colleagues Felix Browder and Melvin Rothenberg. Ideas from Tammo Tom Dieck, Albrecht Dold, Richard Lashof, and Ib Madsen have assisted in my study of geometry. Jerry Bona and B.L. Foster have helped with my examina tion of mechanics. My observations about logic have been subject to con structive scrutiny by Gert Miiller, Marian Boykan Pour-El, Ted Slaman, R. Voreadou, Volker Weispfennig, and Hugh Woodin.


Pop-Up Geometry

Pop-Up Geometry

Author: Joseph O'Rourke

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-03-24

Total Pages: 143

ISBN-13: 1009098403

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Explores the beautifully intricate dynamics of pop-up cards using high school mathematics, making tangible what is often dry and abstract.


Math, Culture, and Popular Media

Math, Culture, and Popular Media

Author: Michaele F. Chappell

Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13:

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Realizing that middle-grades students bring to classrooms different experiences that shape their meaning about mathematics, both from inside and outside the classroom, it seems that embracing culture...is one important way to address a need in schools - that is, high achievement in mathematics by all students. - Michaele Chappell and Denisse Thompson If your students can text like this: cul8r bff, they can solve for this: 3x+5=39+2x In the middle grades personal identity becomes more important to learning than ever. More than a decade of research tells us that effective school mathematics has to be relevant to the lives and cultures of every student. Chappell and Thompson bring you a unique and user-friendly teacher resource that incorporates popular media from a variety of cultures in rich and engaging math investigations. A wide range of math concepts - from algebraic thinking to number and operation, geometry to probability - are embedded within dynamic activities. Engage your media-savvy students with investigations from popular films, games, literature, and the internet. Connect your students to stories from African American, Latino, Asian, and Native American cultures. Activities are ready to use or customizable for your classroom. CD-ROM includes: 90+ reproducible investigations with answer keys available as customizable Word documents Quick-reference matrix that cross references the activities by the five content strands of the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and by the four cultural groups. You can bring middle school math to life for all your students. This resource, ready to supplement your existing curriculum, shows you how and why to do it


Introductory Discrete Mathematics

Introductory Discrete Mathematics

Author: V. K . Balakrishnan

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2012-04-30

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 0486140385

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This concise, undergraduate-level text focuses on combinatorics, graph theory with applications to some standard network optimization problems, and algorithms. More than 200 exercises, many with complete solutions. 1991 edition.


Gödel, Escher, Bach

Gödel, Escher, Bach

Author: Douglas R. Hofstadter

Publisher: Penguin Group(CA)

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 832

ISBN-13: 9780140289206

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'What is a self and how can a self come out of inanimate matter?' This is the riddle that drove Douglas Hofstadter to write this extraordinary book. In order to impart his original and personal view on the core mystery of human existence - our intangible sensation of 'I'-ness - Hofstadter defines the playful yet seemingly paradoxical notion of 'strange loop', and explicates this idea using analogies from many disciplines.