The author, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Essex and
author of Mathematics for the Curious, claims here to be discussing
the history and development of mathematics through the ages. He's
actually doing much more than that; this is a quick-read primer for
anyone who never quite got to grips with the subject at school -
mathematics for the uninitiated, sums for the innumerate, geometry
for the confused. Higgins's avowed aim is to capture readers'
imagination with 'the deepest and most fascinating subject in the
world', and he is quite brilliant at using everyday facts to convey
quite complex mathematical ideas, with few formulae and lots of
graphics - though there are some fairly terrifying bits of algebra
if you do as he suggests and dip in at random. But read the book as
a smooth flow of ideas and he catches you before you know it - we
start out on page two with a reassuringly familiar map of the world
as presented by the airlines and - whoosh! - by page three here we
are accepting the concept of a geodesic with all the ease of a
toddler grasping the difference between a ball and a cube. Carry on
and you will learn about the elliptical nature of planetary motion
and the translational symmetry of wallpaper patterns, and discover
how to measure the height of the Great Pyramid of Cheops and locate
the true heart of England. It's not all easy going, but Higgins
offers fascinating morsels to keep you going (did you know that
Benjamin Franklin invented the concept of daylight saving time,
that Pythagoras preached vegetarianism or that Galileo's
predictions about gravity based on experiments at the Leaning Tower
of Pisa were confirmed by the Apollo astronauts?). (Kirkus UK)
Mathematics for the Imagination provides an accessible and entertaining investigation into mathematical problems in the world around us. From world navigation, family trees, and calendars to patterns, tessellations, and number tricks, this informative and fun new book helps you to understand the maths behind real-life questions and rediscover your arithmetical mind.
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