Towing Icebergs, Falling Dominoes, and Other Adventures in Applied Mathematics (Princeton Puzzlers)
One ofChoice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1999"Robert Banks's study of everyday phenomena is infused with infectious enthusiasm."--Publishers Weekly"There is something here for every mathematically inclined reader. The aerodynamics of balls in sport, the spread of diseases, traffic flow, the effect of meteor impacts--[Banks] deals with these and much more in engaging, well-judged detail."--Robert Matthews,New Scientist"A fabulous exposition of adventures in applied mathematics. It's already one of my favourite books. It's so good I find it hard to lay aside."--B. L. Henry,Physicist"This book provides an entertaining look at some simple and interesting mathematical models for a range of topics. . . . The choice of modeling subjects is imaginative. . . . Every chapter is interesting, and the self-contained nature of each section of the book means that one can happily 'dip in and out' without losing the thread of the text."--Alistair Fitt,London Mathematical Society Newsletter"The book stands out because the examples are all treated as real-life examples with real data, and taking into account all the complications that are usually left out in academic examples: the earth is not a perfect sphere, a baseball is rough because of its stitches, it is thrown with spin, there is resistance of the air, and the resistance differs with the height, etc. Even though, there are a lot of formulas and numbers, the reading is pleasant and smooth."--A. Bultheel,European Mathematical Society