Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz
Subtitle: Making Light of Weighty Ideas
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; W.W. Norton
Published: August 29, 2005
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 276
ISBN-13: 9780393059458
Copyright date: 2005
First sentence: Obviously . . . Colored lights dance from spinning disco balls while sequined servers jiggle through the crowds plying the players with cash-loosening cocktails.
Description: An explanation of challenging puzzles within the world of mathematics considers such topics as the link between a pineapple's spirals and the famous Fibonacci numbers, and the shape of the universe as reflected by a twisted strip of paper.
Table of contents: title: Opening Thoughts /vii; title: Part I / UNDERSTANDING UNCERTAINTY / Coincidences, chaos and Confusion / 1; title: 1- / UNBRIDLED COINCIDENCES / Likelihood, Lady Luck, and Lady Love / 3; title: 2- / CHAOS REIGNS/ Why We Can't Predict the Future / 20; title: 3- / DIGESTING LIFE'S DATA / Statistical Surprises / 42; title: Part-II / EMBRACING FIGURES / Sensing Secrecy, Magnificent Magnitudes, and Nature's Numbers / 63; title: 4- / SECRETS HELD, SECRETS REVEALED / Cryptography Decrypted / 65; title: 5- / SIZING UP NUMBERS /How many? How Big? How Quick / 78; title: 6- / A SYNERGY BETWEEN NATURE AND NUMBER / A Search for Pattern / 100; title: Part III / EXPLORING AESTHETICS / Sexy Rectangles, Fiery Fractals, and Contortions of Space / 121; title: 7- / FROM PRECISE BEAUTY TO PURE CHAOS / Picturing Aesthetics Through the Lens of Mathematics / 123; title: 8- / ORIGAMI FOR THE ORIGAMICALLY CHALLENGED / From Paper Folding to Computers and Fiery Fractals / 146; title: 9- / A TWISTED TURN IN AN AMORPHOUS UNIVERSE / An Exploration of an Elasticized World / 166; title: Part IV / TRANSCENDING REALITY / The Fourth Dimension and Infinity / 199; title: 10- / THE UNIVERSE NEXT DOOR / The Magic of the Fourth Dimension / 201; title: 11- / MOVING BEYOND THE CONFINES OF OUR NUTSHELL / A Journey to Infinity / 231; title: 12- / IN SEARCH OF SOMETHING STILL LARGER / A Journey Beyond Infinity / 246; title: Closing Thoughts / 267; title: Acknowledgements / 268; title: Further Resources / 269; title: Permissions / 270; title: Index / 271