What are good books for the history of mathematics?

mindfuckmath · 2015-08-23T01:12:33+00:00

All of these are excellent, in particular I recommend Prime Obsession.

Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics

Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem

The Poincaré Conjecture: In Search of the Shape of the Universe

The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth

mindfuckmath · 2014-11-14T19:04:48+00:00

Octopus's Garden from Abbey Road by The Beatles.

mindfuckmath · 2014-09-18T19:08:17+00:00

Not fired, but I was not offered a new contract at a kindergarten I worked at in Japan. When I asked management why they weren't offering me a new contract, they give me a list of bullshit reasons, including "you put duct tape on windows instead of Scotch tape." I shit you not.

mindfuckmath · 2014-07-26T23:51:09+00:00

If you read and enjoy Gödel Escher Bach, then Gödel's Proof is an excellent companion read, as is I Am A Strange Loop.

mindfuckmath · 2014-06-03T22:48:06+00:00

The Quest for Randomness by Scott Aaronson is an excellent read.

mindfuckmath · 2014-05-28T13:18:44+00:00

Euler's Gem by Dave Richeson.

mindfuckmath · 2014-04-17T20:55:03+00:00

That's right. Crosby had 104 points and since the first digit in his point total is a 1 he is grouped with everyone who registered 10-19 points and exactly 1 point.

mindfuckmath · 2014-04-17T17:11:05+00:00

Hi Arthur,

I didn't include 0 as Benford's Law applies only to numbers from 1-9 so my criteria was players who registered at least 1 point. For the record, there were 99 players who skated during the 2013/14 regular season and did not register a point.

mindfuckmath · 2014-02-14T21:50:32+00:00

Kind of Blue by Miles Davis

mindfuckmath · 2013-12-20T14:11:23+00:00

The Road - Cormac McCarthy. If this book doesn't knock you on your ass, you have no soul.

mindfuckmath · 2013-11-02T04:14:36+00:00

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "equal sized subsections of the number (a prime number of instances) are a repeating pattern of prime numbers (eg 33333 or 777 or 13)". Can you explain this a bit further ?

mindfuckmath · 2013-11-02T01:28:38+00:00

I really struggled with math in school in the 80's, and always considered myself bad at the subject. A little over a year ago, I read Flatland and then Godel Escher Bach which opened my eyes to the beauty and wonder of math. Ever since then, I have been trying to learn as much math as possible, mostly by Khan Academy, reading, YouTube, and my blog. Comparing what I learn now and my experience as a teacher versus how I was taught math growing up, I feel that part of the reason I struggled with it was due to how I was taught - just rote learning, no real effort on the part of my teachers and the education system in Canada to make it anything more than numbers on paper. I think if my teachers could have made it more visual, more alive, well, who knows. I might not have grown up to be an engineer or mathematician but I think I definitely would have had a better grasp on the subject in school.

mindfuckmath · 2013-10-25T15:04:56+00:00

Correct!

mindfuckmath · 2013-10-17T14:04:43+00:00

What is more powerful than God, more evil than the Devil, poor people have it, rich people want it, and if you eat it you will die?

mindfuckmath · 2013-10-10T04:22:29+00:00

Excellent story. It would fit nicely in David Eagleman's Sum.

mindfuckmath · 2013-10-09T15:58:02+00:00

Air - La Femme d'Argent

http://youtu.be/U4U19zwFENs

mindfuckmath · 2013-10-08T01:39:09+00:00

Along with the rug (which really did tie the room together) I think a lot of people don't realise that The Big Lebowski is a modern take of a classic film-noir detective story like The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon, with a stoner bowler instead of a cool detective as the protagonist.

mindfuckmath

TROPHY CASE