I just finished reading The Math Book by Clifford A. Pickover. I would highly recommend this book to anyone! This book was very informative, and a variety of people could relate to the book.
The layout of this book was very simple. It was in chronological order and provided the major milestones that have created mathematics. There were 250 milestones in the history of mathematics. These milestones include the greatest mathematicians. The author starts with a milestone in c. 150 Million B.C. and ends in the year 2007. Some of the milestones include history behind items that people do everyday, like play tic-tac-toe! The book was written in 2009. Each milestone is one page (left side) and then on the right side there is a picture to go along with the milestone. It is a very quick and easy read.
I have picked a few examples from the book that were my favorite to share. The ones I have picked to share I think most people would enjoy learning about even if they do not like mathematics.
· Ant Odometer (c. 150 Million B.C.) : This was the first milestone listed in this book. German and Swiss scientists discovered that ants “count” steps to judge distance. After ants had reached their destination, the scientists would add stilts or shorten their legs to see how the ants traveled back to their original destination.
· Dice (c. 3000 B.C.) : Can you imagine a world without dice and random numbers? Dice were originally made from anklebones of hoofed animals. Dice are used to teach probability. Now dice are used for many things people do everyday.
· Rubik’s Cube (1974) : Have you ever messed around with a rubik’s cube and got frustrated that you could not finish it? I have! After reading about the invention of the Rubik’s Cube I started playing around with one again because I was determined to figure it out. In this one page summary of the Rubik’s Cube, you find out that no configuration requires more than 20 moves to solve. That is just crazy to think about for me, since I have worked with Rubik’s Cubes for hours and could not figure them out!
Those are just three of my favorites that I thought most people could relate to! This book is a quick, easy, and enjoyable read. It is just fascinating to read about the major milestones in mathematics that you would have never thought was a major milestone for mathematics. I would recommend everyone to read this book to see what you can relate to, and think about how your life would be different if these were never created within mathematics!
The layout of this book was very simple. It was in chronological order and provided the major milestones that have created mathematics. There were 250 milestones in the history of mathematics. These milestones include the greatest mathematicians. The author starts with a milestone in c. 150 Million B.C. and ends in the year 2007. Some of the milestones include history behind items that people do everyday, like play tic-tac-toe! The book was written in 2009. Each milestone is one page (left side) and then on the right side there is a picture to go along with the milestone. It is a very quick and easy read.
I have picked a few examples from the book that were my favorite to share. The ones I have picked to share I think most people would enjoy learning about even if they do not like mathematics.
· Ant Odometer (c. 150 Million B.C.) : This was the first milestone listed in this book. German and Swiss scientists discovered that ants “count” steps to judge distance. After ants had reached their destination, the scientists would add stilts or shorten their legs to see how the ants traveled back to their original destination.
· Dice (c. 3000 B.C.) : Can you imagine a world without dice and random numbers? Dice were originally made from anklebones of hoofed animals. Dice are used to teach probability. Now dice are used for many things people do everyday.
· Rubik’s Cube (1974) : Have you ever messed around with a rubik’s cube and got frustrated that you could not finish it? I have! After reading about the invention of the Rubik’s Cube I started playing around with one again because I was determined to figure it out. In this one page summary of the Rubik’s Cube, you find out that no configuration requires more than 20 moves to solve. That is just crazy to think about for me, since I have worked with Rubik’s Cubes for hours and could not figure them out!
Those are just three of my favorites that I thought most people could relate to! This book is a quick, easy, and enjoyable read. It is just fascinating to read about the major milestones in mathematics that you would have never thought was a major milestone for mathematics. I would recommend everyone to read this book to see what you can relate to, and think about how your life would be different if these were never created within mathematics!