"With colorful photographs and interactive examples, Bruce Goldstone introduces children to the ideas of something being possible, probable, or impossible. Each spread features an easy-to-understand, fun scenario such as dice rolling and bowling, with questions about probable outcomes and simple explanations"--From publisher description.

The mathematical savant uses personal stories and everyday examples to describe the way numbers and equations form the basis of our lives, from snowflakes to Anne Boleyn's extra finger.

We commonly define the Pythagorean theorem using the formula a2 + b2 = c2. But Pythagoras himself would have been confused by that. Explore how this famous theorem can be explained using common geometric shapes (no fancy algebra required), and how it’s a critical foundation for the rest of geometry.

How math helps us solve the universe's deepest mysteriesOne of the great insights of science is that the universe has an underlying order. The supreme goal of physicists is to understand this order through laws that describe the behavior of the most basic particles and the forces between them. For centuries, we have searched for these laws by studying the results of experiments. Since the 1970s, however, experiments at the world's most powerful atom-smashers...

"For readers of Steven Strogatz's Infinite Powers and The Joy of x comes this illuminating exploration of the ways in which math-and the people who have mastered its inherent power through the ages-has shaped our world. In this captivating, sweeping history, Michael Brooks makes clear that mathematics was one of the foundational innovations that catapulted humanity from a nomadic existence to civilization, and that it has been instrumental in every...

"The invention of numerals is perhaps the greatest abstraction the human mind has ever created. Virtually everything in our lives is digital, numerical, or quantified. The story of how and where we got these numerals, which we so depend on, has for thousands of years been shrouded in mystery. Finding Zero is an adventure filled saga of Amir Aczel's lifelong obsession: to find the original sources of our numerals. Aczel has doggedly crisscrossed the...

Logic is intellectual self-defense against such assaults on reason and also a method of quality control for checking the validity of your own views. But beyond these very practical benefits, informal logic—the kind we apply in daily life—is the gateway to an elegant and fascinating branch of philosophy known as formal logic, which is philosophy’s equivalent to calculus. Formal logic is a breathtakingly versatile tool. Much like a Swiss army...

An approachable and illuminating history of mathematics as told through fourteen of its greatest problems, Visions of Infinity reveals how mathematicians the world over are rising to the challenges set by their predecessors--and how the enigmas of the past inevitably surrender to the powerful techniques of the present.

"Bestselling popular science author Amir Aczel selects the most fascinating individuals and stories in the history of mathematics, presenting a colorful narrative that explores the quirky personalities behind some of the most profound, enduring theorems. Through such mathematical geniuses as Archimedes, Leonardo of Pisa (a.k.a. Fibonacci), Tartaglia ("the stutterer"), Descartes, Gottfried Leibniz, Carl Gauss, Joseph Fourier (Napoleon's mathematician),...

Explore the origins of one of the oldest branches of mathematics. See how geometry not only deals with practical concerns such as mapping, navigation, architecture, and engineering, but also offers an intellectual journey in its own right—inviting big, deep questions.