Among the myriad of constants that appear in mathematics, p, e, and i are the most familiar. Following closely behind is g, or gamma, a constant that maintains a sense of mystery. This book takes on a journey through logarithms and the harmonic series, the two defining elements of gamma, toward the [...]
The ancient Greeks discovered them, but it wasn't until the nineteenth century that irrational numbers were properly understood and rigorously defined, and even today not all their mysteries have been revealed. In The Irrationals, the first popular and comprehensive book on the subject, Julian Havil[...]
Math - the application of reasonable logic to reasonable assumptions - usually produces reasonable results. But sometimes math generates astonishing paradoxes - conclusions that seem completely unreasonable or just plain impossible but that are nevertheless demonstrably true. This book is a collecti[...]
In "Nonplussed!", popular-math writer Julian Havil delighted readers with a mind-boggling array of implausible yet true mathematical paradoxes. Now Havil is back with "Impossible?", another marvelous medley of the utterly confusing, profound, and unbelievable - and all of it mathematically irrefutab[...]
The ancient Greeks discovered them, but it wasn't until the nineteenth century that irrational numbers were properly understood and rigorously defined, and even today not all their mysteries have been revealed. In The Irrationals, the first popular and comprehensive book on the subject, Julian Havil[...]