A wealth of numbers. An anthology of 500 years of popular mathematics writing (Q2884700)

If you are at all like me, you discovered the pleasures of well exposited popular mathematical writing from either Martin Gardner's Scientific American column titled Mathematical Games, which started with a big bang featuring an article on hexaflexagons, in the December 1956 issue, or by the column that was later taken over by Douglas Hofstadter, followed by A. K. Dewdney. Perhaps you also read the collection of delightful books on mathematical gems, morsels, and plums written by Ross Honsberger. Thus we may be excused if we were unaware (as I was) that popular mathematical writing has been around for centuries. We can thank Benjamin Wardhaugh for enlightening us on this front by publishing this delightfully accessible and appetizing compendium of mouthfuls and tidbits of popular mathematical writing from the past five centuries.NEWLINENEWLINEThis entertaining and delightful book is organized into 111 sections selected from books, magazines, newspapers and the Internet, written by many authors, and grouped into 11 thematic chapters. The 111 sections cover an extremely broad smorgasbord of topics too varied to describe in a short review. However, a listing of the 11 thematic chapters will suffice to obtain a reasonably accurate glimpse of the numerous treats that are offered to the reader.NEWLINENEWLINE1. Sports and Pastimes Done by Number: Mathematical Tricks, Mathematical Games 2. Much Necessary for All States of Men: From Arithmetic to AlgebraNEWLINENEWLINE 3. A Goodly Struggle: Problems, Puzzles, and ChallengesNEWLINENEWLINE 4. Drawyng, Measuring and Proporcion: Geometry and Trigonometry.NEWLINENEWLINE 5. Maps, Monsters, and Riddles: The Worlds of Mathematical PopularizationNEWLINENEWLINE 6. To Ease and Expedite the Work: Mathematical Instruments and How to Use ThemNEWLINENEWLINE 7. How Fine a Mind: Mathematicians PastNEWLINENEWLINE 8. By Plain and Practical Rules: Mathematics at WorkNEWLINENEWLINE 9. The Speedier Expedition of Their Learning: Thoughts on Teaching and Learning MathematicsNEWLINENEWLINE 10. So Fundamentally Useful a Science: Reflections on Mathematics and its Place in the WorldNEWLINENEWLINE 11. The Mathematicians Who Never Were: Fiction and HumorNEWLINENEWLINEIn addition to mathematics, the book contains gems in other mathematically relevant areas such as physics, with the delightful ``The Character of Physical Law'' by Richard Feynman, as well as Leonhard Euler's ``The Idea of Velocity'' written in 1760 as one of the many letters to the German Princess Anhalt-Dessau.NEWLINENEWLINEAmong the riddles covered in the book I was amused to discover that a variant of a playful algebra fallacy, that I had heard when I was a child, was in fact published in 1945 by Eugene P. Northrop in his book titled ``Riddles in Mathematics.'' Northrop's fallacious proof argues that 1 cat has 7 legs. The argument is as follows: 1 cat has 4 legs. No (i.e., 0) cat has 3 legs. Adding both equations we obtain that \(1+0 = 4+3\), or one cat has seven legs. The version I heard as a child argues that any cat has 3 tails. The argument is as follows: No cat has 2 tails. Any cat has one more tail than no cat. Therefore any cat has 3 tails.NEWLINENEWLINEIn addition to the humorous aspects of mathematics, the book contains more challenging snacks, such as George Pólya's ``A New Aspect of Mathematical Method,'' in which by means of dialogue he illustrates his exploratory methodology of problem solving.NEWLINENEWLINEThis book permits the reader to pick it up whenever he or she has a few minutes (or longer) to spare, and find a section to fit the available free time and mood. It will provide the reader, novice and expert alike, many hours of learning filled with surprise, pleasure, amazement, and sometimes laughter.