From the medicine we take, the treatments we receive, the aptitude and psychometric tests given by employers, the cars we drive, the clothes we wear to even the beer we drink, statistics have given shape to the world we inhabit. For the media, statistics are routinely 'damning', 'horrifying', or, occasionally, 'encouraging'. Yet, for all their ubiquity, most of us really don't know what to make of statistics. Exploring the history, mathematics, philosophy and practical use of statistics, Eileen Magnello - accompanied by Bill Mayblin's intelligent graphic illustration - traces the rise of statistics from the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians and Chinese, to the censuses of Romans and the Greeks, and the modern emergence of the term itself in Europe. She explores the 'vital statistics' of, in particular, William Farr, and the mathematical statistics of Karl Pearson and R.A. Fisher.She even tells how knowledge of statistics can prolong one's life, as it did for evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould, given eight months to live after a cancer diagnoses in 1982 - and he lived until 2002. This title offers an enjoyable, surprise-filled tour through a subject that is both fascinating and crucial to understanding our world.

Thinking Mathematically is perfect for anyone who wants to develop their powers to think mathematically, whether at school, at university or just out of interest. This book is invaluable for anyone who wishes to promote mathematical thinking in others or for anyone who has always wondered what lies at the core of mathematics. Thinking Mathematically reveals the processes at the heart of mathematics and demonstrates how to encourage and develop them. Extremely practical, it involves the reader in questions so that subsequent discussions speak to immediate experience.

Many scientists and those with a mathematical bent have a soft spot for equations. This book explains both why these ten equations are so beautiful and significant, and the human stories behind them.

Budgeting and personal finance, planning for retirement, buying a house, estimating travel and leisure expenses, estimating costs of home repair: modern life presents us with an array of calculations we need to make but may not know how. Now, with his trademark wry humor and simple language, Darrell Huff explains how to figure: the likely outcome of different investments; how much home insurance is enough; whether it makes more sense to buy or lease a new car; the most efficient way to save for future needs, from vacations to college tuition; air-conditioning and heating requirements for a new house; how many rolls of wallpaper you will need for a particular room; and much more. Here are tips for getting the most out of a modest pocket calculator or home computer to make tedious calcuations easy, a handy chapter on "Math in a Hurry," and even tips on improving your chances in tennis, horse racing, and blackjack.

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Ready to learn math fundamentals but can't seem to get your brain to function? No problem Add Pre-Algebra Demystified, Second Edition, to the equation and you'll solve your dilemma in no time.

Written in a step-by-step format, this practical guide begins by covering whole numbers, integers, fractions, decimals, and percents. You'll move on to expressions, equations, measurement, and graphing. Operations with monomials and polynomials are also discussed. Detailed examples, concise explanations, and worked problems make it easy to understand the material, and end-of-chapter quizzes and a final exam help reinforce learning.

It's a no-brainer You'll learn:

• Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers, integers, fractions, decimals, and algebraic expressions
• Techniques for solving equations and problems
• Measures of length, weight, capacity, and time
• Methods for plotting points and graphing lines

Simple enough for a beginner, but challenging enough for an advanced student, Pre-Algebra Demystified, Second Edition, helps you master this essential mathematics subject. It's also the perfect way to review the topic if all you need is a quick refresh.

A symbol for what is not there, an emptiness that increases any number it's added to, an inexhaustible and indispensable paradox. As we enter the year 2000, zero is once again making its presence felt. Nothing itself, it makes possible a myriad of calculations. Indeed, without zero mathematics as we know it would not exist. And without mathematics our understanding of the universe would be vastly impoverished. But where did this nothing, this hollow circle, come from? Who created it? And what, exactly, does it mean?
Robert Kaplan's The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero begins as a mystery story, taking us back to Sumerian times, and then to Greece and India, piecing together the way the idea of a symbol for nothing evolved. Kaplan shows us just how handicapped our ancestors were in trying to figure large sums without the aid of the zero. (Try multiplying CLXIV by XXIV). Remarkably, even the Greeks, mathematically brilliant as they were, didn't have a zero--or did they? We follow the trail to the East where, a millennium or two ago, Indian mathematicians took another crucial step. By treating zero for the first time like any other number, instead of a unique symbol, they allowed huge new leaps forward in computation, and also in our understanding of how mathematics itself works.
In the Middle Ages, this mathematical knowledge swept across western Europe via Arab traders. At first it was called "dangerous Saracen magic" and considered the Devil's work, but it wasn't long before merchants and bankers saw how handy this magic was, and used it to develop tools like double-entry bookkeeping. Zero quickly became an essential part of increasingly sophisticated equations, and with the invention of calculus, one could say it was a linchpin of the scientific revolution. And now even deeper layers of this thing that is nothing are coming to light: our computers speak only in zeros and ones, and modern mathematics shows that zero alone can be made to generate everything.
Robert Kaplan serves up all this history with immense zest and humor; his writing is full of anecdotes and asides, and quotations from Shakespeare to Wallace Stevens extend the book's context far beyond the scope of scientific specialists. For Kaplan, the history of zero is a lens for looking not only into the evolution of mathematics but into very nature of human thought. He points out how the history of mathematics is a process of recursive abstraction: how once a symbol is created to represent an idea, that symbol itself gives rise to new operations that in turn lead to new ideas. The beauty of mathematics is that even though we invent it, we seem to be discovering something that already exists.
The joy of that discovery shines from Kaplan's pages, as he ranges from Archimedes to Einstein, making fascinating connections between mathematical insights from every age and culture. A tour de force of science history, The Nothing That Is takes us through the hollow circle that leads to infinity.

xn + yn = zn, where n represents 3, 4, 5, ...no solution

In a masterful blend of biography and science writing, Nasar traces John Forbes Nash, Jr.'s rise to the heights of intellectual achievement and his harrowing descent from eccentricity to insanity. Released as a major motion picture directed by Ron Howard and starring Russell Crowe and Ed Harris.

Featuring a totorial style and requiring no background in fuzzy logic, this is a comprehensive introduction to fuzzy systems. It leads the reader through the process of designing, constructing, implementing, verifying and maintaining a platform-independent fuzzy system model.