CliffsQuickReview course guides cover the essentials of your toughest classes. You're sure to get a firm grip on core concepts and key material and be ready for the test with this guide at your side. Whether you're new to functions, analytic geometry, and matrices or just brushing up on those topics, CliffsQuickReview Precalculus can help. This guide introduces each topic, defines key terms, and walks you through each sample problem step-by-step. In no time, you'll be ready to tackle other concepts in this book such as - Arithmetic and algebraic skills - Functions and their graphs - Polynomials, including binomial expansion - Right and oblique angle trigonometry - Equations and graphs of conic sections - Matrices and their application to systems of equations CliffsQuickReview Precalculus acts as a supplement to your textbook and to classroom lectures. Use this reference in any way that fits your personal style for study and review — you decide what works best with your needs. You can either read the book from cover to cover or just look for the information you want and put it back on the shelf for later. What's more, you can - Use the free Pocket Guide full of essential information - Get a glimpse of what you’ll gain from a chapter by reading through the Chapter Check-In at the beginning of each chapter - Use the Chapter Checkout at the end of each chapter to gauge your grasp of the important information you need to know - Test your knowledge more completely in the CQR Review and look for additional sources of information in the CQR Resource Center - Use the glossary to find key terms fast. With titles available for all the most popular high school and college courses, CliffsQuickReview guides are a comprehensive resource that can help you get the best possible grades.

Mazur (mathematics, Marlboro College), like many a mathematician before him, seeks the truth. How he goes about it is to examine three kinds of logic, those from the ancient Greeks, the strange logic of infinity, and the everyday, practical, plausible logic that basically drives most scientific inquiry today. In a series of 16 zippy chapters, Mazur looks into what logic actually is and how and when it shows up, the various configurations of infinity as they strike such disparate surfaces as set theory and irrational numbers, and the ordinary, everyday logic that underlies the math that may or may not reflect the real world. Mazur's appendices double as very well-explained exercises. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Reprint of The Problems of Mathematics, 2d ed. published in 1992. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Like masterpieces of art, music, and literature, great mathematical theorems are creative milestones, works of genius destined to last forever. Now William Dunham gives them the attention they deserve. Dunham places each theorem within its historical context and explores the very human and often turbulent life of the creator — from Archimedes, the absentminded theoretician whose absorption in his work often precluded eating or bathing, to Gerolamo Cardano, the sixteenth-century mathematician whose accomplishments flourished despite a bizarre array of misadventures, to the paranoid genius of modern times, Georg Cantor. He also provides step-by-step proofs for the theorems, each easily accessible to readers with no more than a knowledge of high school mathematics. A rare combination of the historical, biographical, and mathematical, Journey Through Genius is a fascinating introduction to a neglected field of human creativity.

A "biography" of the most vexing and troublesome number in human history reveals how the Babylonians invented it, why the Greeks were afraid of it and the Hindus worshipped it, the role it played in hunting down heretics in the Middle Ages, and its placein the Y2K issue

The aim of this book is to explain, carefully but not technically, the differences between advanced, research-level mathematics, and the sort of mathematics we learn at school. The most fundamental differences are philosophical, and readers of this book will emerge with a clearer understanding of paradoxical-sounding concepts such as infinity, curved space, and imaginary numbers. The first few chapters are about general aspects of mathematical thought. These are followed by discussions of more specific topics, and the book closes with a chapter answering common sociological questions about the mathematical community (such as "Is it true that mathematicians burn out at the age of 25?") It is the ideal introduction for anyone who wishes to deepen their understanding of mathematics.

The genius of one of the greatest artists in history is explained in an analysis of the art and science contained within his work, such as his usage of the "golden ratio," the mathematical concept key to understanding the link between art and nature. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.

An irreverent and accessible explanation of challenging puzzles within the world of mathematics considers such topics as the link between a pineapple's spirals and the famous Fibonacci numbers, the shape of the universe as reflected by a twisted strip of paper, and the parallels between the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations. Reprint.

Documents the calculation, numerical value, and use of the ratio from 2000 B.C. to the modern computer age, detailing social conditions in eras when progress was made

Relates how mathematical genius John Forbes Nash, jr., suffered a breakdown at age thirty-one and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but experienced a remission of his illness thirty years later