From the author of The Accelerating Universe comes a thought-provoking look at phi or "The Golden Ratio," discovered by Euclid more than two thousand years ago, examining the meaning of this remarkable mathematical proportion in terms of science, biology, art and architecture, philosophy, and other fields.

The history of geometry in relation to "space" discusses the contributions of Pythagoras, the advent of Albert Einstein's "fourth dimension," and the discovery of seven more dimensions by Princeton mathematician Edward Witten.

A leading physicist and author of How to Dunk a Doughnut critically analyzes the modern science of game theory, its implications for understanding the evolution of cooperation in nature, and its applications in everyday human life, from the polite confines of an English dinner party to baseball strategies, quantum mechanics, and global diplomacy. Original.

Presents information on the fundamentals of pre-algebra in a concise, easy-to-follow manner and includes practice exercises throughout the book.

Explores the plausibility of mathematical answers to puzzles in the physical world, in an accessible exploration of the lives and thoughts of such figures as Archimedes, Galileo, and Newton.

Enhanced by easier-to-read graphs and additional practice problems, an introduction to algebra covers the basic principles of mathematics, including linear equations, inequalities, polynomials, exponents, logarithms, word problems, and more, all written in an easy-to-undertand style. Original.

Addresses the comprehensive introduction to the mathematical principles needed by modern social scientists.

Like Douglas HofstadterÂ's Gödel, Escher, Bach, and David BerlinskiÂ's A Tour of the Calculus, Euclid in the Rainforest combines the literary with the mathematical to explore logic—the one indispensable tool in manÂ's quest to understand the world. Underpinning both math and science, it is the foundation of every major advancement in knowledge since the time of the ancient Greeks. Through adventure stories and historical narratives populated with a rich and quirky cast of characters, Mazur artfully reveals the less-than-airtight nature of logic and the muddled relationship between math and the real world. Ultimately, Mazur argues, logical reasoning is not purely robotic. At its most basic level, it is a creative process guided by our intuitions and beliefs about the world. BACKCOVER: “This charming book radiates love of mathematics and of life . . . A treasure of human experience and intellectual excitement.Â

Presents a survey of advances in mathematics over the past twenty-five years, including such topics as prime numbers, factories, sets, and number systems

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)