Petr Beckmann holds up this mirror, giving the background of the times when pi made progress -- and also when it did not, because science was being stifled by militarism or religious fanaticism.

    Fully stocked with solved problemsN950 of themNit shows you how to solve problems that may not have been fully explained in class. Plus you ge"

    Written with student centred, pedagogically driven approach, the text provides a self-contained introduction to the theory of signals and systems. This book looks at the concepts of systems, and also examines signals and the way that signals interact with physical systems. It covers topics ranging from basic signals and systems to signal analysis, properties of continuous-time Fourier transforms including Fourier transforms of standard signals, signal transmission through linear systems, relation between convolution and correlation of signals, sampling theorems and techniques, and transform analysis of LTI systems. All the solved and unsolved problems in this book are designed to illustrate the topics in a clear way.

    It’s time we stand face-to-digital-face with the true powers and limitations of the algorithms that already automate important decisions in healthcare, transportation, crime, and commerce. Hello World is indispensable preparation for the moral quandaries of a world run by code, and with the unfailingly entertaining Hannah Fry as our guide, we’ll be discussing these issues long after the last page is turned.

    This recreational math book takes the reader on a fantastic voyage into the world of natural numbers. From the earliest discoveries of the ancient Greeks to various fundamental characteristics of the natural number sequence, Clawson explains fascinating mathematical mysteries in clear and easy prose. He delves into the heart of number theory to see and understand the exquisite relationships among natural numbers, and ends by exploring the ultimate mystery of mathematics: the Riemann hypothesis, which says that through a point in a plane, no line can be drawn parallel to a given line.While a professional mathematician's treatment of number theory involves the most sophisticated analytical tools, its basic ideas are surprisingly easy to comprehend. By concentrating on the meaning behind various equations and proofs and avoiding technical refinements, Mathematical Mysteries lets the common reader catch a glimpse of this wonderful and exotic world.

    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 mathematicsas 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 figurelarge 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 treatingzero 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 likedouble-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 speakonly 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 notonly 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. Thebeauty 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.

    Tobias Dantzig shows that the development of math—from the invention of counting to the discovery of infinity—is a profoundly human story that progressed by “trying and erring, by groping and stumbling.” He shows how commerce, war, and religion led to advances in math, and he recounts the stories of individuals whose breakthroughs expanded the concept of number and created the mathematics that we know today.

    Along the tidal rivers of Malaysia, thousands of fireflies congregate and flash in unison; the moon spins in perfect resonance with its orbit around the earth; our hearts depend on the synchronous firing of ten thousand pacemaker cells. While the forces that synchronize the flashing of fireflies may seem to have nothing to do with our heart cells, there is in fact a deep connection. Synchrony is a science in its infancy, and Strogatz is a pioneer in this new frontier in which mathematicians and physicists attempt to pinpoint just how spontaneous order emerges from chaos. From underground caves in Texas where a French scientist spent six months alone tracking his sleep-wake cycle, to the home of a Dutch physicist who in 1665 discovered two of his pendulum clocks swinging in perfect time, this fascinating book spans disciplines, continents, and centuries. Engagingly written for readers of books such as Chaos and The Elegant Universe, Sync is a tour-de-force of nonfiction writing.

    Army and Navy. While their brothers and boyfriends took up arms, these women moved to the nation's capital to learn the top secret art of code breaking. Through their work, the "code girls" helped save countless lives and were vital in ending the war. But due to the top secret nature of their accomplishments, these women have never been able to talk about their story--until now. Through research and countless interviews with the surviving code girls, Liza Mundy brings their story to life. Abridged and adapted for a middle grade audience, Code Girls brings this story to young readers for the first time, showcasing this vital story of American courage, service, and scientific accomplishment.

    Hand argues that extraordinarily rare events are anything but. In fact, they’re commonplace. Not only that, we should all expect to experience a miracle roughly once every month.     But Hand is no believer in superstitions, prophecies, or the paranormal. His definition of “miracle” is thoroughly rational. No mystical or supernatural explanation is necessary to understand why someone is lucky enough to win the lottery twice, or is destined to be hit by lightning three times and still survive. All we need, Hand argues, is a firm grounding in a powerful set of laws: the laws of inevitability, of truly large numbers, of selection, of the probability lever, and of near enough.     Together, these constitute Hand’s groundbreaking Improbability Principle. And together, they explain why we should not be so surprised to bump into a friend in a foreign country, or to come across the same unfamiliar word four times in one day. Hand wrestles with seemingly less explicable questions as well: what the Bible and Shakespeare have in common, why financial crashes are par for the course, and why lightning does strike the same place (and the same person) twice. Along the way, he teaches us how to use the Improbability Principle in our own lives—including how to cash in at a casino and how to recognize when a medicine is truly effective.     An irresistible adventure into the laws behind “chance” moments and a trusty guide for understanding the world and universe we live in, The Improbability Principle will transform how you think about serendipity and luck, whether it’s in the world of business and finance or you’re merely sitting in your backyard, tossing a ball into the air and wondering where it will land.

    Esther thinks she has a pretty good life. She plays bridge, reads for her book club, and routinely drives her Cadillac DeVille into the mailboxes of her neighbors. Her latest mailbox mishap leads her to the doorstep of some mysterious new residents of her neighborhood. As she introduces herself to Sarah, the elderly woman who answers the door, Esther soon realizes that there’s something wrong with her.Eighty-nine-year-old Muriel Schwartz has also met the new neighbor Sarah, along with Sarah’s son David and daughter-in-law Dianne. David and Dianne ask Muriel to look in on Sarah for a couple of hours each day while they’re at work, and because Muriel is having financial troubles and needs the money, she agrees to help out. When Esther hears of this plan, she offers to lend a hand.Eighty-five-year-old Rosalie Sherman, Esther’s widowed sister-in-law, thinks that both Esther and Muriel have lost their minds and wants no part in what she sees as a ridiculous care-giving arrangement doomed to fail. Rosalie never shies away from saying what she thinks, but Esther is taken aback at Rosalie’s emphatic refusal to help out with Sarah.With a touch of humor and a lot of heartfelt warmth, The Enlightenment of Esther paints a vivid portrait of the lives of Esther and her contemporaries, all in their seventies and eighties, and how their relationships intersect and intertwine in ways even Esther couldn’t have predicted. But if anyone can solve this mystery of just exactly who Sarah, David, and Dianne are, Esther Kellerman can!

    It will lead you to hate doctors, lawyers, and insurance companies. By the time you finish, you’ll have fallen in love with Kim. This deeply inspiring tale is destined to become the most important book ever written about chronic pain and pain management in today’s healthcare environment.

    

    A daughter’s determination Which one, if any, would be fulfilled first?Tammy, Donna, and Jenny were separated by divorce and divided by an ocean for decades.Their mother, Rose, had one wish—to see her girls together one more time.For Tammy, it would have to wait. She’s living out her dream as a commercial fisherwoman on the Pacific Ocean.But when a fishing trip goes wrong, she questions her future with the fleet.After two devastating deaths in the family, and when Tammy finds herself fighting for her own life not once but twice; the family takes center stage.She wants to make her mother’s wish come true.But did the sisters wait too long?Their mother’s health suddenly takes a turn for the worse. Will she get to see her girls together one more time?

    The Art of Problem Solving, Volume 2, is the classic problem solving textbook used by many successful high school math teams and enrichment programs and have been an important building block for students who, like the authors, performed well enough on the American Mathematics Contest series to qualify for the Math Olympiad Summer Program which trains students for the United States International Math Olympiad team.Volume 2 is appropriate for students who have mastered the problem solving fundamentals presented in Volume 1 and are ready for a greater challenge. Although the Art of Problem Solving is widely used by students preparing for mathematics competitions, the book is not just a collection of tricks. The emphasis on learning and understanding methods rather than memorizing formulas enables students to solve large classes of problems beyond those presented in the book.Speaking of problems, the Art of Problem Solving, Volume 2, contains over 500 examples and exercises culled from such contests as the Mandelbrot Competition, the AMC tests, and ARML. Full solutions (not just answers!) are available for all the problems in the solution manual.