So it's not surprising that we persist in thinking that we're in with a chance, whether we're playing the lottery or working out the likelihood of extra-terrestrial life. In Chance, a (not entirely) random selection of the New Scientist's sharpest minds provide fascinating insights into luck, randomness, risk and probability. From the secrets of coincidence to placing the perfect bet, the science of random number generation to the surprisingly haphazard decisions of criminal juries, it explores these and many other tantalising questions.Following on from the bestselling Nothing and Question Everything, this book will open your eyes to the weird and wonderful world of chance - and help you see when some things, in fact, aren't random at all.

    And they’re all yours…They’re the Bear Justice MC. They’re like paid vigilantes, on the hush-hush end of things, making sure that justice is served in this world. But underneath that leather jacket… underneath that rough exterior is something magnetic… They will draw you in, drive you insane, and make you want to do nothing but climb on their bikes and do very bad things…Sold to the BeastShe’s been bought by a monster. Her pack has sold her to science, but I will break her out of here. Let them try to stop me. I’ll tear their throats out. I’ll fight to the end. ‘Cause she belongs to me.Mated to the BeastI was never one for the innocent type. Until I met her. I’ll tear them to pieces for touching her. I’ll rip off their faces for looking at her. I don’t care about the consequences. Nobody touches my mate.Broken Out by the BeastShe’s a good girl. I’m a bad guy. It’s the worst of combinations. It can only end in disaster. Too bad it’s the only thing that can satisfy my Bear…Claimed by the BeastI kissed a biker, and I liked it. But it was also the stupidest idea I’ve ever had. I don’t need someone like him in my life. I hope he’s not going to kiss me again, because I don’t know that I can resist...Rescued by the BeastI knew I loved her the moment I met her. In my dreams, her deliciously curved body is aching for my touch. In reality, she’s gone, and there’s nothing I can do to get her back. Until we meet again…Kidnapped by the BeastIt’s been years since my hands were on her hips, but I’ve never forgotten. I don’t know what she wants. But I know what I want. I know I’m crossing lines, but it’s been so long. And I can’t stop…Tamed by the BeastI stopped by the roadside to be her knight on a bike. The effect of her almost knocked me off my feet.But she isn’t someone to claim, however much I want to. I’ve got to play this right to earn her…Secret Baby of the BeastShe had me hooked since I laid eyes on her. And now, here on her doorstep, I am smitten all over again. She tells me that she has a baby, that the baby has disappeared. And I’ll protect my family if it kills me…Rocked by the BeastI have a job to do, but I can’t help myself around her. Any sense I have goes straight out of the window. Her body sends too many thoughts through my head, none of them professional…Protected by the BeastI’ve hired him to help with a humongous problem. I’m not going to admit that I want to drink him in like ice tea. Not that I want to be animals in the wilderness with him. Because I never break the rules…WARNING: Intended for 18+ readers.

    

    

    Eager to raise money for more computers, books, and other critical supplies, when the auctioneer announces that a date with Ashleigh is on the auction block, she goes with it. Too bad her ex casts the winning bid.Billionaire Chase Matthews hadn't planned on spending December in Emerald Falls. And he certainly hadn't planned on offering the winning bid for a date with his ex. But now that both of those things have happened, he'll have to deal with the fallout.When Chase tells Ashleigh that his mother is dying and that her only wish is to see him happily engaged, he makes her an offer she can't refuse. But will her wounded heart be able to remember that this is all pretend?

    

    Many of these students are extremely intelligent and hardworking, but even the best will, at some point, struggle with the demands of making the transition to advanced mathematics. Some have difficulty adjusting to independent study and to learning from lectures. Other struggles, however, are more fundamental: the mathematics shifts in focus from calculation to proof, so students are expected to interact with it in different ways. These changes need not be mysterious - mathematics education research has revealed many insights into the adjustments that are necessary - but they are not obvious and they do need explaining.This no-nonsense book translates these research-based insights into practical advice for a student audience. It covers every aspect of studying for a mathematics degree, from the most abstract intellectual challenges to the everyday business of interacting with lecturers and making good use of study time. Part 1 provides an in-depth discussion of advanced mathematical thinking, and explains how a student will need to adapt and extend their existing skills in order to develop a good understanding of undergraduate mathematics. Part 2 covers study skills as these relate to the demands of a mathematics degree. It suggests practical approaches to learning from lectures and to studying for examinations while also allowing time for a fulfilling all-round university experience.The first subject-specific guide for students, this friendly, practical text will be essential reading for anyone studying mathematics at university.

    In this simple pattern beginning with two ones, each succeeding number is the sum of the two numbers immediately preceding it (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, ad infinitum). Far from being just a curiosity, this sequence recurs in structures found throughout nature - from the arrangement of whorls on a pinecone to the branches of certain plant stems. All of which is astounding evidence for the deep mathematical basis of the natural world. With admirable clarity, two veteran math educators take us on a fascinating tour of the many ramifications of the Fibonacci numbers. They begin with a brief history of a distinguished Italian discoverer, who, among other accomplishments, was responsible for popularizing the use of Arabic numerals in the West. Turning to botany, the authors demonstrate, through illustrative diagrams, the unbelievable connections between Fibonacci numbers and natural forms (pineapples, sunflowers, and daisies are just a few examples). In art, architecture, the stock market, and other areas of society and culture, they point out numerous examples of the Fibonacci sequence as well as its derivative, the "golden ratio." And of course in mathematics, as the authors amply demonstrate, there are almost boundless applications in probability, number theory, geometry, algebra, and Pascal's triangle, to name a few.Accessible and appealing to even the most math-phobic individual, this fun and enlightening book allows the reader to appreciate the elegance of mathematics and its amazing applications in both natural and cultural settings.

    Yet geometry is so much more than shapes and numbers; indeed, it governs much of our lives—from architecture and microchips to car design, animated movies, the molecules of food, even our own body chemistry. And as Siobhan Roberts elegantly conveys in The King of Infinite Space, there can be no better guide to the majesty of geometry than Donald Coxeter, perhaps the greatest geometer of the twentieth century.Many of the greatest names in intellectual history—Pythagoras, Plato, Archimedes, Euclid— were geometers, and their creativity and achievements illuminate those of Coxeter, revealing geometry to be a living, ever-evolving endeavor, an intellectual adventure that has always been a building block of civilization. Coxeter's special contributions—his famed Coxeter groups and Coxeter diagrams—have been called by other mathematicians "tools as essential as numbers themselves," but his greatest achievement was to almost single-handedly preserve the tradition of classical geometry when it was under attack in a mathematical era that valued all things austere and rational.Coxeter also inspired many outside the field of mathematics. Artist M. C. Escher credited Coxeter with triggering his legendary Circle Limit patterns, while futurist/inventor Buckminster Fuller acknowledged that his famed geodesic dome owed much to Coxeter's vision. The King of Infinite Space is an elegant portal into the fascinating, arcane world of geometry.

      “An unexpectedly intimate look into a highly accomplished man, his colleagues and friends, the development of a new field of geometric analysis, and a glimpse into a truly uncommon mind.”—Nina MacLaughlin, Boston Globe “Engaging, eminently readable . . . For those with a taste for elegant and largely jargon-free explanations of mathematics, The Shape of a Life promises hours of rewarding reading.”—Judith Goodstein, American Scientist  Harvard geometer and Fields medalist Shing-Tung Yau has provided a mathematical foundation for string theory, offered new insights into black holes, and mathematically demonstrated the stability of our universe. In this autobiography, Yau reflects on his improbable journey to becoming one of the world’s most distinguished mathematicians. Beginning with an impoverished childhood in China and Hong Kong, Yau takes readers through his doctoral studies at Berkeley during the height of the Vietnam War protests, his Fields Medal–winning proof of the Calabi conjecture, his return to China, and his pioneering work in geometric analysis. This new branch of geometry, which Yau built up with his friends and colleagues, has paved the way for solutions to several important and previously intransigent problems. With complicated ideas explained for a broad audience, this book offers readers not only insights into the life of an eminent mathematician, but also an accessible way to understand advanced and highly abstract concepts in mathematics and theoretical physics.

    But your pleasure and prowess at games, gambling, and other numerically related pursuits can be heightened with this entertaining volume, in which the authors offer a fascinating view of some of the lesser-known and more imaginative aspects of mathematics.A brief and breezy explanation of the new language of mathematics precedes a smorgasbord of such thought-provoking subjects as the googolplex (the largest definite number anyone has yet bothered to conceive of); assorted geometries — plane and fancy; famous puzzles that made mathematical history; and tantalizing paradoxes. Gamblers receive fair warning on the laws of chance; a look at rubber-sheet geometry twists circles into loops without sacrificing certain important properties; and an exploration of the mathematics of change and growth shows how calculus, among its other uses, helps trace the path of falling bombs.Written with wit and clarity for the intelligent reader who has taken high school and perhaps college math, this volume deftly progresses from simple arithmetic to calculus and non-Euclidean geometry. It “lives up to its title in every way [and] might well have been merely terrifying, whereas it proves to be both charming and exciting." — Saturday Review of Literature.

    Air Crashes and Miracle landings is a great resource for every pilot who wants a clear summary of the Whats, Hows and Whys behind the key aviation accidents. This book should be part of Human Factors and Crew Resource Management training." Richard de Crespigny--captain of Qantas QF32 Now has eighty-five accounts, some short, some long, with hard-hitting analyses, ranging from the disappearance of Amelia Earhart to that of Malaysian Airlines MH370, not forgetting AF447 where many human factors in addition to technical ones were responsible. Each chapter covers a specific type of incident in chronological order showing the evolution of accidents over time, and how many should never happen again because of advances in technology. Covering so many incidents, it provides background facts and insights for professionals and aficionados of the Air Accident Investigations/MAYDAY TV series, amongst others Lessons from these incidents made flying so safe today.

    It provides a transition from elementary calculus to advanced courses in real and complex function theory and introduces the reader to some of the abstract thinking that pervades modern analysis.

    Among the old chestnuts he cracks wide open are the following classics: Knights and knaves The monk and the mountain The dominoes and the chessboard The unexpected hanging The Tower of HanoiUsing real-world analogies, infectious humor, and a fresh approach, this deceptively simple volume will challenge, amuse, enlighten, and surprise even the most experienced puzzle solver.