Volume Two dramatizes the lives of Omar Khayyam, Albert Einstein, Ada Lovelace, and others.Book Details: Format: Paperback Publication Date: 6/20/1995 Pages: 152 Reading Level: Age 8 and Up

    Contributors include Steven Weinberg, Peter Galison, John Maynard Smith, and Frank Wilczek.

    This sharply intelligent, consistently provocative book takes the reader on an astonishing, thought-provoking voyage into the realm of delightful uncertainty--a world of paradox in which logical argument leads to contradiction and common sense is seemingly rendered irrelevant.

    They speak of it in awed terms and consider it to be an even more difficult problem than Fermat's last theorem, which was finally proven by Andrew Wiles in 1995.In The Riemann Hypothesis, acclaimed author Karl Sabbagh interviews some of the world's finest mathematicians who have spent their lives working on the problem--and whose approaches to meeting the challenges thrown up by the hypothesis are as diverse as their personalities.Wryly humorous, lively, accessible and comprehensive, The Riemann Hypothesis is a compelling exploration of the people who do math and the ideas that motivate them to the brink of obsession--and a profound meditation on the ultimate meaning of mathematics.

    From the early Greek influences to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to the end of the 19th century, trace the fascinating foundation of mathematics as it developed through the ages. Aristotle, Galileo, Kepler, Newton: you know the names. Now here's what they really did, and the effect their discoveries had on our culture, all explained in a way the layperson can understand. Begin with the basis of arithmetic (Plato and the introduction of geometry), and discover why the use of Arabic numerals was critical to the development of both commerce and science. The development of calculus made space travel a reality, while the abacus prefigured the computer. The greats examined in depth include Leonardo da Vinci, a brilliant mathematician as well as artist; Pascal, who laid out the theory of probabilities; and Fermat, whose intriguing theory has only recently been solved.

    Articles from Game Theory Tuesdays have been referenced in The Freakonomics Blog, Yahoo Finance, and CNN.com. The second edition includes many streamlined explanations and incorporates suggestions from readers of the first edition. Game theory is the study of interactive decision making--that is, in situations where each person's action affects the outcome for the whole group. Game theory is a beautiful subject and this book will teach you how to understand the theory and practically implement solutions through a series of stories and the aid of over 30 illustrations. This book has two primary objectives. (1) To help you recognize strategic games, like the Prisoner's Dilemma, Bertrand Duopoly, Hotelling's Game, the Game of Chicken, and Mutually Assured Destruction. (2) To show you how to make better decisions and change the game, a powerful concept that can transform no-win situations into mutually beneficial outcomes. You'll learn how to negotiate better by making your threats credible, sometimes limiting options or burning bridges, and thinking about new ways to create better outcomes. As these goals indicate, game theory is about more than board games and gambling. It all seems so simple, and yet that definition belies the complexity of game theory. While it may only take seconds to get a sense of game theory, it takes a lifetime to appreciate and master it. This book will get you started.