1 comments about Seventh Grade Math Minutes.

1. I am using these as a class starter and I love them. They have a big variety of problems. The only negative is my students need more than a minute to do them. Right now we are doing 2, but I will shorten it as time goes on. It's only the 1st week of school!

4 comments about Crimes And Mathdemeanors.

1. Not just for high school students, Crimes and Mathdemeanors is a delight for those a tad-or-two older than the days of stairwells and study halls. In Mr. Hathout have a new bright star in the world of math writing.



2. Crimes and Mathdemeanors is an Encyclopedia Brown-style book of short detective stories for young adults and adults alike - to test their mathematics skills and knowledge! Ravi, the 14-year-old math genius, must apply his knowledge of math and physics and his general cleverness to deduce the answers to riddles, mysteries, and puzzles. Tales rely on trigonometry, probability, combinatorics, and deductive reasoning to uncover the secret of whodunnit in this delightful educational and learning tool. Ideal for high school libraries, classroom use, and for adults who want to keep their math skills sharp!



3. A Mathematical Mosaic: Patterns & Problem Solving
   Crimes and Mathdemeanors is a well-written brilliantly conceived book for those who love mysteries and puzzles. Author Leith Hathout wrote this delightful book while in high school, yet the quality of the writing and the sophistication of the underlying mathematical themes reflect a mature blend of literary and mathematical talent. I found his murder mysteries both engaging and challenging. If you enjoyed the riddles in Dan Brown's "The da Vinci Code," you will find this book a delight.



4. Leith Hathout has written a recreational math book for all ages. I have many math and recreational math books and still had not encountered most of the puzzles he chose to build his mysteries around. The mysteries are a bit "underwritten" but this is a recreational math book as opposed to a novel. His explanations are excellent. I suspect that we will be hearing more from him in the future.

1 comments about Mathematical Mind-Benders.

1. I found the puzzles in this book to be at least as, if not more, challenging than those in the other books I have read. There are no bunnies here, nearly all of them require significant thought, and some need it before you can even understand the problem. Solutions to all but those labeled as unsolved are given and there are times when I really had to think hard and long before I understood the solution.
   There are some that are classic puzzles, such as the maximum possible overhang you can achieve by stacking bricks so that there is an overhang as you go up from one layer to the next. If you are looking for new mathematical mountains to scale, then this is a book for you. It is challenging, occasionally forbidding, and keeps your neurons devoted to mathematical activity firing as rapidly as is physiologically possible.
   
   Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission

2 comments about World's Best Logic Puzzles.

1. If you love different kinds of logic puzzles then this is the book for you. The book is divided into different categories - for example, regular logic puzzles, puzzles that are more mathematical, and puzzles which are great for groups (parties, family gatherings, etc.), among others. My kids love them! We've had great fun around the dining room table with this book.



2. I got this book for my eight year old but I think it is a little overwhelming for her.

2 comments about Beat the Clock Kakuro: 214 Easy to Hard Puzzles with Target Time Limits (Kakuro).

1. I have gone through a few other kakuro books before trying this one. The other books never even came close to the difficulty of these puzzles. It took me a while to get into the spirit, but now I'm totally in love with this book. These are puzzles you can really sink your teeth into.



2. Good puzzles, a bit harder than usual. Some of them are really tough. There is an interesting gimmick: rather than grade the puzzles, there are expected times to complete for a beginner, intermediate, or advanced solver. The sums are tiny numbers printed white on gray and legibility suffers.

2 comments about Mathematics, Magic and Mystery (Cards, Coins, and Other Magic).

1. This book is very nice. It teaches you how to do magic with any houshold items. There are 2 chapters with cards too. NONE of the tricks described here use any sort of slight of hand. It is 100% mathematical tricks than ANYONE can do. And they are all nice cloe-up tricks which are the type of tricks which are most baffling. Martin Garder, the author of this book is a very talented writer. He wrote many books on mathematics and science. This is a great book and I recomend EVERYONE should get it even if they are not into magic that much.



2. The reason why we use the phrases "magic trick" and "card trick" is because we know that there is no such thing as magic. The magician is executing a very specific algorithm that leads from the starting point to the desired conclusion. In this book, Gardner explains some of the algorithms in areas such as card tricks, mental magic and other common feats of legerdemain.
   The titles of the chapters are:
   
   *) Tricks with cards part I
   *) Tricks with cards part II
   *) From Gergonne to Gargantua - more tricks with cards
   *) Magic with common objects - the objects are items such as dice and dominoes
   *) Topological tomfoolery - tricks with items such as ropes, handkerchiefs and vests
   *) Tricks with special equipment
   *) Geometrical vanishes part I
   *) Geometrical vanishes part II
   *) Magic with pure numbers - rapid computation or number guessing tricks
   
   Some people don't want to know how things are done because it spoils the fun for them. Since Gardner explains all of the tricks in complete detail, if you read this book then you will know how to do them yourself. Therefore, you should only pick it up if you can handle the knowledge of how these tricks are performed.

1 comments about Further Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat.

1. Theoni Pappas continues to provide activities that are fun for student and teacher alike. Students learn math concepts, both simple and advanced, while enjoying the adventures of Penrose, who is one very smart cat.

5 comments about The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer.

1. This book is getting raves from intelligent readers who are not
   experts in the history of numbers. But it sure isn't getting good reviews from experts. A group of scholars in France was disturbed by the uncritical popularity of the French edition,
   and released a report calling the French edition "historically
   unacceptable, a deception." [Bulletin de l'Association des
   Professeurs de Mathematiques de l'Enseignement Publique 399 June 1995)] (I got this quote from Joseph Dauben's book review.)
   More recently, in the January 2002 and February 2002 issues of
   the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Joseph Dauben
   of Lehman College at CUNY critiqued the English tranlations of this book and its companion, "The Universal History of Computing." Professor Dauben consulted a number of experts in specialties such as the history of Arabic mathematics, Hindu mathematics, Mesopotamian mathematics, Chinese mathematics, and Mayan mathematics. His review is skeptical.

   I'll quote various lines from Dauben's January review:

   "...he[Ifrah]either wrote to the wrong experts, was indifferent to their responses, or was not prepared to settle for their inconclusive results and the tentative nature of their research."

   "...Ifrah offers nothing but certainties." (when writing about
   the Hindu-Arabic number system)

   "[James]Ritter simply declares all of this to be false, due to an erroneous conflation of sources. First of all, he takes Ifrah's list to be a contrived amalgamation of names coming from
   all epochs." (James Ritter is an Assyriologist at Universite de Paris VIII, the quote is about Ifrah's conclusions about Sumerian numbers.)

   Read Professor Dauben's review. Afterwards, George Ifrah's fun-to-read, plausible book won't count for as much.




2. I was intrigued enough by Mr. Peterson's review here to look at the review by Dauben that he mentions. My conclusion is that the Dauben review should be treated with a grain of salt. It's not particularly balanced. In some of the criticism of Ifrah from people with more degrees than he has, one gets just a whiff of jealousy that the reviewers didn't have the endurance to write the book themselves.

   If they had, I doubt they would have done any better of a job. Ifrah's book isn't perfect, but one can't expect such a book to be. This book is huge, folks. Ifrah is only one human being who tried to synthesize dozens of fields in none of which he could expect to become an expert. I think he did his best and I find his writing style companionable. Of course he makes errors, but he says a lot more things very well. We should be mindful of the book's limitations. But we also have to be grateful for what Ifrah managed to do.




3. This book is subtitled "from Prehistory to the invention of the computer", which is a little misleading. The text really ends about the stage of Europe's adoption of "Arabic numerals".
   This reader thought there were three main trends within the book.
   1st. A history of how every culture formed its counting system, from Polynesians islanders, to Tierra del Fuego, various African tribes to ancient and extinct cultures, cuneiform, hieroglyphics, knot tying, tally sticks to body counting. The author's blurb says the author Georges Ifrah spent 10 years in a worldwide quest recording different culture's counting systems. The author is a truly unique man, nothing escapes this author.
   2nd The overall views are interesting, and the illustrations are suburb. The different systems explained from a historical perspective are though provoking. The author does a wonderful job explaining how each system works.
   3rd This book is really at the encyclopedia level. The minutiae between the different counting systems of Polynesian body counting systems is of little concern, but this is how precise this book gets. The info is there if its needed.
   4th There is no mention of mathematicians, Pythagoreans, ancient trigonometry or algebra in the book, just an expose' of numbering systems. Thw author sticks with numbering systems.
   The reader will be in awe of this book's informational overload. I found the secret is to know what to read and what to skim and it makes a rewarding book to give one an appreciation of the numbering system we have today, and surprisingly other systems that have not been entirely retired such as tally sticks, and abacuses.



4. I am a teacher and I love this book. I use it to teach counting systems to young children. I like having access to all kinds of math of the past. How to write it, how it was used, the subtleties of each language. I personally love it for myself as well - I am a math teacher and this is the best I have found for getting lots of great info on the history of math. I like to know when things happened in the intellectual development of mathematics.



5. I believe for many amateurs interested in the history of numbers, this is the only book they ever need. Amazingly thorough! Numbers being the fiber of any civilization, the book touches on some number-related areas like writing systems, astronomy, etc, and is beyond just covering pure numbers. It explains very well the reasons and ramifications of different number systems, with good coverage of their operational aspects. Its views are very well researched and very balanced!!
   
   It should be a collection book for ANY history buff.

2 comments about More Joy of Mathematics: Exploring Mathematics All Around You.

1. If you enjoyed Pappas' "The Joy of Mathematics," then you should love this addition to the set. This book, like its predecessor, contains a diverse collection of concise, insightful discussions about mathematical topics and how they relate to the observed world. It develops ideas with an elegant simplicity by providing the reader with copious amounts of illustrations and diagrams. Pappas communicates mathematical ideas clearly and, unlike some mathematicians, stresses their relation to the lives and experiences of humans. She reveals the appealing aspects of the subject by excluding the technical, logical deductions that most frequently discourage people from studying it. The variety of topics presented in the book displays the versatility of mathematics and its relevance to human knowledge. For students interested in exploring the meaning and significance of mathematics or for teachers lacking the necessary materials to enlighten their students about these topics, this book is ideal.



2. Many have sadly been led to believe that math is a cold, lifeless subject limited only to homework assignments and balancing your checkbook. Nothing could be further from the truth, and Pappas books show this. Her "More Joy of Mathematics" shows a vast amount of instances of where math shows up, some math history, and a few visual brain teasers. How are exponents involved in the forging that creates a powerful Samuri sword? How do the properties of an elipse make your car's headlights switch to high-beam? What math can be found in an ocean wave, the strength of a honeycomb pattern, or a nautilus shell? How is math vital to the contruction of musical instruments? Is zero really a "number", and where does the concept come from? What are some currently unsolved problems in mathematics? A total layman could understand most of the book, but to understand all the mini essays you might at least want to have knowledge of math at the high school level.

   The book is a fast read, and fun to flip back and forth through, because each example is summarized in its own 1 or 2 page section, with illustrations. The same goes for "Joy of Mathematics" so you don't necessarily have to read that one first; they just contain different sets of examples. And don't think that all the good ideas were already taken for the first book -- "More Joy of Mathematics" is just as exciting to read. Plus it has a single index listing the topics from both this book and the previous one, so if you buy both it's easy to find the article you want by only looking it up once. Perfect gift for a math enthusiast at any level, and it may even covert a few "mathphobes".

2 comments about First Steps for Math Olympians: Using the American Mathematics Competitions (Problem Books) (MAA Problem Book Series).

1. It's a great book, covering everything needed for the higher level AMC competitions.



2. I read this book just two weeks before the American Mathematics Contests this year as a freshman. I had never heard of these contests, but reading this book gave me everything I need to know! With its help, I qualified for the AIME (though missed the USA math olympiad by 1 question!). If you are into math contests, trust me, this will significantly raise your score.