Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz: Making Light of Weighty Ideas | 
 enlarge | Authors: Edward B. Burger, Michael Starbird
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $1.75
You Save: $23.20 (93%)
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Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 519191
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 276
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 0393059456
Dewey Decimal Number: 510
EAN: 9780393059458
Publication Date: August 29, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
By starting in the familiar world and using a few simple steps of imagination, Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird sneak up on weighty mathematical ideas. The spirals on a pineapple quickly lead to the famous Fibonacci numbers and the alluring Golden Ratio, and from there to aesthetic forms in nature, art and music. The edge of a twisted strip of paper leads to an image of the shape of the universe. Playing with the notion of probability shows that surprising coincidences such as the amazing parallels between the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations are sure to happen. These and other foreign and familiar mysteries are all explained with great humour and clarity in this irreverent, entertaining and readable book.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Interesting, funny, accessible approach to some of math's weightier concepts November 19, 2005
Magic Man (Brigadoon)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
Math can be beautiful; math can be fun. While I caught glimpses of these truths occasionally in the course of my formal education, I never really saw the light. With Burger and Starbird's delightful book, it feels like I'm staring at the sun. In their closing thoughts, they write, "Mathematics is a liberating entertainment"; and at that point, they've proven it.
The authors show us the beauty of math in quotidian objects: the number of spirals on a pineapple or in the center of a sunflower, for example, are almost always the same and always follow a particular mathematical sequence known as a Fibonacci sequence. That sequence leads us to a geometric concept known as the Golden Rectangle, which they show has been embraced by various artists and architects in paintings and buildings. There is math in beauty and there is beauty in math.
They take us on a tour of topology (an advanced region of mathematics) with friendly, informal examples such as how to remove your undies without removing your trousers. And they teach us how a simple math concept can underlie extraordinarily difficult to crack codes. They lead us into the fourth dimension and on to infinity (and then on to another infinity that's even bigger than infinity)!
The most impressive aspect of this book is that, despite the heady nature of the material, the authors relentlessly make it fun. The book is filled with both humor and clever, helpful drawings. This accessible book can remind us all that math leads into exciting territory.
Amazing read... finally, math is shown to be entertaining! November 30, 2005
Rick Peterson (San Jose, CA USA)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
I just finished reading this book. I have to admit I was a math-fan before the read, but this book brought out all that is good in math and much more. It is the first book that explains really big ideas in mathematics without any fancy math symbols (in fact, I don't think I saw one equation in the entire book!). It really is written for the general public and I feel that anyone who picks it up will love it and will not put it down.
Now I do know some math, so I have to say that the comments of Kyle Williams that I read today are a bit strange. The sections he refers to explain well-understood and well-established mathematical ideas that have been written in very original ways. It really is correct. Honestly, I know I'll reread the book--it's really funny... I can't believe I laughed out loud a few times while reading it! You'll love it!
Playing and Experimenting with Math September 15, 2005
John Matlock (Winnemucca, NV)
23 out of 26 found this review helpful
Remember how dull math was back then? We all took the required course in Algebra. We struggled through it, we got out, and most of us never thought about the subject again.
If this had been the math book we used, math might have been considered fun. It might even have taught us that we wanted to study more math. In this book the authors take some real problems, problems that might even interest one of today's teenagers and use that to discuss mathematics.
Any kid would have some interest in learning about secret messages. Probably both the boys and the girls. The boys by their very nature, the girls so that the boys couldn't read their diary. Secred messages lead to cryptography and an opportunity to study prime numbers, factoring, all kinds of things.
And topology, mobius strips which only have one side. You could make mobius strips in class and do some experiments that would be a lot more fun than going to the board to do long division.
In part it's the subject matter that makes this book so interesting. Infinity and choas theory are just plain interesting. But it's also the writing style, for instance: 'If we were to randomly kidnap 35 people off the street, two events are remarkably likely to happen. The first is we'd probably get arrested, the second ....'
Delightful book.
This book = Great Fun + Great Insight! February 6, 2007
Steve Reina (Troy Michigan)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Who says math is boring or irrelevant?
Certainly not someone who's read this book and seen the many ways math serves as the skeleton key to life and the mysteries of the universe itself!
At the beginning of each chapter the authors skillfully say what they're going to prove in simple English and then by the end of the chapter end up proving it not only in English but math as well.
Starting simply with the subject of coincidences, the authors show how and why even in very small groups you may share a birthday with someone else. From coincidences the authors discuss choas, the reverse of coincidence where small differences ultimately make for...well...even bigger differences. Why is this so? They tell you.
Later they tackle cryptography and show how the patterns of running a lottery are in the end very similar to the patterns that govern the forms life takes. Amazingly, in twenty pages they manage to cover the same ground covered in the book "The Golden Ratio" (which by the way, is also very, good book but just a longer discussion).
Moving from the mysteries of life to the mysteries of the universe, the authors ACTUALLY MAKE YOU UNDERSTAND what the 4th dimension would be like. In this way, they manage through a brief treatment what the longer work "Flatterland" by Ian Stewart (also, by the way, a very good book, just longer) manages to do.
Finally, they plum that ultimate mystery of mathematics and creation -- infinity. Here again, they also manage in a brief treatment that which is also dealt with in a longer book, "Zero" by Charles Seife (again, also a very, good book but again just longer).
As both an introductory work to all the other books cited in this review or merely as a book read on its own, this book delivers both great fun and great insight.
Buy it now!
Gee Whiz...! April 29, 2006
Peter E. Cohan (Belmont, CA USA)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is a terrific "Gee whiz...!" book - full of fun items that stimulate your thinking while illustrating and explaining challenging concepts.
So, how many times CAN you fold a standard sheet of binder paper in half? Try inflicting this on your friends and colleagues, and enjoy the results! [If you have not read the book, try this: guess an answer to the question, then grab a sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper and try it out. You may be surprised...]
Great book - highly recommended for those who enjoy learning.
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