Is Mathematics Inevitable?

This is a collection of gems from the literature of mathematics that shine as brightly today as when they first appeared in print - they deserve to be seen and admired. The selections include two opposing views on the purpose of mathematics, the strong law of small numbers, the treatment of calculus in the 1771 Encyclopaedia Britannica, several proofs that the number of legs on a horse is infinite, a deserved refutation of the ridiculous Euler-Diderot anecdote, the real story of pi and the Indiana legislature, the reason why Theodorus stopped proving that square roots were irrational when he got to the square root of 17, an excerpt from Mathematics Made Difficult, a glimpse into the mind of a calculating prodigy, and much more. There will be something here for anyone interested in mathematics.

ISBN 0883855666   Pages 325 ISBN13 9780883855669 (What's this?)   Volumes 001 Publisher Mathematical Association of America   Weight (grammes) 560 Imprint Mathematical Association of America   Published in Washington Format Hardback   Series title Spectrum S. Publication date 29 Apr 2008   Height (mm) 228 Library of Congress QA99 .I83 2008   Width (mm) 152 DEWEY 510   Spine width (mm) 22 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level General

1		Dieudonne on Mathematics		1
		Mathematics and Mathematicians by Jean Dieudonne		1
2		Why Is Mathematics?		15
		Mathematics and the Physical World by Morris Kline		16
3		Is Mathematics Inevitable?		31
		Mathematics in Fun and in Earnest by Nathan Altshiller Court		32
4		A Defense of Quadratic Equations		41
		Quadratic Equations		43
5		Obtuse Triangles		55
		There Are Three Times as Many Obtuse-Angled Triangles as There Are Acute-Angled Ones by Richard K. Guy		57
6		A Small Paradox		63
		Why Your Classes Are Larger than "Average" by David Hemenway		63
		Why is a Restaurant's Business Worse in the Owner's Eyes Than in the Customers'? by Wong Ngai Ying		66
7		Applied Mathematics		69
		Assigning Driver's License Numbers by Joseph A. Gallian		69
8		The Law of Small Numbers		83
		The Strong Law of Small Numbers by Richard K. Guy		83
9		The Parallel Postulate		103
		The Problem With Postulate 5 by Richard J. Trudeau		105
10		Arithmetic in the United States		119
		A Calculating People by Patricia Cline Cohen		120
11		The Moore Method		141
		I Want to be a Mathematician by Paul Halmos		141
12		Early Calculus		157
13		Problems		173
		On the Origin of Certain Typical Problems by David Eugene Smith		175
		More...

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