Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures (Electronic book text)

Ian Stewart, author of the bestselling Professor StewartOCOs Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities, presents a new and magical mix of games, puzzles, paradoxes, brainteasers, and riddles. He mingles these with forays into ancient and modern mathematical thought, appallingly hilarious mathematical jokes, and enquiries into the great mathematical challenges of the present and past. Amongst a host of arcane and astonishing facts about every kind of number from irrational or imaginary to complex or cuneiform, we find out: how to organise chaos how matter balances anti-matter how to turn a sphere inside out (without creasing it OC )why you canOCOt comb a hairy ballhow to calculate pi by observing the stars And we get some tantalising glimpses of the maths of life and the universe. Mind-stretching, enlightening and endlessly amusing, Professor StewartOCOs new entertainment will stimulate, delight, and enthral."