Previously published separately, the two books aha! Gotcha and aha! Insight are here combined as a single volume. The aha! books, as they are referred to by fans of Martin Gardner, contain 144 wonderful puzzles from the reigning king of recreational mathematics. In this combined volume, you will find puzzles ranging over geometry, logic, probability, statistics, number, time, combinatorics, and word play. Gardner calls these puzzles aha! problems, that 'seem difficult, and indeed are difficult if you go about trying to solve them in traditional ways. But if you can free your mind from standard problem solving techniques, you may be receptive to an aha! reaction that leads immediately to a solution. Don't be discouraged if, at first, you have difficulty with these problems. After a while you will begin to catch the spirit of offbeat, nonlinear thinking, and you may be surprised to find your aha! ability improving.'

The Early Mathematics of Leonhard Euler gives an article-by-article description of Leonhard Euler's early mathematical works; the 50 or so mathematical articles he wrote before he left St. Petersburg in 1741 to join the Academy of Frederick the Great in Berlin. These early pieces contain some of Euler's greatest work, the Konigsberg bridge problem, his solution to the Basel problem, and his first proof of the Euler-Fermat theorem. It also presents important results that we seldom realize are due to Euler; that mixed partial derivatives are (usually) equal, our f(x) f(x) notation, and the integrating factor in differential equations. The books shows how contributions in diverse fields are related, how number theory relates to series, which, in turn, relate to elliptic integrals and then to differential equations. There are dozens of such strands in this beautiful web of mathematics. At the same time, we see Euler grow in power and sophistication, from a young student when at 18 he published his first work on differential equations (a paper with a serious flaw) to the most celebrated mathematician and scientist of his time. It is a portrait of the world's most exciting mathematics between 1725 and 1741, rich in technical detail, woven with connections within Euler's work and with the work of other mathematicians in other times and places, laced with historical context.

Contains 500 problems ranging over a wide spectrum of mathematics and of levels of difficulty.

Covering a span of almost 4000 years, from the ancient Babylonians to the eighteenth century, this collection chronicles the enormous changes in mathematical thinking over this time as viewed by distinguished historians of mathematics from the past and the present. Each of the four sections of the book (Ancient Mathematics, Medieval and Renaissance Mathematics, The Seventeenth Century, The Eighteenth Century) is preceded by a Foreword, in which the articles are put into historical context, and followed by an Afterword, in which they are reviewed in the light of current historical scholarship. In more than one case, two articles on the same topic are included to show how knowledge and views about the topic changed over the years. This book will be enjoyed by anyone interested in mathematics and its history - and, in particular, by mathematics teachers at secondary, college, and university levels.

A translation of the original 1986 French edition by Amy Dahan-Dalmedico and Jeanne Peiffer (both from Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris), this eminently readable book places the birth and development of mathematical activity in historical, cultural, and economic context. The book offers an outstanding account, for instance, of how Arabs preserved Greek mathematics and extended it over an 800-year period, from 400-1200. The large number of illustrations supports the text and contributes to a fine read. - Publisher.

This book is the second volume based on lectures for pre-college students given by prominent mathematicians in the Bay Area Mathematical Adventures (BAMA). This book reflects the flavor of the BAMA lectures and the excitement they have generated among the high school and middle school students in the Silicon Valley. The topics cover a wide range of mathematical subjects each treated by a leading proponent of the subject at levels designed to challenge and attract students whose mathematical interests are just beginning. In addition, the treatments given here will intrigue and enchant a more mature mathematician. It is hoped that the publication of these lectures will expose students outside of the San Francisco Bay Area to interesting mathematical topics and treatments outside of their normal experience in the classroom. Mathematical educators are encouraged to offer the students in their own localities similar opportunities to come into contact with exciting adventures in mathematics.

Mathematical ideas with aesthetic appeal for any mathematically minded person.

An inspiring collection of a historian's work on the history of mathematics.