Mathematical Journeys

Peter D. Schumer0471220663, 9780471220664

Assuming only high school level mathematical knowledge, Schumer (mathematics, Middlebury College) offers a “buffet” of stand-alone chapters explaining different aspects of more advanced science through the presentation of games, puzzles, and relatively simple explanations. His chapters cover topics related to the history of mathematics, number theory, combinatorics, geometry, and graph theory”

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Table of contents :
Cover Page……Page 1
Title Page……Page 2
Copyright 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc…….Page 3
Contents……Page 5
Preface……Page 7
Acknowledgments……Page 9
1 Let’s Get Cooking: A Variety of Mathematical Ingredients……Page 10
2 The Green Chicken Contest……Page 22
3 The Josephus Problem: Please Choose Me Last……Page 32
4 Nim and Wythoff’s Game: Or How to Get Others to Pay Your Bar Bill……Page 40
5 Mersenne Primes, Perfect Numbers, and Amicable Pairs……Page 49
6 The Harmonic Series . . . and Less……Page 57
7 Fermat Primes, the Chinese Remainder Theorem, and Lattice Points……Page 68
8 Tic-Tac-Toe, Magic Squares, and Latin Squares……Page 77
9 Mathematical Variations on Rolling Dice……Page 88
10 Pizza Slicing, Map Coloring, Pointillism, and Jack-in-the-Box……Page 95
11 Episodes in the Calculation of Pi……Page 105
12 A Sextet of Scintillating Problems……Page 120
13 Primality Testing Below a Quadrillion……Page 129
14 Erd¨os Number Zero……Page 140
15 Choosing Stamps to Mail a Letter, Let Me Count the Ways……Page 153
16 Pascal Potpourri……Page 164
Appendix: Comments and Solutions to Problems Worth Considering……Page 176
Bibliography……Page 192
Index……Page 194