How to Cut a Cake

And other mathematical conundrums

Author: Ian Stewart

Preface 1. Arithmetic and old lace 2. Paradox lost 3. Tight tins for round sardines 4. Repealing the law of averages 5. The never-ending chess game 6. How to play poker by post 7. Empires on the Moon 8. Empires and electronics 9. Resurrection shuffle 10. Double bubble, toil and trouble 11. Crossed lines in the brick factory 12. Your half's bigger than my half! - Cake-dividing problems 13. More cake-dividing problems 14. Furiously flashing fireflies 15. Why phone cords get tangled 16. Sierpinski's ubiquitous gasket 17. Defend the Roman empire! 18. Triangulation takeaway 19. Rep-tiling the plane 20. Easter is a quasicrystal

Welcome back to Ian Stewart's magical world of mathematics! This is a strange world of never-ending chess games, empires on the moon, furious fireflies, and, of course, disputes over how best to cut a cake. Each quirky tale presents a fascinating mathematical puzzle -- challenging, fun, and also introducing the reader to a significant mathematical problem in an engaging and witty way.

Product Unavailable

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Summary

Description

About the Author

Ian Stewart is Professor of Mathematics at Warwick University, and Director of the Mathematics Awareness Centre at Warwick. An active research mathematician, he is also a well-known popularizer of mathematics and related areas of science. In 1995 he was awarded the Royal Society's Michael Faraday Award for furthering the public understanding of science; his book Nature's Numbers was shortlisted for the 1996 Rhone-Poulenc Prize for Science Books; and hedelivered the 1997 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, televised by the BBC. In 2001 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His many books include Evolving the Alien (with Jack Cohen), The Science ofDiscworld, What Shape is a Snowflake?, Flatterland, The Magical Maze, and Does God Play Dice? .