Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities

Knowing that the most exciting math is not taught in school, Professor Ian Stewart has spent years filling his cabinet with intriguing mathematical games, puzzles, stories, and factoids intended for the adventurous mind. This book reveals the most exhilarating oddities from Professor Stewarts legendary cabinet. Inside, you will find hidden gems of logic, geometry, and probabilitylike how to extract a cherry from a cocktail glass (harder than you think), a pop-up dodecahedron, and the real reason why you cant divide anything by zero. Scattered among these are keys to Fermats last theorem, the Poincar conjecture, chaos theory, and the P=NP problem (youll win a million dollars if you solve it). You never know what enigmas youll find in the Stewart cabinet, but theyre sure to be clever, mind-expanding, and delightfully fun.

“"What positive integer is equal to its own Scrabble score when spelled out in full? Stewart...offers this and a hodgepodge of other puzzles, paradoxes, brainteasers, tricks, facts and jokes, which he accurately calls 'curiosities.'."-- Science News”

Booklist "[Armchair mathematicians] are certain to find pleasure in this cornucopia of puzzles, brainteasers, and digressions... The ideal book for dispelling the supposed drudgery of mathematics with its real magic." New Scientist "Stewart has a genius for explanation that allows details of the Poincare conjecture and Riemann hypothesis to sit happily alongside a quip about a chicken crossing a Mobius strip... Mathematics doesn't come more entertaining than this." Chicago Tribune "The exciting side of math -- puzzles, games and thrilling oddities." Science News "What positive integer is equal to its own Scrabble score when spelled out in full? Stewart...offers this and a hodgepodge of other puzzles, paradoxes, brainteasers, tricks, facts and jokes, which he accurately calls 'curiosities.'." IEEE Spectrum "Open one of the 179 'drawers' in Professor Stewart's cabinet, and you might find just a one-liner...or a seven-page essay on Fermat's last theorem... The book can be devoured in one giant gulp or savored, one curiosity at a time."

Ian Stewart is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick. He has written over seventy books, many of which are popular accounts of science and mathematics. His writing has appeared in New Scientist, Discover,Scientific American, and many newspapers in the United States and the United Kingdom. He lives in Coventry, England.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.