The Mending of Broken Bones

In this masterful exploration of algebra, Paul Lockhart leads us from the puzzle of solving for x to the dramatic climax of Galois theory, with fields, groups, and the unsolvability of the quintic appearing along the way. It’s a celebration of algebra’s mysteries, served up in Lockhart’s signature style: fun, precise, and irresistibly satisfying. – Steven Strogatz, author of Infinite PowersPaul Lockhart’s books have inspired a generation of math educators to seek better ways to teach the subject—to focus on its beauty and present it in a way that appeals to our natural curiosity. The Mending of Broken Bones does this on an even grander scale, asking what it means to do mathematics and what we stand to gain from its pursuit. Lockhart’s remarkable skill is his ability to provide a compelling answer to these questions on every page. Along the way, you’ll learn a lot of math, and you’ll learn even more about math. – Keith Devlin, author of The Millennium ProblemsA splendid book. A marvelous introduction to the magic of algebra. – Barry Mazur, author of Imagining Numbers

Paul Lockhart is the author of Arithmetic, Measurement, and A Mathematician’s Lament. After a career as a research mathematician at Brown University and the University of California, Santa Cruz, he spent two decades teaching algebra at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn.