Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz: Making Light of Weighty Ideas

by Michael Starbird (Author), Michael Starbird (Author), Edward B. Burger (Author)

• Used

  Illustrated
  2006

  $4.19

  A book for the eternally curious, Coincidences fuses a professor's understanding of the hidden mathematical skeleton of the universe with the sensibility of a stand-up comedian, making life's big questions accessible and compelling. Each chapter opens with a surprising insight-not a mathematic formula, but a common observation. From there, the authors leapfrog over math and anecdote toward profound ideas about nature, art, and music. Coincidences is a book for lovers of puzzles and posers of outlandish questions, lapsed math aficionados and the formula-phobic alike.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2005

  $3.25

  By starting in the familiar world and using a few simple steps of imagination, Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird sneak up on weighty mathematical ideas. The spirals on a pineapple quickly lead to the famous Fibonacci numbers and the alluring Golden Ratio, and from there to aesthetic forms in nature, art and music. The edge of a twisted strip of paper leads to an image of the shape of the universe. Playing with the notion of probability shows that surprising coincidences such as the amazing parallels between the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations are sure to happen. These and other foreign and familiar mysteries are all explained with great humour and clarity in this irreverent, entertaining and readable book.