Passion for Mathematics book review

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/11/5/lifebookshelf/15468056&sec=lifebookshelf

Mad about mathematics


Review by CLARISSA LEE

A PASSION FOR MATHEMATICS

Numbers, Puzzles, Madness, Religion, and the Quest for Reality

By Clifford A. Pickover

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 408 pages

(ISBN: 0-471-69098-8)

MATHEMATICS is not a book confined within a cover and bound between brazen clasps, whose contents need only patience to ransack; it is not a mine, whose treasures may take long to reduce into possession ... It is not a soil, whose fertility can be exhausted by the yield of successive harvests ? It is limitless as that space which it finds too narrow for its aspirations; its possibilities are as infinite as the worlds which are forever crowding in and multiplying upon the astronomer’s gaze; it is as incapable of being restricted within assigned boundaries or being reduced to definitions of permanent validity ?”

These are the words of James Joseph Sylvester, a mathematician who has summed up the task that all writers of mathematics have to face with when they try to present the subject in all its multifaceted glory.

The way mathematics was (and, maybe, continues to be) taught in schools has made most of us think of it as a cut-and-dried subject. Clifford Pickover attempts to – rather successfully, I would say – have us think of it as we would an exciting game, as well as to appreciate its rhizomatic (or, in local parlance, lalang) effect because it crops up when least expected. Well, it has popped up in Hollywood and the holy books.

A Passion for Mathematics is not easy to describe because of the non-linear, modular way in which it’s written. Pickover has divided it into seven main chapters, with titles ranging from “Numbers, History, Society, and People” to “Algebra, Percentages, Weird Puzzles, and Marvellous Mathematical Manipulations”, before ending his amusing proselytising by calling the final chapter “Mathematics and Beauty”.

Each chapter has diverse entries, from unsolved puzzles that had intrigued generations of mathematicians, to recreational puzzles that will delight both amateurs and professionals (entertaining stuff to mull over when caught in a traffic jam), to historically exotic arcana that promises to entice and titillate history buffs and trivia collectors alike.

The author’s passion for his subject is obvious and it comes across in his approach. You may find yourself staring at an exotic-looking equation that only those with a PhD in mathematics will tackle, but Pickover usually has a simple (and engaging) explanation on how it works. Sometimes, you do not really need to understand every detail but just appreciate and admire the beauty of the form and shape of the equation – much as you would a work of art – and understand how the subject can inspire countless artists, writers and movie-makers in their creative endeavours.

You will also find that the mathematicians he discusses are either mad, eccentric, or normal creatures like us who live ordinary lives – except that they are passionate about and dedicated to working in mathematics. And in case you think that women are not as good as men with figures, there are accounts of female mathematicians who are as good, if not better than, their male counterparts.

Take as long as you like to read to savour each section. Some of the puzzles in this book may engage two people in hours of debate, and provide stimulating fun amongst family members and friends. And they can certainly spark conversation at a party and change your perception that mathematics is boring.