Don't miss the chance to win $1,000...If you buy The Math Chat Book, and solve the puzzle found on the title page of the book, you could be a winner! The best correct response which stands for a year (or maybe earlier) wins $1000 award. No particular mathematical training is required.
An ideal gift for anyone who enjoys the fun of mathematics--buy a copy for a favorite teacher, friend, or for yourself...
This book shows that mathematics can be fun for everyone. It grew out of Frank Morgan's live, call-in Math Chat TV show and biweekly Math Chat column in The Christian Science Monitor. The questions, comments, and even the answers come largely from the callers and readers themselves.
Why does the new year start earlier in Europe?
Why is the Fourth of July on a different day of the week each year?
How can you be elected President with just 22% of the vote?
Can a computer have free will?
Didn't some kid find a mistake on the SATs?
Do airplanes get lighter as passengers eat lunch?
College students make important progress on the still open Double Bubble Conjecture. One youngster asks, "If I live for 6000 years, how many days will that be?" His first answer is (6000 years)(365 days/year) = 2,190,000 days. That is not quite right: it overlooks leap years. An older student takes leap years into account, adds 1500 leap year days, and comes up with 2,191,500 days. The answer is still not quite right. Every hundred years we skip a leap year (the year 1900, although divisible by four, was not a leap year), so we subtract 60 days to get 2,191,440. The answer is still not quite right. Every four hundred years we put the leap year back in (2000 will be a leap year), so we add back 15 days to get 2,191,455, the final answer.
This book makes no attempt to fit any mold. Although written by a research mathematician, it goes where the callers and readers take it, over a wide range of topics and levels. Almost anyone paging through it will find something of interest. It is time for everyone to see how much fun mathematics can be.