This anthology brings together the year's finest writing on mathematics from around the world. Featuring promising new voices alongside some of the foremost names in mathematics, it makes available to a wide audience many articles not easily found anywhere else - and you don't need to be a mathematician to enjoy them.

The year's finest writing on mathematics from around the world This annual anthology brings together the year's finest mathematics writing from around the world. Featuring promising new voices alongside some of the foremost names in the field, The Best Writing on Mathematics 2013 makes available to a wide audience many articles not easily found anywhere else—and you don't need to be a mathematician to enjoy them. These writings offer surprising insights into the nature, meaning, and practice of mathematics today. They delve into the history, philosophy, teaching, and everyday occurrences of math, and take readers behind the scenes of today's hottest mathematical debates. Here Philip Davis offers a panoramic view of mathematics in contemporary society; Terence Tao discusses aspects of universal mathematical laws in complex systems; Ian Stewart explains how in mathematics everything arises out of nothing; Erin Maloney and Sian Beilock consider the mathematical anxiety experienced by many students and suggest effective remedies; Elie Ayache argues that exchange prices reached in open market transactions transcend the common notion of probability; and much, much more. In addition to presenting the year's most memorable writings on mathematics, this must-have anthology includes a foreword by esteemed mathematical physicist Roger Penrose and an introduction by the editor, Mircea Pitici. This book belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in where math has taken us—and where it is headed.

Collects essays on mathematics, from the mathematical aspects of origami and the mathematics of dating to the frequency and distribution of prime numbers and a ball in five dimensions.

This annual anthology brings together the year's finest mathematics writing from around the world. Featuring promising new voices alongside some of the foremost names in the field, The Best Writing on Mathematics 2014 makes available to a wide audience many articles not easily found anywhere else-and you don't need to be a mathematician to enjoy them. These writings offer surprising insights into the nature, meaning, and practice of mathematics today. They delve into the history, philosophy, teaching, and everyday occurrences of math, and take readers behind the scenes of today's hottest math.

The year’s finest mathematical writing from around the world This annual anthology brings together the year’s finest mathematics writing from around the world—and you don’t need to be a mathematician to enjoy the pieces collected here. These essays—from leading names and fresh new voices—delve into the history, philosophy, teaching, and everyday aspects of math, offering surprising insights into its nature, meaning, and practice, and taking readers behind the scenes of today’s hottest mathematical debates. Here, Viktor Blåsjö gives a brief history of “lockdown mathematics”; Yelda Nasifoglu decodes the politics of a seventeenth-century play in which the characters are geometric shapes; and Andrew Lewis-Pye explains the basic algorithmic rules and computational procedures behind cryptocurrencies. In other essays, Terence Tao candidly recalls the adventures and misadventures of growing up to become a leading mathematician; Natalie Wolchover shows how old math gives new clues about whether time really flows; and David Hand discusses the problem of “dark data”—information that is missing or ignored. And there is much, much more.

Good writing conveys more than the author originally had in mind, while poor writing conveys less. Well written papers are more quickly accepted and put into print and more widely read and appreciated than poorly written ones—and for notes, monographs, and books the quality of writing is of more importance that it is for papers. In Writing Mathematics Well, Leonard Gillman tells his readers how to develop a clear and effective style. All aspects of mathematical writing are covered, from general organization and choice of title, to the presentation of results, to fine points on using words and symbols, to revision, and, finally, to the mechanics of putting your manuscript into print. No book can by itself make you a better writer, but this one will alert you to the opportunities for better and more forceful writing. It does this both by precept and by example. This is no bland collection of rules, but a lively guide in the style of Strunk and White or Fowler—a book to be read for its sharpness and wit as well as for enlightenment. Writing Mathematics Well should be on the shelf of anyone who writes or intends to write mathematics. It will amuse and delight the already careful writer and it will help reform and refine the sensibilities of those who may be somewhat careless about their writing.