Ian Stewart is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Warwick University. He has published more than eighty books including Mathematics of Life , Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities , Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures and The Science of Discworld trilogy with Terry Pratchett. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, appears frequently on radio and television, and does research on pattern formation and network dynamics.
This is a book of mathematical oddities: games, puzzles, facts, numbers and delightful mathematical nibbles for the curious and adventurous mind. School maths is not the interesting part. The real fun is elsewhere. Like a magpie, Ian Stewart has collected the most enlightening, entertaining and vexing 'curiosities' of maths over the years...Now, the private collection is displayed in his cabinet. There are some hidden gems of logic, geometry and probability. Scattered among these are keys to unlocking the mysteries of Fermat's last theorem, the Four Colour Theorem, the Poincare Conjecture, chaos theory, fractals, complexity and the P/NP problem for which a million dollar prize is on offer. There are beguiling discoveries about familiar names and concepts like Pythagoras, prime numbers, and permutations as well as anecdotes about great mathematicians. Pull out the drawers of the Professor's cabinet and marvel at the puzzles, secrets and enigmas you'll find in them...
