Book Description

Customer Reviews (35)

This book is cool!
This book was fascinating, and I learned alot on pi day.
On march 14 (Pi day) I had memorized 50 digits, and wowed my classmates.
I reccomend this book to any budding Pi researcher/memorizer

What nonsensical packaging
The Joy of Pi is a little book. It is little in that it is printed in a small format. It is also little in that it stretches to fill 144 of these little pages. It is also little in that it contains lots of fluff rather than quality information. About the only thing that this book is big in is in its profuse use of graphical elements and downright nasty anecdotes for people who were mistaken about the value of Pi.

For such a topic, I would have expected much more content than was delivered here. This book runs to 144 pages but once you strip off all the extraneous stuff, it is probably a 15 or 20 page essay on the history of Pi. This history is actually quite interesting and reasonable well written. We, the readers, are told about the ongoing development of this number from the earliest attempts to calculate it, through all kinds of erroneous attempts, to several successful equations and algorithms. Since the history of mathematics as a whole goes from the Egyptians, to the Greeks, to the Arab, Indian, Chinese and then back to the Europeans, it is nice to see them all mentioned in this little book.

Once we reach the 20th century though, the book runs out of steam. Now we are provided multiple chapters that speak of the quest to find more and more digits of Pi with the record being at some 52 billion at the time of the book's writing. But, since there is very little of interest in recording each improvement from 4500 terms to 52 bilion terms, the author tries to lighten up the story by adding all kinds of anecdotes about the solvers. So, we are provided a whole chapter on a pair of Russian brothers who built their own supercomputer in their Manhattan apartment to do these calculations. Why is this story worthy of a full chapter while everyone who came before then has to be satisfied with only a sentence or paragraph? No idea except for my conjecture that the book was going to be too short without this kind of expansion.

Another chapter is devoted to the antics of several people who attempted to "solve" pi via other means and failed. This book does not spare them and ridicules their efforts to an excessive degree. It is as if the fact that some people made mistakes, and some would not admit to them, was a personal affront to the writer. Why spend many pages quoting from the writings of these people and making fun of them?

The largest space filler in this book though, is the printing of the first one million digits of Pi. Yes, you read that right! The first one million digits are printed. Since they are printed in a size that requires a magnifying glass to read, I am strengthened in my conjecture that space filling was the real reason for this.

Since there is so little real text provided, most of the space of the book is filled with these kinds of shenanigans. The most egregious factor for me was the constant playing with different typefaces and sizes of fonts. It has been known since the early 1980's that just because your computer CAN display many fonts, that it is NOT A GOOD IDEA to do so as readability suffers. However, in this tome, the author engages in that practice and to make it even worse, adds all kinds of useless graphics and drawings and bubbles and circles and angles and other things to cluter up the page. This is typically printed in a really ugly shade of green that even further depresses the spirit by making it harder yet to read the text.

So, all in all, I would urge everyone to pass on this monstrosity of a little book. If you really want to learn more about Pi, there are other books that are much more readable and informative than this one. Save your money.

History of a number is a history of mathematical thought
This is a delightful little book covering the history of pi, the most famous number in mathematics. Unlike some other books, the advances made in East Asia throughout history are also mentioned. To me, the most fascinating aspect covered appears on pages 104 and 105. They chronicle the bill that went through the Indiana legislature in 1897 that would have required schools in the state to teach a grossly inaccurate value of pi and that everyone outside the state would have to pay royalties to use this value. The bill mandating this passed the Indiana House of Representatives unanimously. Fortunately, a math professor was visiting the legislature on that day and learned what had transpired. The bill became bogged down in the Indiana Senate and was eventually tabled. It appears that no action has been taken on it since that time.
The other elements of the history of pi are not quite so wild, but certainly are interesting. Until the middle of the twentieth century, advances in the knowledge of the number of digits of pi have mirrored progress in mathematics. Recently, the advances have mirrored progress in computer science. At this time, one of the best ways to test hardware performance is to run a program that computes the digits of pi.
I really enjoyed this book and recommend it as light reading in the history of mathematics. It would also make an excellent resource for presentations in the history of mathematics.

Great!
This is a delightful little book about everyone's favorite number (sorry "e").Blatner explains the history of pi, attempts throughout the ages to compute pi to hundreds (and then billions) of digits, and the exploits of nerds (much like myself, but smarter) to memorize pi to thousands of digits.There is no heavy math involved; reading this book is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon!

Very Interesting!
I truly enjoyed every page of this book. It was very informative and had interesting facts throughout. I used some of the trivia with my students on Pi Day! ... Read more

Book Description
The aim of this book is to provide a complete history of pi from the dawn of mathematical time to the present.The story of pi reflects the most seminal, the most serious and sometimes the silliest aspects of mathematics, and a suprising amount of the most important mathematics and mathematicians have contributed to its unfolding. Pi is one of the few concepts in mathematics whose mention evokes a response of recognition and interest in those not concerned professionally with the subject.Yet, despite this, no source book on pi has been published.One of the beauties of the literature on pi is that it allows for the inclusion of very modern, yet still accessible, mathematics.Mathematicians and historians of mathematics will find this book indespensable.Teachers at every level from the seventh grade onward will find here ample resources for anything from special topic courses to individual talks and special student projects. The literature on pi included in this source book falls into three classes: first a selection of the mathematical literature of four millennia, second a variety of historial studies or writings on the cultural meaning and significance of the number, and third, a number of treatments on pi that are fanciful, satirical and/or whimsical. In addition to correcting a few minor infelicities, this new edition includes an Appendix in which articles 9 and 12 by Viete and Huygens respectively are translated into English. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Probably THE collection about all there is to know about Pi!
This book hosts almost all there is to know and is known, about the worlds favorite transcendental constant. ALso many proofs of the nature on pi. e.g. the one by Hilbert and Lindemann. As well as the proof of the irrationality of zeta(3).

Definitely worth the money, and this book should be famous but it isnt!

Mostly for the advanced math person though, but lots of articles for the layman!

Enjoy!

... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Clever with Much Kid Appeal
This is great.My nine yr. old niece loved it, and she was able to understand the concept.Clever and good learning approach.Even her little brother was fascinated by the pictures, so I'm sure he will make use of it when he gets older.The artwork is really good, classic in style but with a lot of individuality.I recommend this for a range of ages because kids will grow into the book, and it is a wonderful way to learn.

A wonderful way to remember pi
I feel the age range given on the website should not be ages 4-8.This is appropriate for 8 and up.That said, my 5 year old enjoys it as just a fairy tale and I would not attempt any "teaching" to him. He listens as I read it to my older daughters and maybe it will seep in so when he's old enough to begin measuring, he will easily grasp the concepts.

This is a wonderful book - good illustrations and a clever story.The author works the math part in without it being cumbersome.A few times through this book and your child will have a good grasp of pi.At the least, it will be a good memory trigger if he/she needs help in class.

Great Book
This is a great book to teach kids about the number pi.This is a book that makes math fun and gets kids interested in learning math.

This book is a BLAST!
My kids love this book!They range in age from an 11 yr old girl to a 3 yr old boy and they all enjoy it! My son loves the story and the knights and adventure.And, he is learning something in the process.My older kids enjoy the story also but on a different level and it also reinforces what they have already learned!What a great concept!I can't wait for more to come out!We already own all 4!

Great for Middle School kids
I have use this book in my middle school classroom.The kids enjoy it.Yes, it is silly but heck so are middle school kids!Since reading the book and discussing it, the kids have a much better understanding of what pi really is, instead of just saying about 3.14. ... Read more

Book Description
Never in the 4000-year history of research into pi have results been so prolific as at present. In their book Joerg Arndt and Christoph Haenel describe in easy-to-understand language the latest and most fascinating findings of mathematicians and computer scientists in the field of pi.
Attention is focussed on new methods of computation whose speed outstrips that of predecessor methods by orders of magnitude.
The book comes with a CD-ROM containing not only the source code of all programs described, but also related texts and even complete libraries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

One of many recent pieces on pi
Why the flood of books on pi (do a search, you'll see)? And why calculate its decimal expansion to enormous numbers of places? Is number mysticism having a revival?

Certainly there are many fascinating theorems involving pi, which is one of the two most important transcendental numbers (the other being e) and which shows up unexpectedly in many different branches of mathematics. These books are well worth reading to learn those theorems, those lovely, unexpected formulas, and the interesting history.

If you are a trained mathematician, the best of these books by far is the recent one by Eymard and Lafon, but it is very difficult.

My complaint about all these books is that not one of them proves that pi exists! I meanpi is defined as the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of any circle; in order for that definition to make sense, one must prove that ratio to be constant. But that ratio is only constant in Euclidean geometry, not hyperbolic or elliptic geometries, so the proof depends on the Euclidean parallel postulate and is not at all obvious.

There is a proof in the book by Moise "Elementary Geometry from an Advanced Viewpoint."

This book is a good one, its main competition being the good one by Posamentier and Lehmann.

Have your pi and eat it too
A must have for the pi gourmet. Ever since reading Beckman's "History of Pi" years ago, I have had a love for pi. Finding Blatner's "The Joy of Pi" only added to it. With "Pi-Unleashed", Arndt and Haenel help to sate the appetite for more pi left by the first two books. While Beckman weaves the tale of pi as only he can in his book, and Blatner does indeed bring joy to the pi lover in the way he pulls together so many aspects of pi, Arndt and Haenel help to satisfy the number junkie who likes to experience pi, not just read about it. This book was so good that after giving it a good sniffing, I just had to roll all over in it to get its scent all over me. The book covers the many roads to pi, from the oldest arctangent series and product series to the latest series used for calculating hundreds of billions of digits. For the algorithm junkie, it has 17 whole pages of nothing but pi formulas, followed by thousands of digits of pi in decimal and hexadecimal as well as continued fraction format. The mathematics is deeper than Beckman or Blatner, but nothing beyond college level. The CD that comes with the book contains 400 million digits of pi along with a whole slew of programs on pi or high precision numbers that I just had to dig into. I know I will be spending many weeks chewing on all the wonderful new bones offered in this book. ... Read more

Book Description
"[In the book] we are dealing with a theme which cuts across the mathematics courses classically taught in the first four years of college. Thus it offers the reader the opportunity to learn, review and give long-term thought to the concepts covered in these programmes by following the guiding thread of this favoured number."

--from the Preface

This is a clever, beautiful book. The authors trace the thread of $\pi$ through the long history of mathematics. In so doing, they touch upon many major subjects in mathematics: geometry (of course), number theory, Galois theory, probability, transcendental numbers, analysis, and, as their crown jewel, the theory of elliptic functions, which connects many of the other subjects.

By this device, the authors provide a tour through mathematics, one that mathematicians of all levels, amateur or professional, may appreciate. In many cases, the tour visits well-known topics from particular special interest groups. Remarkably, $\pi$ is often found at the places of deepest beauty.

The volume includes many exercises with detailed solutions. Anyone from undergraduate mathematics majors through university professors will find many things to enjoy in this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good effort
A previous reviewer has already given a synopsis of this book. The book belongs in the libraries of high schools and junior colleges, and would be a worthy addition there. It is relatively non-technical, and perhaps inevitably so, as the authors are not professional mathematicians, but rather "mathematics educators."

A faster, more technical, and more complete work is, "Pi Unleashed", by Arndt and Haenel, and published by Springer (ISBN 3540665722).

(3.141592653589793238462643383279502884...) REVEALED!!!
+++++

This book, by Professors Alfred Posamentier and Igmar Lehmann, reveals the mystery behind the constant number Pi.It is designated by the symbol of the sixteenth lower-case letter of the Greek alphabet and is formally calculated by dividing the circumference of any circle by its diameter.Its value is (3.14...) or approximately (22/7).

This book convinced me that Pi is special and comes up in the most unexpected places.The mathematics needed to fully understand this easy-to-read, informative, engaging, and fun book is "no more...than that of high school mathematics."Large, helpful diagrams accompany all mathematical explanations.

This book consists of nine chapters:

(1) Tells the reader what Pi is and how it achieved its current prominence.
(2) Takes the reader through a brief history of the evolution of Pi.This history goes back four thousand years.
(3) Provides various methods for arriving at Pi's value.A wide variety of methods have been chosen, "some precise, some experimental, and some just good
guessing."
(4) Centers on activities and findings by mathematicians and math hobbyists who have explored the value of Pi and related fields in ways that the ancient mathematicians would never have dreamed of.
(5) Explores some of the curious phenomena that focus on the value and concept of Pi.Primarily here is how Pi relates to other famous numbers and to seemingly unrelated concepts.
(6) Is dedicated to some applications of Pi.The lesson from this chapter is that Pi is ubiquitous -- it always comes up!
(7) Presents some fascinating relationships involving Pi and circles.
(8) This is the book's epilogue.Here, we are presented with Pi to 100,000 decimal places (which uses up almost thirty pages).
(9) This is an afterword by Dr. Herbert Hauptman who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1985.He is known "as the first mathematician to win a Nobel Prize."

This book also presents little unknown things about Pi.For example, did you know that there is a Pi song?How many decimal places has Pi been calculated (as of 2002)?There is even a Pi day, a specific month and day in which this number is celebrated!(From the information presented above, a reader of this review should be able to figure out the exact month and day.)

After reading this book, the reader should definitely and confidently be able to say what Pi is.

Finally, this book does tell you everything (and I mean everything) about Pi but I was surprised (especially since the afterword is by a Nobel Laureate in chemistry) that there is no mention of the chemical bond called the "pi bond."It is called this because of its shape.In physics, there are elementary particles called "pi-mesons" or "pions."

In conclusion, this book takes the mystery out of the mysterious number Pi.If you're like me and like exploring mysteries, then this is the book for you!!

(first published 2004; acknowledgments; preface; 7 chapters; epilogue; main narrative 245 pages; afterword; four appendices; references; index)

+++++
... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Phi Delta Kappan, published by Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. on November 1, 2003. The length of the article is 2035 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: James Otto and the Pi Man: A Constructivist Tale.
Author: Carole Funk
Publication: Phi Delta Kappan (Refereed)
Date: November 1, 2003
Publisher: Phi Delta Kappa, Inc.
Volume: 85Issue: 3Page: 212

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
How past attempts by scientists to discover the perfect circle led to major discoveries of the physical universe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Zebrowski's History of the Circle is a great fun book.
This is not a text book, but an fun read that discusses
interesting topics from physics and math.
It explains things so well that I wish I had Zebrowski as a professor or could find textbooks written by him.
I think the lengthy first review below as well as examples from the other reviews give a good idea of the contents of this book.
It's a joy to read, and to use when explaining things correctly to others.

interesting but ...
An interesting read which could have benefited from the
attention of a diligent editor.Sadly, historical details
are often muddled and in the later chapters the author
indulges in some freewheeling speculation regarding high
energy physics while quoting undergraduate level journals
as sources.
Nevertheless, all of the subject matter and most of the
text is well worth a look.

Looking For Pi Info? Its Not Here.
The first chapter BREIFLY addresses pi, so this not a good source for those of you that may have drawn the same conclusions about the title that I did.However, if you've ever wondered why there are 360 degrees in a circle and how that relates to time or other interesting trivia, this is a great source.I do recomend it to anyone with an intrest in the basic concepts of Physics which somehow work themseves in everywhere.The title would be more acurate if it removed "A History of the Circle" and just left it with "Mathmatical Reasoning and the Physical Universe" because it lacks far to much of the first subject.

Just what I was looking for (and I didn't even know it!)
What a delightful discovery! This book served to effortlessly broaden my knowledge about applied mathematics. I have to recommend this book to all - and especially towards those, like myself, who are frustrated with our own mathematical ignorance... I am a bit of a compulsive book buyer and I don't always make an effort to read each book in my huge collection. I'm very happy I made the time to thoroughly read this one!

A DECIDEDLY PLEASANT JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD OF SCIENCE
The beauty of Ernest Zebrowski's book, A HISTORY OF THE CIRCLE, is that it was written for everyone, not just for science professors.The author never talks down to his readers.Clearly, Mr. Zebrowski is not just asuperb scientist and mathematician:he is also a skilled writer, teacher,philospher, and historian.Like Lewis Thomas, he has a wonderful way ofmaking science come alive.He transports you back into time and makes youfeel as if you are right there watching some of the most intriging momentsin human history unfold before your eyes.I learned so much from readingthis book.You can pick up any chapter at random and find yourselfcaptivated by a fascinating anecdote, a compelling biographical sketch, athought-provoking question, or a delightful little tidbit of information. The author made me think about things I have never thought about before. Reading this book has given me a newfound appreciation for the importanceof the circle as well as a newfound respect for the truly remarkable featsof our early scientists, mathematicians, and architects.So whether you'relearning about the life of Albert Einstein or the death of Archimedes;whether you're trying to figure out why old fenceposts were deliberatelyspaced 9.417 feet apart or how how the ancient Egyptians could havepossibly managed to erect thousands of 20-ton blocks 48 stories high; orwhether you are discovering that an experienced hunter is often smarterthan a computer or that terrified peasants rioted when the Gregoriancalendar was adopted because they believed that the pope was actuallystealing 10 days of their lives...you will enjoy reading, or even justskimming, A HISTORY OF THE CIRCLE.This book will change the way you lookat nature: you will see things you never saw before.It might even changethe way you look at yourself.I was delighted to discover, for example,that I was made of stardust, but I must say it was a bit unsettling tolearn that I am now a tad older than the sun which, according to Mr.Zebrowski, is "barely middle-aged." ... Read more

Book Description
This book, intended for a graphing calculator optional trigonometry course, offers students the content and tools they will need to successfully master trigonometry.The authors have addressed the needs of students who will continue their study of mathematics, as well as those who are taking trigonometry as their final mathematics course. Emphasis is placed on exploring mathematical concepts by using real date, current applications and optional technology. Applied examples and exercises, allowing students to focus on real-life applications of mathematics. Selected examples feature traditional algebraic as well as optional graphing calculator solutions. We have taken great care to only use this format in examples where the graphing calculator can naturally be used to support and/or enhance the algebraic solution.For those interested in Mathematics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Frustrating and Incomplete
This text was required for my university Trig class. Other reviewers have argued that math text books are only supplemental to the material covered in class - that it's the teacher that makes the difference.If that's the case, without a good teacher, this book is nearly useless. Whether the authors are covering fundamentals or advanced concepts/calculations, most everything gets a very cursory, succinct treatment. Should you not understand something covered in class, this text likely will not help to clarify. If you are at all unfamiliar with Trigonometry (as I was going in to this class), this text is not intended to enhance your understanding.

Trigonometry is fun
I first learned trigonometry 26 years ago, and am currently a tutor in a Tutoring Center where math and English are the primary calls for our assistance.We started using this book on Trigonometry by Lial, Hornsby and Schneider last year, and it has been a real aid to all of us.

The chapters are designed with brief overviews, 'Chapter Openers', at the beginning of each.There are sample exercises in the explanations, as well as exercises in the problem sets keyed to specific application of examples.There are summary exercises that give review of mixed concepts, pull-quote boxes (here called 'Function Boxes') to highlight the reference aspect of the text, and useful chapter reviews to the same.

One thing that stands out about this text from the one I used so many years ago is the colour aspect.There are pictures, multi-coloured graphs and illustrations, and a general feel to the book that makes it visually worthwhile to look at.This book also takes advantage of the increasing sophistication of calculators - again, back when I took trigonometry, there were tables of data in the back for looking things up, since calculators (such as they were) had only add/subtract/multiply/divide functions.

The chapters go in a fairly standard pattern for trigonometry.Chaptes progress from basic Trigonometric Functions, defining triangular and angular ideas.This continues more in depth with Acute Angles and Right Angles, then proceeds to Circular Functions, introducing Radian Measures in for good measure.The fourth chapter introduces graphing ideas for the circular functions (sine, cosine, etc.), while the sixth chapter introduces the idea of the inverse circular and trigonometric functions.Other chapters include trigonometric identities (this always seemed to me to be like geometry or logic using trig functions), vectors, complex numbers, polar equations, exponential and logarithmic functions.Many of these concepts have direct application in engineering and other sciences.

This book is also geared for students who will be advancing on to calculus, and gives marginal notes on how trigonometry is used in calculus (so as to pre-empt the question, 'when am I ever going to use this?').

Actually, I found trigonometry to be among the more enjoyable math courses I ever took; together with geometry, it confirmed an early love of the discovery of patterns and symmetry in the very fabric of existence.This book reminds me of those early days of exploring ideas, and it is a pleasure to share these same ideas with new students via this text.

Best Trig book I ever use!
This trig book I used in college in Spring 2005 was GREAT. When I'm stuck with difficult math problems, I looked at the examples in the book and then i got it figured it out and got right answers. This book made homework easier for me. The examples are very clear. This book was so much better than other book (I dont remember the title of the book and name of publisher and author's name) I used in high school trigonometry. The high school trig book was terrible and confusing and caused me to fail the class. Great job, Lial because this book made me to aced the trig final and pass the class with a B in college!

Not Spectacular
I used this book in a semester trigonometry course (covering Chapters 1 through 8), and the book was not the best.First of all, some lessons contained too much information and some too little.In addition, although the exercises are worthwhile, their difficulty levels differ from question to question, so there is no gradual increase in skill and difficulty.The book only provided good explanations on a couple of topics (for example, inverse trig. functions).All in all, the book is "okay"; if you have a good instructor, you'll still learn trigonometry.

Good if you are NOT majoring in Math or Engineering
This book really lacks proper theory and instruction. The book focuses more on giving you problems than it does trying to explain the principle and aspect covered in Trigonometry. If you are are looking for a book that can help you out by giving you work(math problems), this is it. Otherwise, stay clear of this book, find a book that has more instructions, more theories, simply more. ... Read more