Customer Reviews (2)

The Trisection Problem. Robert C. Yates
Book in excellent condition, excellent envelope and fast service. I strongly recommend to buy at Michener & Rutledge Booksellers, Inc.

This book should be studied by all high school geometry teachers
No mathematical problem generates more "crankiness" than the trisection problem. Underwood Dudley coined the term "mathematical cranks" to describe people who somehow believe that they have discovered a "proof" of a math problem that has already been proven impossible. The first complete proof that it is impossible to trisect an arbitrary angle appeared in the early nineteenth century yet there are people who refuse to believe it. Dudley wrote a book called "The Trisectors" and published by the Mathematical Association of America where he described some of the more unusual and determined people who were convinced that they did indeed find a way to trisect an arbitrary angle.
In this book Yates does a superb job in describing the problem and the historical search for a resolution. The problem was originally formulated by the ancient Greeks and Yates starts there and engages in a gentle walk through history touching on the high points of the problem and the points of resolution along the way. Written at a level so that middle and high school students can understand it, he also covers mechanical devices that can be used and several methods of approximation.
This is a book that should be studied by all high school teachers of geometry. The trisection problem is one that can be understood by high school students with the proper presentation. Using this book, that obstacle will be overcome.
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Product Description
As a companion to mathematical Cranks, the MAA is happy to offer its readers another Dudley classic., The Trisectors. This book is also about mathematical cranks-angle trisectors.

It is impossible to trisect angles with straightedge and compass alone, but many try and think they have succeeded. This book is about angle trisections and the people who atempt them. Its purposes are to collect many trisections in one place, inform about trisectors, amuse the reader, and perhaps most importantly, reduce the number of trisectors. This book includes detailed information about the perssonalities of trisectors and their constructions.

According to Dudley, "hardly any mathematical training is necessary to read this book. There is a little trigonometry here and there, but it may be safely skipped. There are hardly any equations. There are no exercises at the end of the sections, and there will be no final examination. The worst victim of mathematics anxiety can read this book with profit and dry palms. It is quite suitable to give as a present." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Extreme examples of mathematical stubborness and illiteracy
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Lively, entertaining, frustrating and sometimes a majordowner, this book should be read by all who wish to raise the tide ofmathematical literacy.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.END ... Read more