David Wells

Broschiertes Buch

Games and Mathematics

Beschreibung

A fascinating and entertaining tour of the connections, old and new, between mathematics and games. Rules, tactics and strategy of familiar games such as chess are all considered with a mathematical eye. The author then turns this around and shows how game playing can inform the thinking of mathematicians themselves.

Autor

David Wells is the author of more than a dozen books on popular mathematics, puzzles and recreations. He has written many articles on mathematics teaching and a secondary mathematics course based on problem-solving. A former British under-21 chess champion, he has also worked as a game inventor and puzzle editor.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Seitenzahl: 258
• Erscheinungstermin: 18. Oktober 2012
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 14mm
• Gewicht: 420g
• ISBN-13: 9781107690912
• ISBN-10: 1107690919
• Artikelnr.: 35579395

Rezensionen

'One of the wellsprings out of which the discipline of mathematics has developed is human delight in intellectual play, manifest in the ubiquity of abstract games across millennia and cultures. The author of this fascinating book is expert in both domains, and in the art of clearly explaining significant aspects of mathematics in ways both accessible to non-experts and illuminating to experts. Through a delightfully rich variety of historical and multicultural examples, he unveils the intimate relationship between abstract games and mathematics as the study of structures, and, in so doing, illuminates much more about mathematical behaviour and cognition. At a time when too much of mathematics education in school seems designed to squeeze out every last drop of playfulness, we are reminded that mathematics can, and should, be an intellectual playground.' Brian Greer, Portland State University