Book Review: Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities

            I will not start the book review by whining about the title. After all, the titles are supposed to tease us on what the book is about. And that we really have to do is to read the book to feed the curiosity that the title has left us.

            Upon reading the author’s short introduction, I got immediately interested in him. He started off the book by being brutally honest, which is something I like because flowery and sugar-coated words just don’t get too much of my attention. So, I looked him up on google, just like every fan would do when they want to know something about the people they idolize. Ian Stewart is currently a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick in England. When he was younger, he caught the attention of his maths teacher when he placed first in a mock A-level examinations along with other students older than him. He was then admitted with a scholarship in Churchill College, finally obtaining a degree in BA in Mathematics. He even got a doctorate degree as early as the age of 24. He also wrote the book, Hoard of Mathematical Treasures, and a great number of scientific papers. And oh my, he even wrote the book, the Mathematics of Life! I haven't even noticed it, perhaps I wasn't too interested with that book.What amused me more is that his book on the Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities was based on the notebooks he kept when he was younger. It was not merely based on maths he learned in school, but on every interesting thing about the math that wasn’t taught in school.

            The Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities did not tell a story unlike the book, A Certain Ambiguity. It also didn’t explain the game theory unlike Rock, Paper, Scissors. It is plainly a collection of amusing puzzles, games and even jokes which are unexpectedly related to Math. There is no need to have a huge background on calculus, trigonometry, statistics and other stressful maths to understand his puzzles. You just have to analyze and enjoy it. I must say that although I did not fully quite understand all the puzzles, it was such a delight when you finally get the puzzles.

            Here are a few of my favorite parts of the book: Tap-an-Animal, Sliced Fingers, Extracting the Cherry, Why does minus times minus make plus? and Fermat’s Last Theorem.

            In Tap-An-Animal, there is a ten-pointed star wherein every point corresponds to a name of an animal. It amused me when the animal’s names are not just merely placed there for fun, but it was placed in its corresponding points because of the number of letters its names have. Stewart is clearly a math animal!

On the other hand, Sliced Fingers could really make you lose your patience. You have to place a string on your fingers without really linking it and when you pull the loose part of the string, you will literally hear it slice through your fingers. Amazingly, the trick involves math! It is connected to topology, a branch in mathematics which is about properties being knotted or linked. As of this writing, I still did not get the trick. But yes, I will extend my patience a little bit longer and do the process until I finally get it.

I thought Extracting the Cherry was the easiest of all the puzzles. But, I was wrong. In this puzzle, you simply have to move two matches to “extract” the cherry. I tried it once, and thought that getting it was a piece of cake. However, when I checked the answer, I could not fully fathom how the cherry was extracted in that way by moving only two matches. So, I tried it again and again and finally, I could say I was successful!

In the section, Why does minus times minus make plus?, Stewart explained and gave arguments as to why multiplying two negatives make the product positive. He explained by using the concept of debt. He explained it in such a way that is simply understood. He even stated that, “minus times minus makes plus” is a conscious human convention, not an inescapable fact of nature.

In Fermat’s Last Theorem, he narrated the life of Fermat and the different mathematicians who tried to prove his last theory. Number theorists even abandoned Fermat’s last Theorem and proceed to areas which they could still make progress. What made me interested in this section of the book is the movie which was shown in class, Fermat’s Room. The movie implies that one is willing and able to kill someone just to prove that Fermat’s theory.

Overall, the book was amusing and interesting. As I mentioned, one does not need a background in calculus or statistics to understand everything in the book. You just have to enjoy reading it, just like I did.

I seriously recommend the book. It will not only challenge the sleeping mathematician in you, but also tickle the inner geek in you.