Mathematics is logic. It is not just about the numbers,
shapes and equations but can also go beyond the four-squared room and can be at
every part of the society and life of each person. Without knowing it, we may
already be inside the area of mathematics as we live our normal life everyday. In
the book of Ian Stewart, the ‘Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities’, he was able
to share some of his views and personal entertainment that involve his creative
and mathematical thinking. The characterization of logic in the field of
mathematics and how numbers and analysis be equal to fun were some stuff that
can be derived from this book. Generally, the book contains different puzzles
and games that can give you entertainment and at the same time challenges which
can measure the level of your analytical and understanding skills.
At the start of the book, aliens were able to invade my
mind and immediately went into space. How can you even know which is which with
only some questions asked? Well, Capt. Quirk found a way to analyse this
problem. Even with this simple puzzle, it was able to make your brain work into
several analyses and do imaginative works of patterns and relation of each
statement.
As the book go further with its puzzles and games,
different historical names in the world of mathematics were mentioned such as
Fibonacci and Fermat. The works they were able to contribute were described and
used in this book in a way that it is not technical yet understandable (thanks
to the writing skills of the author). I can say that this is mainly for
entertainment yet at the same time touches some bits of mathematical concepts.
One amazing thing
about this book is that, mathematics was made friendly and fun for those that
are not really a fan of it. Reading some of the problems, I observed that
sometimes, numbers were not even included just to achieve the answer. As for
those that involve numbers, such as his explanation as to why we can’t divide a
number by zero, he was able to explain the concept in a very simple and
understandable way. This is one of my favorite because, personally, I am one of
those that do not understand this type of rule in mathematics. Well, 0/0 was
also not considered applicable since it is unpredictable and as Stewart said,
causes headache.
The mathematical concepts were made understandable by the
problems and questions since the mind itself is the one doing the thinking
which is apparently out of the traditional way of learning. Yes, answers were
given at the end of the book but the urge to answer it and to feel the
satisfaction of solving something drives an individual to think more about it.
In his introduction, he mentioned that some of the
puzzles in this book were compiled when he was still 14 years old. Relying in
this statement, it can be concluded that even at a very young age, he is
already fond of mathematics which, in my opinion, is very hard to find nowadays
in the pool of youngsters in the community. With this book, the interest in
math can be developed because of the different perspective it gives to the
readers about math. It is more than just the complicated stuffs it solves
involving numbers and variables but it also has its own side of fun and mind
games. Without knowing it, we already start to appreciate math in its own fun
way.
Ian Stewart was able to share his cabinet of puzzles and
games. Some may say that this book has no story or plot but it actually has its
own story to tell. It is all about the tale of how logic and analysis affected
the life of one person as it is one of the factors that molded him into someone
that he is today. A lover of mathematics and a great writer.
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