Lateral Solutions to Mathematical Problems (AK Peters/CRC Recreational Mathematics Series)

Business & Money

MacHale, Desmond

Economics

A K Peters/CRC Press

Lateral Solutions to Mathematical Problems offers a fresh approach to mathematical problem solving via lateral thinking. Lateral thinking has long been used informally by good mathematics teachers and lecturers to spice up their material and interest their students in the more artistic aspects of mathematical problem solving. In this book, the author attempts to carry out this process formally, with reference to specific, non-technical problems that are easily understood and explained at an intermediate level. This book is appropriate for interested high school students, undergraduates and postgraduates, looking for relief from technical material and also looking for insight into the methodology of mathematics; for teachers and lecturers looking for a novel approach to course material; and anyone interested in both mathematics and lateral thinking.

The purpose of this little book is twofold. First, and most importantly, it is to collect and preserve the seventy or so surviving poems written by the mathematician and logician George Boole (1815-1864) and to comment upon what light his poetry throws on his character and personality. Second, it is to discuss a much-neglected topic, the interaction between Science and the Arts, with particular reference to mathematics and poetry. Poetry clearly meant a great deal to George Boole, both to read and compose. From his early teens until about 1855, he used poetry as a form of recreational activity, possibly as a form of relaxation from his more serious work in logic and mathematics. He was a competent, if not exceptional, translator and versifier, who now and then wrote lines of real poetic merit. And in the debate about reciprocal contributions by artists to the sciences, it would be difficult to find even a single established poet who made even a minor contribution to mathematics.

The Poetry of George Boole

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

lulu.com

* Founder of the field of Computer Science * 150th Anniversary of his death This book is the first full-length biography of George Boole (1815–1864), who has been variously described as the founder of pure mathematics, father of computer science and discoverer of symbolic logic. Boole is mostly remembered as a mathematician and logician whose work found application in computer science long after his death, but this biography reveals Boole as much more than a mathematical genius; he was a child prodigy, self-taught linguist and practical scientist, turbulent academic and devoted teacher, social reformer and poet, psychologist and humanitarian, religious thinker and good family man – truly a nineteenth-century polymath. George Boole was born in Lincoln, England, the son of a struggling shoemaker. Boole was forced to leave school at the age of sixteen and never attended a university. He taught himself languages, natural philosophy and mathematics. After his father's business failed he supported the entire family by becoming an assistant teacher, eventually opening his own boarding school in Lincoln. He began to produce original mathematical research and, in 1844, he was awarded the first gold medal for mathematics by the Royal Society. Boole was deeply interested in the idea of expressing the workings of the human mind in symbolic form, and his two books on this subject, The Mathematical Analysis of Logic (1847) and An Investigation of the Laws of Thought (1854) form the basis of today's computer science and electronic circuitry. He also made important contributions to areas of mathematics such as invariant theory (of which he was the founder), differential and difference equations and probability. Much of the "new mathematics" now studied by children in school – set theory, binary numbers and Boolean algebra, has its origins in Boole's work. In 1849, Boole was appointed first professor of mathematics in Ireland's new Queen's College (now University College) Cork and taught and worked there until his tragic and premature death in 1864. In 1855, he had married Mary Everest, a niece of the man after whom the world's highest mountain is named. The Booles had five remarkable daughters including Alicia, a mathematician, Lucy, a professor of chemistry, and Ethel (Voynich), a novelist and author of The Gadfly.

The Life and Work of George Boole: A Prelude to the Digital Age

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Cork University Press

Written for the general reader, this book shows the personal side of a great thinker, who laid the foundation for the Information Age. By the age of 21 Boole was publishing original research in mathematical journals, and in 1849, despite his lack of a degree, he was appointed first Professor of Mathematics at the newly founded Queen's College Cork. In 1854 he published his great work, An Investigation of the Laws of Thought which identifies the basis of mechanized logic. This led to the digital computer which pervades every aspect of our lives today. A highlight of the book is Boole's meeting with Charles Babbage, who invented the Difference Engine, a primitive 19th century computer. There's also a fascinating account of his trip to Germany, his controversial death, and the theory that Boole was the inspiration for Professor James Moriarty, villain of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

New Light on George Boole

Cohen, Yvonne

Leaders & Notable People

Attic Press Ltd.

The Cavanman rides again. At last, more Cavan jokes! These jokes have proved very popular and sold well in Monaghan, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Longford and Meath and all over Ireland, but strangely enough not in Cavan itself, where the one copy was on permanent desk reserve. Des MacHale has written joke books featuring Kerrymen, Corkmen, Mayomen, Dubliners, Cavanmen, Englishmen and even Scotsmen. Who knows where the fickle finger of fun may land next? MacHale believes that the way forward is to literally laugh our way out of this depression. So enjoy and laugh yourself into happier times. A beggar came up to a Cavanman in the street and said: 'can I tap you for a tenner?' The Cavanman replied 'Look, for a tenner you can knock me down and walk all over me.'

The Cavan Joke Book

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

Mercier Press

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