Looking for Math in All the Wrong Places

✍ Scribed by Shai Simonson

• Publisher: American Mathematical Society
• Year: 2022
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 224
• Series: Spectrum, 104
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The soul of mathematics is the practice of skeptical inquiry: asking how and why things work, experimenting, exploring, and discovering. Estimation, analysis, computation, conjecture, and proof are the mathematical path to uncovering truth and we can use them in nearly every human pursuit. In this thoroughly charming and beguiling book, Shai Simonson applies mathematical tools in a variety of contexts that arise in everyday life to prove his claim that math is, literally, everywhere. Simonson applies his mathematical cast of mind to hiking, birthday parties, carnival games, lock picking, and kite flying. We see unexpected depths and connections when we look in the “wrong” places in the right way. No advanced mathematical knowledge is required to travel with Simonson and share in his investigations. All a reader needs is an open and curious mind, an eagerness to ask questions, and a willingness to think deeply and carefully about seemingly mundane things. There is wonder and joy in quotidian life with Simonson as your guide.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Title page
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Summer Carnivals
2.1. Two Coin Games
2.2. Penney’s Game
2.3. A Dice Game
2.4. A Connection to Fibonacci Numbers
2.5. Infinity on the Road
2.6. Mystical Pizza
Chapter 3. Games
3.1. Fifteen
3.2. Magic Squares
3.3. David’s Game - A Surprisingly Simple Challenge
3.4. Konane - A Surprisingly Hard Game
Chapter 4. Holidays
4.1. Hannukah
4.2. Christmas
4.3. The Great Dalmuti - Holiday Edition
Chapter 5. Magic
5.1. A Penn & Teller Mathematical Card Trick
5.2. A Poker Trick
5.3. Pick a Number
5.4. An Automatic Card Trick
Chapter 6. Locks
6.1. Combination Locks
6.2. Safes
6.3. A Probability Query
6.4. Love Locks in Paris
6.5. Recursion
6.6. Simplex Locks
Chapter 7. Limits
7.1. Dowries and Inheritance in Ancient Israel
7.2. Visiting the Sick
7.3. Another Limit and the Number 𝑒
7.4. Darts in a Bar
7.5. The Limit of ((𝑛-1)/𝑛)ⁿ, as 𝑛 Increases
7.6. Derangements
Chapter 8. Wine and Averages
8.1. Arithmetic Average
8.2. Geometric and Harmonic Averages
8.3. Which Average?
8.4. A Glass of Wine
Chapter 9. Music
9.1. Tuning Pianos
9.2. The Fourth, the Fifth, and the Tritone
9.3. A Fibonacci Tune
9.4. Polyrhythms
Chapter 10. Parabolas, Catenaries, and Kites
10.1. Kite Flying and Cutting Class
10.2. Tightropes and Nik Wallenda
Chapter 11. A Day in the Woods
11.1. A Twelve-Sided Wonder
11.2. South Point
11.3. Hiking in The Catskills
11.4. Bouncing Hiking
11.5. Bushwhacking
Chapter 12. Viral Puzzles
12.1. Algebra
12.2. Scams
12.3. Probability
12.4. Geometry
12.5. Chocolate and Donald Knuth
Chapter 13. Happy Birthday
13.1. Reverse Ages
13.2. Jigsaw Puzzles
13.3. Social Distancing
13.4. Socially Distant Seating
13.5. Craps at the Casino
13.6. Social Media Musings
Chapter 14. COVID-19
14.1. Quick Primer on Probability
14.2. Efficacy Rate of the Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine
14.3. Herd Immunity
14.4. Johnson and Johnson Vaccine
14.5. How Contagious is COVID-19?
14.6. Exponential Growth
14.7. COVID-19 Dating
Chapter 15. Estimations
15.1. Counting Twice
15.2. Groceries
15.3. Books
15.4. Dandelions
15.5. COVID-19 Testing
15.6. Planter
Chapter 16. High-Tech Interviews
16.1. Reversing a String
16.2. Find the Outlier
16.3. Hats
Chapter 17. Sports
17.1. Jeopardy!
17.2. The Stanley Cup
17.3. Fair Coins
17.4. Bowling at Brunswick
17.5. NFL Overtime
17.6. Running
17.7. Math in Real Life
Java Program for Simplex Locks
Back Cover