Dolciani Mathematical Expositions
3 total works
The authors present twenty icons of mathematics, that is, geometrical shapes such as the right triangle, the Venn diagram, and the yang and yin symbol and explore mathematical results associated with them. As with their previous books (Charming Proofs, When Less is More, Math Made Visual) proofs are visual whenever possible. The results require no more than high-school mathematics to appreciate and many of them will be new even to experienced readers. Besides theorems and proofs, the book contains many illustrations and it gives connections of the icons to the world outside of mathematics. There are also problems at the end of each chapter, with solutions provided in an appendix. The book could be used by students in courses in problem solving, mathematical reasoning, or mathematics for the liberal arts. It could also be read with pleasure by professional mathematicians, as it was by the members of the Dolciani editorial board, who unanimously recommend its publication.
A Cornucopia of Quadrilaterals collects and organizes hundreds of beautiful and surprising results about four-sided figures--for example, that the midpoints of the sides of any quadrilateral are the vertices of a parallelogram, or that in a convex quadrilateral (not a parallelogram) the line through the midpoints of the diagonals (the Newton line) is equidistant from opposite vertices, or that, if your quadrilateral has an inscribed circle, its center lies on the Newton line. There are results dating back to Euclid: the side-lengths of a pentagon, a hexagon, and a decagon inscribed in a circle can be assembled into a right triangle (the proof uses a quadrilateral and circumscribing circle); and results dating to Erdos: from any point in a triangle the sum of the distances to the vertices is at least twice as large as the sum of the distances to the sides. The book is suitable for serious study, but it equally rewards the reader who dips in randomly. It contains hundreds of challenging four-sided problems. Instructors of number theory, combinatorics, analysis, and geometry will find examples and problems to enrich their courses. The authors have carefully and skillfully organized the presentation into a variety of themes so the chapters flow seamlessly in a coherent narrative journey through the landscape of quadrilaterals. The authors' exposition is beautifully clear and compelling and is accessible to anyone with a high school background in geometry.
A Panoply of Polygons presents and organizes hundreds of beautiful, surprising and intriguing results about polygons with more than four sides. (A Cornucopia of Quadrilaterals, a previous volume by the same authors, thoroughly explored the properties of four-sided polygons.) This panoply consists of eight chapters, one dedicated to polygonal basics, the next ones dedicated to pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, octagons and many-sided polygons. Then miscellaneous classes of polygons are explored (e.g., lattice, rectilinear, zonogons, cyclic, tangential) and the final chapter presents polygonal numbers (figurate numbers based on polygons). Applications, real-life examples, and uses in art and architecture complement the presentation where many proofs with a visual nature are included.
A Panoply of Polygons can be used as a supplement to a high school or college geometry course. It can also be used as a source for group projects or extra-credit assignments. It will appeal, and be accessible to, anyone with an interest in plane geometry. Claudi Alsina and Roger Nelsen are, jointly and individually, the authors of thirteen previous MAA/AMS books. Those books, and this one, celebrate and illuminate the power of visualization in learning, teaching, and creating mathematics.
A Panoply of Polygons can be used as a supplement to a high school or college geometry course. It can also be used as a source for group projects or extra-credit assignments. It will appeal, and be accessible to, anyone with an interest in plane geometry. Claudi Alsina and Roger Nelsen are, jointly and individually, the authors of thirteen previous MAA/AMS books. Those books, and this one, celebrate and illuminate the power of visualization in learning, teaching, and creating mathematics.