Cheap DVDs, books, CDs & Games

Search:

The Mathematical Experience (Penguin Press Science)

By: Philip J. Davis Reuben Hersh
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 0140134743
ISBN-13: 9780140134742
Released: 30 Aug 1990
RRP: £18.00
Average Rating:


Customer Reviews

Should be read by every maths student (for fun). - By: Caroline Foster, 08 Aug 2008
Back in the early 90's when I was an almost-penniless mathematics student I was standing in front of a bookshelf in my local bookstore & had to choose between this & Gödel, Escher, Bach. I chose this book & I still don't regret it. [I have also subsequently bought GEB :-)]
Driven by their obvious love of the subject, the authors do a credible job of tackling just what it is about mathematics that makes mathematicians love it so much, often to the bafflement of the rest of the world. A particular personal favourite is the series of four conversations between an "ideal mathematician" and, respectively, a University Public Information Officer, a philosophy student, a positive philosopher & a sceptical classicist.
I would recommend this book to students of mathematics at any level beyond the elementary, especiallly those with an interest in the foundations of their subject. The authors do however acknowledge that some parts of the book will seem alien to the layman.