Author(s): Alfred S. Posamentier

Popular Mathematics

Numbers Are Everywhere: on license plates, in addresses, on weather reports and report cards, at work, at home, and of course wherever we go through the screens of our smartphones. Yet we see these numbers as descriptors rather than entities unto themselves. It turns out that each number has its own history of meaning, usage, and connotation in the larger world. The Secret Lives of Numbers will take you on a journey through integers, considering their mathematical significance as well as their numerological and pop-culture interpretations. We all know that the number 13 has a certain value of unluckiness; the phobia is called triskaidekaphobia. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was known to invite and disinvite guests to parties to avoid having 13 people in attendance, and high-rise buildings often skip the 13th floor out of superstition. There are many explanations as to how 13 received this negative honor, but from a mathematical point of view the number also has a place among Fibonacci numbers and integral Pythagorean triples. In The Secret Lives of Numbers, popular mathematician Alfred S. Posamentier provides short and engaging biographies of more than 300 numbers, starting with I and featuring interesting numbers such as 6,174, which has unusual properties. The book presents a comprehensive picture of both the mathematical and social lives of numbers. Book jacket.