Mathematical Cranks
Share this pageUnderwood Dudley
MAA Press: An Imprint of the American Mathematical Society
A delightful collection of articles about people who claim they have achieved the mathematically impossible (squaring the circle, duplicating the cube); people who think they have done something they have not (proving Fermat's Last Theorem); people who pray in matrices; people who find the American Revolution ruled by the number 57; people who have in common eccentric mathematical views, some mild (thinking we should count by 12s instead of 10s), some bizarre (thinking that second-order differential equations will solve all problems of economics, politics and philosophy). This is a truly unique book. It is written with wit and style and is a part of folk mathematics.
Reviews & Endorsements
Dudley Underwood extracts insights from an astonishing variety of examples.
-- Robert Matthews, New Scientist
A delightful collection of true accounts of individuals who claim to have achieved the mathematically impossible ...It is hard to put down and provides topics for an unending series of interesting discussions. The organization and breadth of the book are impressive, supported by a helpful index and a list of resources that encourage further explorations. A classic.
-- Choice