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Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz: Making Light of Weighty Ideas
“A profusely illustrated, bemusingly unorthodox introduction to math.”― Booklist A book for the eternally curious, Coincidences fuses a professor’s understanding of the hidden mathematical skeleton of the universe with the sensibility of a stand-up comedian, making life’s big questions accessible and compelling. Each chapter opens with a surprising insight―not a mathematic formula, but a common observation. From there, the authors leapfrog over math and anecdote toward profound ideas about nature, art, and music. Coincidences is a book for lovers of puzzles and posers of outlandish questions, lapsed math aficionados and the formula-phobic alike.
290 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
April 16, 2024
What they said ... making light of weighty ideas!
What a wonderful motto for learning! To understand deep things simply, investigate simple things deeply. In COINCIDENCES, CHAOS, AND ALL THAT MATH JAZZ, Burger and Starbird take that motto to heart and bless their readers with an entertaining, irreverent, always amusing yet eminently readable and completely understandable exploration of some of the frontiers of mathematics.
In the opening chapters, real-life numbers - the roulette wheel, nature vs nurture studies of twin's characteristics, e-mail stock picking scam and spam artists, air safety standards, HIV testing and the puzzle of coincident birth dates at a party - are used to put meat onto the bones of the familiar saying "lies, damned lies and statistics" and to introduce the modern concept of mathematical chaos.
A simple straightforward chapter on the nature of numbers that almost effortlessly leads us into a basic understanding of much more complex topics such as cryptography, the Goldbach and the Twin Prime conjectures closes with the interesting comment, "... our instinctive desire to wonder about the world of numbers has paid enormous practical dividends in the past - abstract ideas about primes and factoring unexpectedly led to public key cryptography and security in Internet commerce. Somehow human curiosity about numbers from ancient times to the present seems to be in synchronicity with the universe."
Counting spirals on pineapples and sunflowers and the simple act of folding and unfolding a strip of paper is used as a springboard to take the reader, who is now thoroughly engrossed in the enjoyable style of the book, to a basic understanding of the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ratio, chaos and fractals.
But for me personally, the most interesting section was the last one. Burger and Starbird used extremely simple notions of counting, matching and a hotel with an infinite number of rooms to guide the unsuspecting reader to a brilliant "aha" moment - a concise, clear understanding of Cantor's ideas regarding the cardinality of infinity, the completely counterintuitive idea that some infinities are bigger than others.
Mathematics is fun and beautiful and this wonderful little book will show even the most math-phobic reader why! Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
What a wonderful motto for learning! To understand deep things simply, investigate simple things deeply. In COINCIDENCES, CHAOS, AND ALL THAT MATH JAZZ, Burger and Starbird take that motto to heart and bless their readers with an entertaining, irreverent, always amusing yet eminently readable and completely understandable exploration of some of the frontiers of mathematics.
In the opening chapters, real-life numbers - the roulette wheel, nature vs nurture studies of twin's characteristics, e-mail stock picking scam and spam artists, air safety standards, HIV testing and the puzzle of coincident birth dates at a party - are used to put meat onto the bones of the familiar saying "lies, damned lies and statistics" and to introduce the modern concept of mathematical chaos.
A simple straightforward chapter on the nature of numbers that almost effortlessly leads us into a basic understanding of much more complex topics such as cryptography, the Goldbach and the Twin Prime conjectures closes with the interesting comment, "... our instinctive desire to wonder about the world of numbers has paid enormous practical dividends in the past - abstract ideas about primes and factoring unexpectedly led to public key cryptography and security in Internet commerce. Somehow human curiosity about numbers from ancient times to the present seems to be in synchronicity with the universe."
Counting spirals on pineapples and sunflowers and the simple act of folding and unfolding a strip of paper is used as a springboard to take the reader, who is now thoroughly engrossed in the enjoyable style of the book, to a basic understanding of the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ratio, chaos and fractals.
But for me personally, the most interesting section was the last one. Burger and Starbird used extremely simple notions of counting, matching and a hotel with an infinite number of rooms to guide the unsuspecting reader to a brilliant "aha" moment - a concise, clear understanding of Cantor's ideas regarding the cardinality of infinity, the completely counterintuitive idea that some infinities are bigger than others.
Mathematics is fun and beautiful and this wonderful little book will show even the most math-phobic reader why! Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
July 26, 2011
In Coincidences Chaos and All That Math Jazz, Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird do for modern mathematics what Charles Wheelan did for economics in Naked Economics. Namely they have written a review of the major branches of current mathematics research in a highly accessible and often hilarious style.
They begin with probability and chaos theory and work their way to degrees of infinity. Along the way they make stops around statistics, number theory and cryptography, Fibonacci numbers, the golden ratio, fractals, topology, and the fourth dimension. There were several bits that I thought were really great. Specifically, they include one of the best descriptions of chaos theory and mathematical chaos that I have ever read as a lay person. I also thought their description of fractals from the perspective of paper folding was surprising and clever, and their chapter on higher dimensions, was both quite funny and illuminating on a subject that is hard to grasp.
The one down side to this great little book, is that they run lightly over ideas that have so much depth to them. That of course is the nature of what they are trying to do. The point is to give a taste to the lay reader, and they do that brilliantly. Most of the concepts were at least somewhat familiar to me, but I read a lot of popular mathematics written for the common interested public. If you want to get a general sense of what it is that mathematicians do, this is a great way to taste the awe inspiring beauty of mathematical ideas.
They begin with probability and chaos theory and work their way to degrees of infinity. Along the way they make stops around statistics, number theory and cryptography, Fibonacci numbers, the golden ratio, fractals, topology, and the fourth dimension. There were several bits that I thought were really great. Specifically, they include one of the best descriptions of chaos theory and mathematical chaos that I have ever read as a lay person. I also thought their description of fractals from the perspective of paper folding was surprising and clever, and their chapter on higher dimensions, was both quite funny and illuminating on a subject that is hard to grasp.
The one down side to this great little book, is that they run lightly over ideas that have so much depth to them. That of course is the nature of what they are trying to do. The point is to give a taste to the lay reader, and they do that brilliantly. Most of the concepts were at least somewhat familiar to me, but I read a lot of popular mathematics written for the common interested public. If you want to get a general sense of what it is that mathematicians do, this is a great way to taste the awe inspiring beauty of mathematical ideas.
October 22, 2011
Oooh, so close.
I wanted this book to be better than it is. It's a fine book, but I had, perhaps, unrealistic expectations. It introduces non-maths types to various mathematical concepts (chaos, infinity, etc.) in a way that is very accessible. But then it sort of dumps us there - "whee! wasn't that fun?!" I would have much preferred that it go a bit deeper. But it's probably quite good for those who have no interest in math to begin with.
I wanted this book to be better than it is. It's a fine book, but I had, perhaps, unrealistic expectations. It introduces non-maths types to various mathematical concepts (chaos, infinity, etc.) in a way that is very accessible. But then it sort of dumps us there - "whee! wasn't that fun?!" I would have much preferred that it go a bit deeper. But it's probably quite good for those who have no interest in math to begin with.
April 17, 2011
I think the math was good ... I felt like I understood iterations, Fibonacci sequences - even the Klein bottle ... but the book didn't grab me. It felt as if Burger was trying too hard to be engaging and amusing and not letting the intrinsic interest of the subject
December 11, 2016
Various mathematical and number theory topics presented in a humorous, nontechnical format. One of the authors is the instructor for the Great .Courses "Zero to Infinity: A History of Numbers" course.
August 11, 2008
This book is a great for anyone who is not into Math. There are lots of pictures and no equations, and the book is written in a very conversational style.
July 26, 2018
I really, really liked this book.
First off: when reading books like these (think about Joy of X, Grapes of Math, Journey trough Genius), we will most likely get several repetitions: there are certain math facts, anecdotes, curiosities, problems and solutions that get told over and over. That, I believe, is simply a fact of life. So you will never get 100% new things on every one of these books that you read so you should judge originality in a different manner: the treatment (whether they just mention it as someone else have or they take it as a simpler starting point for something deeper) and the style (the author's prose, how chapters are constructed).
That's why this book is so great. Yes, it mentions a lot of the stuff that other books do, but it takes several of them, connects them beautifully, offers new insights, new analogies and, yes, new ideas, anecdotes, problems and solutions too. For example: I loved their treatment of the Hilbert Hotel and I don't think I've read somewhere their part about the folding paper pattern. Plus: this book is full, head to toe, of great and terrible math puns, silly teacher jokes and subtle humor and great writing.
First off: when reading books like these (think about Joy of X, Grapes of Math, Journey trough Genius), we will most likely get several repetitions: there are certain math facts, anecdotes, curiosities, problems and solutions that get told over and over. That, I believe, is simply a fact of life. So you will never get 100% new things on every one of these books that you read so you should judge originality in a different manner: the treatment (whether they just mention it as someone else have or they take it as a simpler starting point for something deeper) and the style (the author's prose, how chapters are constructed).
That's why this book is so great. Yes, it mentions a lot of the stuff that other books do, but it takes several of them, connects them beautifully, offers new insights, new analogies and, yes, new ideas, anecdotes, problems and solutions too. For example: I loved their treatment of the Hilbert Hotel and I don't think I've read somewhere their part about the folding paper pattern. Plus: this book is full, head to toe, of great and terrible math puns, silly teacher jokes and subtle humor and great writing.
December 8, 2021
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Burger B. Burger did an absolutely amazing job with this book 100/100 best book i have ever laid eyes upon
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Burger B. Burger did an absolutely amazing job with this book 100/100 best book i have ever laid eyes upon
January 27, 2017
A very fun look at math theory -- even if you aren't a "math person" this is a great read. I found myself skipping some sections that went too heavy into the practical, but nonetheless had a great time.
June 5, 2017
Interesting book. Second half of book was too much math for me. Math not my strength. Overall, worth reading.
July 14, 2017
Great concept & helpful explanations, but not that funny and could use better real world applications
February 4, 2019
A wonderful mixture of wit and wisdom. Explains large math concepts that took me years to get in terms and examples easily grasped by the lay reader. Love it and highly recommend it!!
March 3, 2019
Fun book for non-math types.
September 8, 2019
Good book, very interesting, might get tedious sometimes.
June 9, 2008
Recommended to me by a friend several years ago, this book is my annual pop math/science book for the year. Written by two university math professors, the book introduces the reader to various counter-intuitive concepts that make more sense when you understand the math behind them (for example, that infinity plus infinity is still infinity, or why if there are 45 random people in a room together, there’s a 95% chance that at least two of them share a birthday). The book balances the deep math discussions with lots of illustrations and lots of (mostly tolerable) humor. Of the many pop math/science books I’ve read over the years, this one does the best job of explaining difficult concepts to a level that most people would be able to grasp. The book also does a good job of illustrating how much math undergirds our daily lives – how chaos can be orderly; how tampering with one set of numbers (like air safety) can affect other numbers (like automobile accidents); how perhaps our perspective on aesthetics is influenced by the presence of particular geometric figures with special qualities (the perfect rectangle); etc. Some of the chapters feel less relevant or connected to the everyday than others (like the chapter on four dimensions, or the last chapter on the different sizes of infinity), but overall, this book should be required reading for high school senior or college freshmen math courses. Recommended read for most; highly recommended read for folks who like numbers.
June 11, 2021
O conteúdo é interessante, como era de esperar dado o tópico, mas a forma nem por isso. Durante toda a leitura senti que o autor esforçava-se (demasiado) para mandar piadas cuja piada ou perdeu-se na tradução, ou já não era grande coisa à partida. É natural seja apenas impressão minha e que nem todos os leitores deste livro achem o mesmo. Mas para quem estiver interessado num livro de fácil compreensão sobre conceitos matemáticos, diria que "A Matemática das Coisas" de Nuno Crato (agora estimado Ministro da Educação) é um excelente começo.
Por ultimo, queria só mencionar a minha perplexidade quanto ao facto da tradutora não se ter dado ao trabalho de converter comprimentos e afins em unidades métricas. Afinal, esperar que um Português, ou que qualquer outro cidadão cujo país de origem adoptou o sistema métrico i.e. o Mundo inteiro excepto os USA, Myanmar e Liberia, consiga visualizar a seguinte situação e passo a citar, "Uma milha são 5280 pés. Portanto, uma milha cúbica é aproximadamente 150 biliões de pés cúbicos." é no mínimo improvável.
Por ultimo, queria só mencionar a minha perplexidade quanto ao facto da tradutora não se ter dado ao trabalho de converter comprimentos e afins em unidades métricas. Afinal, esperar que um Português, ou que qualquer outro cidadão cujo país de origem adoptou o sistema métrico i.e. o Mundo inteiro excepto os USA, Myanmar e Liberia, consiga visualizar a seguinte situação e passo a citar, "Uma milha são 5280 pés. Portanto, uma milha cúbica é aproximadamente 150 biliões de pés cúbicos." é no mínimo improvável.
February 10, 2012
Author starts this book out with great examples of coincidences and how we over value these events . It was simple and examples where easy to follow during the first 50 pages. For example, two people throwing a full deck of cards down at the same time can put into perspective that coincidences happen more than we realize by noticing the exact same card hitting often. The next 150 pages are the lamest examples of how you view probabilities and measurements such as how many times we can fold a piece of paper. Really! Book dragged, but finally came to explaining infinity and how there are different kinds of infinity sizes with comparisons. Fat people and XXX Large t-shirts was easy example to follow, where is the boundary or limitations to infinity? Maybe your girl can tell us, but not around her butt and chest areas, infinity is okay there.
June 28, 2016
So i've read more than a couple of Pop-Sci maths books over the past year and this turned out to be by far the best one. The authors - both award winning maths educators - prove themselves to be every bit as skilled and imaginative with words as they are with numbers and the results is a ferociously intelligent, witty, joyful gem of a book.
It can also be considered the most challenging of all the Pop-Sci Maths books I have read but only if you want it to be. If you insist on following the authors every single step of the way then there are quite a few sections in this book that will no doubt crinkle the brows of most readers and force them to take out a pen and paper. Or you could skip along, simply accepting the authors results, and wait for the next punchline. It's what I ended up doing and I still felt suitably educated and entirely entertained.
It can also be considered the most challenging of all the Pop-Sci Maths books I have read but only if you want it to be. If you insist on following the authors every single step of the way then there are quite a few sections in this book that will no doubt crinkle the brows of most readers and force them to take out a pen and paper. Or you could skip along, simply accepting the authors results, and wait for the next punchline. It's what I ended up doing and I still felt suitably educated and entirely entertained.
March 27, 2016
Scopo dichiarato degli autori di questo libro è presentare la matematica senza usare formule, al limite con un linguaggio che dovrebbe essere umoristico almeno per chi apprezza lo stile; non giochi di parole alla Ian Stewart, ma battute storpiando le frasi fatte, un po' come nel titolo stesso del libro. Il contenuto è abbastanza classico per questo tipo di divulgazione, spaziando dalla sezione aurea alla matematica del caos per arrivare alla quarta dimensione e ai numeri transfiniti (con l'albergo di Hilbert dove sono andati gli infiniti giocatori della squadra dei Cardinals :-); molto apprezzabile il fatto che gli autori siano spesso riusciti a trovare un approccio diverso dal solito per la presentazione.
Insomma, materiale usuale ma presentazione insolita.
Insomma, materiale usuale ma presentazione insolita.
June 6, 2015
This book is humorous and fun, but is not at all rigorous. It presents pretty basic math concepts very intuitively, so I recommend it for people who are interested in math but didn't study it past high school -- or for high school students who like math and want some entertainment.
It is great for what it is. As someone who has been introduced to all of the topics presented in the book more rigorously, I sometimes wanted the author to present the topic in a more practical way, but in general I found the explanations creative and effective. For that reason, I wasn't bored, but if I knew what to expect I probably wouldn't have read it because I personally didn't get much out of it.
It is great for what it is. As someone who has been introduced to all of the topics presented in the book more rigorously, I sometimes wanted the author to present the topic in a more practical way, but in general I found the explanations creative and effective. For that reason, I wasn't bored, but if I knew what to expect I probably wouldn't have read it because I personally didn't get much out of it.
January 27, 2016
While the goal of writing a book about mathematical principles that would be fun and accessible to everyone was certainly achieved, one cannot help but feel that it could have been done without neglecting to provide some details that would have allowed the reader to find further information on any given subject. Even the Further Reading section is nothing more that a recommendation to read another book by the same authors, and a video by The Teaching Company.
Still the book is enjoyable, and littered with jokes and puns. Don't look to it for serious information on mathematics; but rather as a fun story inspired by the subject.
Still the book is enjoyable, and littered with jokes and puns. Don't look to it for serious information on mathematics; but rather as a fun story inspired by the subject.
April 1, 2015
This book was very good. The author took us away from what we think math in our class. He shows us that math is not mundane or boring if we look at math from a wider perspective. From golden rectangles to mathematical chaos, he shows us that math is everywhere. He has also given us a glimpse of the 4th dimension. All in all, I believe this book is an interesting read to math lovers and non math lovers alike. 4/5, would read again!
October 29, 2013
This is a part of a larger trend in pop books. Pop-psychology, pop-economics, pop-math, et cetera.
I had hopes for this book. It opened strong with a concise description of coincidence and chaos, but quickly diverges from these topics. After a while the quips feel distracting. And in the end it was generally unsatisfying.
I had hopes for this book. It opened strong with a concise description of coincidence and chaos, but quickly diverges from these topics. After a while the quips feel distracting. And in the end it was generally unsatisfying.
January 24, 2015
I read the portuguese translation. The book is really interesting and I think it should be a mandatory reading for those who want to teach maths. It's amazing how is possible to explain difficult concepts without writting a single formula.
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August 2, 2011Nice short chapters so you don't lose interest. There are certain topics I want to know more about, though. I suppose that's a good thing; this book gets one interested and then one can find more detail elsewhere.
April 14, 2012
If you've been interested in Chaos theory or the study of Complexity research, this book is an excellent primer. Not as heavy as some books, more focused on examples of complexity and using existing examples to demonstrate the theories.
August 19, 2013
I really tried with this. I DO not have the best mind for abstract analytical stuff; although I think the author did a good job of simplifying for the layperson, I still couldn't understand a good portion of it.
April 10, 2008
This is a really fun book that explores mathematical topics in an interesting and thought-provoking way!
April 29, 2008
A bit TOO dumbed down in my opinion. Almost condescending at some points. Otherwise, a good overview of mathematical anomalies and intricacies without the math.
August 17, 2009
Many of the really cool math applications are here, and presented in an interesting and clear text. It is on my list of must read math books. Great stuff.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews