Calculus and Pizza: A Cookbook for the Hungry Mind

by Clifford A. Pickover

CALCULUS + PEPPERONI / FUN = MATH SUCCESS Do you want to do well on your calculus exam? Are you looking for a quick refresher course? Or would you just like to get a taste of what calculus is all about? If so, you've selected the right book. Calculus and Pizza is a creative, surprisingly delicious overview of the essential rules and formulas of calculus, with tons of problems for the learner with a healthy appetite. Setting up residence in a pizza parlor, Clifford Pickover focuses on procedures for solving problems, offering short, easy-to-digest chapters that allow you to quickly get the essence of a technique or question. From exponentials and logarithms to derivatives and multiple integrals, the book utilizes pepperoni, meatballs, and more to make complex topics fun to learn-emphasizing basic, practical principles to help you calculate the speed of tossed pizza dough or the rising cost of eggplant parmigiana. Plus, you'll see how simple math-and a meal-can solve especially curious and even mind-shattering problems. Authoritatively and humorously written, Calculus and Pizza provides a lively-and more tasteful-approach to calculus. "Pickover has published nearly a book a year in which he stretches the limits of computers, art, and thought."
― Los Angeles Times "A perpetual idea machine, Clifford Pickover is one of the most creative, original thinkers in the world today."
― Journal of Recreational Mathematics

Genres: Mathematics, Science, Cookbooks, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Clifford Alan Pickover is an American author, editor, and columnist in the fields of science, mathematics, science fiction, innovation, and creativity. For many years, he was employed at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown, New York, where he was editor-in-chief of the IBM Journal of Research and Development. He has been granted more than 700 U.S. patents, is an elected Fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and is author of more than 50 books, translated into more than a dozen languages.

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cursory book about Calculus. Nothing terribly surprising or more interesting than Calculus itself, but that leaves me prone to enjoying it. There are bits I may use in the classroom, so there's an additional bonus.

[Brian Sison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is 1 part romance, 2 parts humor, and about 97 parts calculus review.

This is basically a watered down accompaniment to a full calculus text book (or 3 - covers all the way from pre-cal through calc III). I enjoyed it because it's a review of one of my favorite subjects from high school. But I honestly don't think I could actually recommend this book to anyone in good conscience.

It's a very dry book. In his attempt to infuse humor, the author pretty much falls flat on his face. He is a mathematician, not a novelist. Furthermore, it's not even a particularly good calculus book. The author keeps things at so high a level to try to cover the whole spectrum of calculus, that each of the chapters are shallow and somewhat lacking.

A mildly entertaining reminiscence of calculus, but not much to speak for otherwise.