A Mathematicians Miscellany

by J.E. Littlewood

The opening theme of this unconventional book is 'Mathematics with the minimum of raw material'; the examples are drawn from wide and unexpected sources (astronomy, billiards, feminine psychology, a literary competition). Sections follow on misprints (could a misprint prove a mathematical stroke of genius?) howlers, 'how not to'. etc.; curiosities from the Mathematical Tripos; from ballistics, etc.. A provocative thesis: could a chain of ideas start from 'Fermat's Last Theorem' and end with abolition of capital punishment? A plausible explanation of tthe mysteries about Newton and the attraction of a sphere. A reprint of a famous review of ramanujan's work. A long section on 'Large Numbers' begins with Archimedes, on how large a number can be mentioned, and ends with modern resources applied to the same problem. Rich material in between works from daily life up through 'moderate' numbers (e.g. the odds against a mouse freezing to death in Hell) to the largest particular number that mathematics has so far had occasion to mention. An autobiographical sections describes mathematical education of 1900-1910 (not without surprises).
There are excursions for the professional mathematician only, but these are sign-posted and can be omitted without detriment by the general reader. A note of gaiety infuses even the more serious matters, but there is nothing to offend an austere taste.

Genres: Mathematics, Nonfiction, Biography

136 pages, Hardcover

Published October 22, 1953

Reviews

[Paulo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an autobiography, a book of his reminiscences and a collection of problemas and anecdotes by the mathematician John Edensor Littlewood. Littlewood himself says «a miscellany is a collection without a natural ordering relation; I shall not attempt a spurious unity by imposing artificial ones». And he really fulfills that, but in a bad sense.

I didn't like the book very much. A bit too technical for me, there is a very large variety in the difficulty with which it deals with different topics. Though, it has some amusing anecdotes and it's interesting the way in which we can see the academic life in Cambridge at the beginning of the twentieth century through Littlewood's eyes. Nevertheless, he jumps from one place to another with no apparent relationship, making difficult follow his chain of thoughts.

I found some problems interesting, but many others did not, and there is no common thread. Besides, some of them are treated deeper than another. Maybe it was my fault for a quick reading, but I didn't meet here that supposed sharp and pungent intellectual, just someone remembering sloppy anecdotes with more or less grace.

I like a lot the book of his beloved friend G.H. Hardy, A Mathematician's Apology, but I think Littlewood's Miscellany is clearly inferior in agility, clarity and quality.

[D. Zack Garza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit disorganized, although this is fairly disclaimed up front. Out of the dozens of problems described, only a few were interesting from a purely mathematical perspective -- many were somewhat technical calculations applied to engineering/sciences, although a few concerned interesting games or probabilities, or back-of-the-envelope calculations for engaging real-life scenarios. There's some fun insight into the Cambridge examination system, especially the Tripos, which makes it worth the short read.

[Allan Olley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an interesting and relatively short collection of mathematical problems, commentary on mathematical education and a few other mathematical topics including the discovery of Neptune by calculation. The problems range from very elementary to decipherable only by an expert, however almost everything is pitched in a very relatable way.

I read this as a pdf scan of the original 1953 Methuen edition. It was fine.