The Mathematics of Oz

By Clifford A. Pickover

Book Overview

Grab a pencil. Relax. Then take off on a mind-boggling journey to the ultimate frontier of math, mind, and meaning as acclaimed author Dr Clifford Pickover, Dorothy, and Dr Oz explore some of the oddest and quirkiest highways and byways of the numerically obsessed. Prepare yourself for a shattering odyssey as The Mathematics of Oz unlocks the doors of your imagination. The thought-provoking mysteries, puzzles, and problems range from zebra numbers and circular primes to Legion's number - a number so big that it makes a trillion pale in comparison. The strange mazes, bizarre consequences, and dizzying arrays of logic problems will entertain people at all levels of mathematical sophistication. With numerous illustrations, this is an original, fun-filled, and thoroughly unique introduction to numbers and their role in creativity, computers, games, practical research, and absurd adventures that teeter on the edge of logic and insanity. The Mathematics of Oz will have you squirming in frustration and begging for more.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521700841
• ISBN13: 9780521700849
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Your mental mathematical muscles will be stretched

Clifford Pickover is a fountain of ideas, and in this book, he presents a set of puzzles and problems that display some of those ideas. They range from the simple to the hard, and the premise is that Dorothy has been abducted by the alien Dr. Oz and his assistant Mr. Plex. Dr. Oz presents the puzzles to Dorothy with the general caveat that she will be rewarded if she can solve them. All of the puzzles are given a difficulty rating, although there are times when the rating seems inaccurate. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and got so involved with a few of the problems that I used them as the basis for a presentation I made to a gathering of college and university mathematicians. It will stretch your mental mathematical muscles.

The Mathematics of Oz: Mental Gymnastics from Beyond the Edge

Awesome blend of stories mixing in some interesting puzzles. Being a Kansas girl, I was intrigued by the entertaining story line set in the "Sunflower state". My son graduated from the Unversity of Kansas and there is a fictional story of the campus in the book that builds toward a puzzle. I gave the book to my son on his 25th birthday and I had marked the KU story. He turned to it and was totally endeared to the book. Couldn't be a better present for anyone who loves Kansas or puzzles. Just great!!!

What is interesting and what solvable?

I prefer mathematical puzzles that have two features:- they are interesting (i.e. they have that difficulty that make them worth trying to solve);- they are solvable without developing a whole new theory and without writing program code.In this book most problems that are interesting (very interesting and intriguing, I must admit) are not solvable in the foresaid sense, and most solvable ones are not interestin. Of course, a few are both. The picture sequences to be completed are very original, and sometimes difficult, examples of QI tests. However, in spite of that slight flaw, I have really enjoyed reading it. It may depends on my appreciation of Oz novels and movie, and even if this book is not likely to mark the history of mathematical entertainment, it remains a worthy reading.

A true mathematical wonderland

This wonderful mathematical puzzle book has over 100 puzzles sure to delight readers -- from kids to adults. The problems include: mazes, sequences, probability, and more. Most puzzles are very clever and fun. I liked considering the yellow-brick road that crosses America. How many bricks would it take? I also liked the zebra numbers and circular primes. Legion's number is a number so big that it makes a a billion look puny.Anyone who has pondered the vastness of our mathematical universe will love this book.

Math Puzzles from another Universe!

I found the puzzles and problems in this book to be original and varied, and with a wide range of difficulty levels. I enjoyed the fact that some puzzles might actually have more than one answer, which leaves room for healthy debate and for better understanding the way different people think. I think this book can be enjoyed by readers of different levels of mathematical sophistication. For example, a freshman in high school could skip the more difficult problems, like the one on Ramanujan Congruences, although this is one of the most interesting chapters. My favorite chapter is one that poses a statistics-like question, dealing with bones thrown into a pit. You have to figure out the ratio of the long piece to the short piece. Here's a sample of other chapters that I really enjoyed:1. The Yellow-brick Road2. An Experiment with Kansas8. The Problem of the Bones 16. Omega Sphere 28. Legions' Number29. The Problem of the Tombs35. Prime-poor Equations 36. Number Satellite 43. Ramanujan Congruences and the Quest for Transcendence 49. The Jellyfish of Europa 99. A Connection Between Pi and e 103. The Scarecrow Formula 107. The Omega Crystal 108. Attack of the Undulating Undecamorphs I've already spent hours reading and rereading the book, and showing it to friends, and I know I'll spend many hours more!