Overview
- This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access
- Describes little known and surprising results in classical elementary Mathematics
- Perfectly suitable for an extra-curriculum high-school Mathematics circle
- Contains detailed explanations and high-quality illustrations
Buy print copy
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
About this book
This is open access book provides plenty of pleasant mathematical surprises. There are many fascinating results that do not appear in textbooks although they are accessible with a good knowledge of secondary-school mathematics. This book presents a selection of these topics including the mathematical formalization of origami, construction with straightedge and compass (and other instruments), the five- and six-color theorems, a taste of Ramsey theory and little-known theorems proved by induction.
Among the most surprising theorems are the Mohr-Mascheroni theorem that a compass alone can perform all the classical constructions with straightedge and compass, and Steiner's theorem that a straightedge alone is sufficient provided that a single circle is given. The highlight of the book is a detailed presentation of Gauss'spurely algebraic proof that a regular heptadecagon (a regular polygon with seventeen sides) can be constructed with straightedge and compass.Although the mathematics used in the book is elementary (Euclidean and analytic geometry, algebra, trigonometry), students in secondary schools and colleges, teachers, and other interested readers will relish the opportunity to confront the challenge of understanding these surprising theorems.
Supplementary material to the book can be found at https://github.com/motib/suprises.Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
Table of contents (16 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Mordechai (Moti) Ben-Ari is professor emeritus at the Department of Science Teaching of the Weizmann Institute of Science. He has written numerous textbooks including Mathematical Logic for Computer Science and Elements of Robotics (with Francesco Mondada), both published by Springer. He has received the ACM SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education and the ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Mathematical Surprises
Authors: Mordechai Ben-Ari
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13566-8
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2022
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-13565-1Published: 08 September 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-13566-8Published: 07 September 2022
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 226
Number of Illustrations: 147 b/w illustrations, 23 illustrations in colour