Asok Kumar Mallik

Paperback

180 Pages

IISc Press

This book is more than a mathematics textbook. It discusses various kinds of numbers and curious interconnections between them. Without getting into hardcore and difficult T mathematical technicalities, the book lucidly introduces all kinds of numbers that mathematicians have created. Interesting anecdotes involving great mathematicians and their marvellous creations are included. The reader will get a glimpse of the thought process behind the invention of new mathematics. Starting from natural numbers, the book discusses integers, real numbers, imaginary and complex numbers and some special numbers like quaternions, dual numbers and p-adic numbers.

Real numbers include rational, irrational and transcendental numbers. Iterations on real numbers are shown to throw up some unexpected behaviour, which has given rise to the new science of "Chaos". Special numbers like e, π, Golden ratio, Euler's constant, Gauss's constant, amongst others, are discussed in great detall.

The origin of imaginary numbers and the use of complex numbers constitute the next topic. It is shown why modern mathematics cannot even be imagined without imaginary numbers. Iterations on complex numbers are shown to generate a new mathematical object called "Fractal", which is ubiquitous in nature. Finally, some very special numbers, not mentioned in the usual textbooks, and their applications, are introduced at an elementary level.

The level of mathematics discussed in this book is easily accessible to young adults interested in mathematics, high school students, and adults having some interest in basic mathematics. The book concentrates more on the story than on rigorous mathematics.

About the Author:

Asok Kumar Mallik is Honorary Dis-tinguished Professor at Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur. During 1971-2009 he was in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He was a Commonwealth Scholar at The Insti-tute of Sound and Vibration Research at Southampton, England and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at TH, Aachen and TU, Darmstadt in Germany. He has been elected a Fellow of The Indian National Academy of Engineering and all the three Science Academies of India. He has authored one book and several articles on high school mathematics.