Tuesday, May 27, 2008

How to cut a Cake

"How to cut a cake and other mathematical Conundrums" is a book by Ian Stewart, author of "Math Hysteria". He discusses in a non-technical manner a number of interesting mathematical puzzles and brings out the beauty and mystery of Mathematics. Mathematicians can wonder about amazing situations, and bring out mathematics out of daily life situations. E.g. he puts the question as to from the number of different ways to tie a shoelace, which one uses the smallest length of shoe. Or, given that probability of a coin giving a head is half, and first four tosses turned out to be tail, will the coin catch up with the number of heads in remaining tosses. If yes, how long should one wait.
The title is based on the problem that given a cake, how would you cut and allow people to take the cuts, so that each one feels they have got their adequate share?
A very refreshing read for anyone who is curious about Mathematics, and if you are afraid of maths, this book will show you simple examples of problems and their solutions.

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