AK Peters Ltd.

Experimental mathematics in action.

The "action" in the title was only a few decades ago unthinkable to mathematicians. Computers may be useful to accountants and gamers, so the theory went, but real mathematicians do not touch them. With the coming of a new generation of mathematicians, however, has come the ubiquitous computer and all the mathematics software attached. Focusing on experimental mathematics and its next-generation link to computing, this text gives the young (or the newly young) mathematician reasons to learn to use a keyboard. It includes a nice section on "finding things" v. "proving things," sets of algorithms on such topics as Ramanujan-type elliptic series and roots of polynomials, and challenging material on inverse scattering, "strange" functions, random vectors and factoring integers, and a selection of integrals from a popular table. This includes exercises and answers for each chapter and a set of additional exercises for readers to explore. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Numbers at work; a cultural history.

Sometimes it pays to rest one's mind with numbers and abstractions, an activity long enjoyed by guys in togas all the way to the current chino-clad crop of mathematical thinkers. Taschner (mathematics, Technical U. of Vienna) is committed to bringing the beauty of the mathematical to the public, and this shows how many concepts are sanctuaries with all those shouting realities, even on a daily basis. Taschner focuses on a set of mathematicians whose work shows up in our thinking and daily lives consistently, including Pythagorus, Bach, Hofmannsthal, Descartes, Leibnitz, Laplace, Bohr and Pascal, exploring numbers and their relationship to symbol, music, time, space, logic, politics, matter and spirit. This is, quite simply, a very good read even for those who consider themselves mathematical Neanderthals. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Reconfiguring the firewall; recruiting women to information technology across cultures and continents.

Factors that influence the decision by girls and young women to enter computer based fields are explored in 11 papers from a July-August 2005 conference sponsored by the National Science Foundation and big computer companies eager for female employees who will accept 70% of the pay their male colleagues receive. Scholars of computer science and related fields consider secondary and post-secondary school, and information technology careers. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)