| Document Type
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BL
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| Record Number
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632378
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| Doc. No
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dltt
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| Main Entry
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Havil, Julian,1952-
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| Title & Author
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Impossible? : : surprising solutions to counterintuitive conundrums /\ Julian Havil
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| Publication Statement
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Princeton, N.J. :: Princeton University Press,, c2008
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| Page. NO
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xii, 235 p. :: ill. ;; 24 cm
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| ISBN
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9780691131313 (alk. paper)
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: 0691131317 (alk. paper)
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| Bibliographies/Indexes
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Includes bibliographical references and index
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| Contents
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It's common knowledge -- Simpson's paradox -- The impossible problem -- Braess' paradox -- The power of complex numbers -- Bucking the odds -- Cantor's paradise -- Gamow-Stern elevators -- The toss of a coin -- Wild-card poker -- Two series -- Two card tricks -- The spin of a needle -- The best choice -- The power of powers -- Benford's law -- Goodstein sequences -- The Banach-Tarski paradox
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| Abstract
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Whenever Forty-second Street in New York is temporarily closed, traffic doesn't gridlock but flows more smoothly - why is that? Or consider that cities that build new roads can experience dramatic increases in traffic congestion - how is this possible? What does the game show Let's Make A Deal reveal about the unexpected hazards of decision-making? What can the game of cricket teach us about the surprising behavior of the law of averages? These are some of the counterintuitive mathematical occurrences that readers encounter in Impossible? Havil ventures further than ever into territory where intuition can lead one astray. He gathers entertaining problems from probability and statistics along with an eclectic variety of conundrums and puzzlers from other areas of mathematics, including classics of abstract math like the Banach-Tarski paradox. These problems range in difficulty from easy to highly challenging, yet they can be tackled by anyone with a background in calculus. And the fascinating history and personalities associated with many of the problems are included with their mathematical proofs. Impossible? will delight anyone who wants to have their reason thoroughly confounded in the most astonishing and unpredictable ways
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| Subject
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Mathematics, Miscellanea
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| Subject
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Paradox-- Mathematics
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| Subject
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Problem solving-- Miscellanea
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| LC Classification
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QA99.H379 2008
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