Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt
eBook - ePub

Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt

And Other Intriguing Stories of Mathematical Physics

  1. 424 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt

And Other Intriguing Stories of Mathematical Physics

About this book

An incomparable collection of stimulating math puzzles from bestselling author Paul Nahin

What does quilting have to do with electric circuit theory? The answer is just one of the fascinating ways that best-selling popular math writer Paul Nahin illustrates the deep interplay of math and physics in the world around us in his latest book of challenging mathematical puzzles, Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt. With his trademark combination of intriguing mathematical problems and the historical anecdotes surrounding them, Nahin invites readers on an exciting and informative exploration of some of the many ways math and physics combine to create something vastly more powerful, useful, and interesting than either is by itself.

In a series of brief and largely self-contained chapters, Nahin discusses a wide range of topics in which math and physics are mutually dependent and mutually illuminating, from Newtonian gravity and Newton's laws of mechanics to ballistics, air drag, and electricity. The mathematical subjects range from algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and calculus to differential equations, Fourier series, and theoretical and Monte Carlo probability. Each chapter includes problems—some three dozen in all—that challenge readers to try their hand at applying what they have learned. Just as in his other books of mathematical puzzles, Nahin discusses the historical background of each problem, gives many examples, includes MATLAB codes, and provides complete and detailed solutions at the end.

Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt will appeal to students interested in new math and physics applications, teachers looking for unusual examples to use in class—and anyone who enjoys popular math books.

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Yes, you can access Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt by Paul Nahin,Paul J. Nahin in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Mathematics & Mathematics General. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. For the Reader
  7. Preface
  8. Chapter 1 - Three Examples of the Mutual Embrace
  9. Chapter 2 - Measuring Gravity
  10. Chapter 3 - Feynman’s Infinite Circuit
  11. Chapter 4 - Air Drag—A Mathematical View
  12. Chapter 5 - Air Drag—A Physical View
  13. Chapter 6 - Really Long Falls
  14. Chapter 7 - The Zeta Function—and Physics
  15. Chapter 8 - Ballistics — With No Air Drag (Yet)
  16. Chapter 9 - Ballistics—With Air Drag
  17. Chapter 10 - Gravity and Newton
  18. Chapter 11 - Gravity Far Above the Earth
  19. Chapter 12 - Gravity Inside the Earth
  20. Chapter 13 - Quilts & Electricity
  21. Chapter 14 - Random Walks
  22. Chapter 15 - Two More Random Walks
  23. Chapter 16 - Nearest Neighbors
  24. Chapter 17 - One Last Random Walk
  25. Chapter 18 - The Big Noise
  26. Chapter 19 - Electricity in the Fourth Dimension
  27. Acknowledgments
  28. Index
  29. Also by Paul J. Nahin