Paradoxes and Sophisms in Calculus


Book Description

Paradoxes and Sophisms in Calculus offers a delightful supplementary resource to enhance the study of single variable calculus. By the word paradox the [Author];s mean a surprising, unexpected, counter-intuitive statement that looks invalid, but in fact is true. The word sophism describes intentionally invalid reasoning that looks formally correct, but in fact contains a subtle mistake or flaw. In other words, a sophism is a false proof of an incorrect statement. A collection of over fifty paradoxes and sophisms showcases the subtleties of this subject and leads students to contemplate the underlying concepts. A number of the examples treat historically significant issues that arose in the development of calculus, while others more naturally challenge readers to understand common misconceptions. Sophisms and paradoxes from the areas of functions, limits, derivatives, integrals, sequences, and series are explored.







Paradoxes in Mathematics


Book Description

Compiled by a prominent educator and author, this volume presents an intriguing mix of mathematical paradoxes — phenomena with surprising outcomes that can be resolved mathematically. Students and puzzle enthusiasts will get plenty of enjoyment mixed with a bit of painless mathematical instruction from 30 conundrums, including The Birthday Paradox, Aristotle's Magic Wheel, and A Greek Tragedy.







Paradoxes of the Infinite (Routledge Revivals)


Book Description

Paradoxes of the Infinite presents one of the most insightful, yet strangely unacknowledged, mathematical treatises of the 19th century: Dr Bernard Bolzano’s Paradoxien. This volume contains an adept translation of the work itself by Donald A. Steele S.J., and in addition an historical introduction, which includes a brief biography as well as an evaluation of Bolzano the mathematician, logician and physicist.




Paradoxes


Book Description

Does .999?=1? Can you cut and reassemble a sphere into two identically sized spheres? Is the consistency of mathematical systems unprovable? Surprisingly, the answer to all of these questions is yes! And at the heart of each question, there lies paradox. For millennia, paradoxes have shaped mathematics and guided mathematical progress forwards. From the ancient paradoxes of Zeno to the modern paradoxes of Russell, paradoxes remind us of the constant need to revamp our mathematical understanding. It is for this reason that paradoxes are so important. Paradoxes: Guiding Forces in Mathematical Exploration provides a survey of mathematical paradoxes spanning a wide variety of topics. It delves into each paradox mathematically, philosophically, and historically, and attempts to provide a full picture of how paradoxes contributed to the progress of mathematics and guided it in many ways. In addition, it discusses how paradoxes can be useful as educational tools. All of that, plus the fact that it is written in a way that is accessible to anyone with a high school background in mathematics! Entertaining and educational, this book will appeal to any reader looking for a mathematical and philosophical challenge.




A Budget of Paradoxes


Book Description







Paradoxes and Inconsistent Mathematics


Book Description

Logical paradoxes – like the Liar, Russell's, and the Sorites – are notorious. But in Paradoxes and Inconsistent Mathematics, it is argued that they are only the noisiest of many. Contradictions arise in the everyday, from the smallest points to the widest boundaries. In this book, Zach Weber uses “dialetheic paraconsistency” – a formal framework where some contradictions can be true without absurdity – as the basis for developing this idea rigorously, from mathematical foundations up. In doing so, Weber directly addresses a longstanding open question: how much standard mathematics can paraconsistency capture? The guiding focus is on a more basic question, of why there are paradoxes. Details underscore a simple philosophical claim: that paradoxes are found in the ordinary, and that is what makes them so extraordinary.




Sleight of Mind


Book Description

This “fun, brain-twisting book . . . will make you think” as it explores more than 75 paradoxes in mathematics, philosophy, physics, and the social sciences (Sean Carroll, New York Times–bestselling author of Something Deeply Hidden). Paradox is a sophisticated kind of magic trick. A magician’s purpose is to create the appearance of impossibility, to pull a rabbit from an empty hat. Yet paradox doesn’t require tangibles, like rabbits or hats. Paradox works in the abstract, with words and concepts and symbols, to create the illusion of contradiction. There are no contradictions in reality, but there can appear to be. In Sleight of Mind, Matt Cook and a few collaborators dive deeply into more than 75 paradoxes in mathematics, physics, philosophy, and the social sciences. As each paradox is discussed and resolved, Cook helps readers discover the meaning of knowledge and the proper formation of concepts—and how reason can dispel the illusion of contradiction. The journey begins with “a most ingenious paradox” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance. Readers will then travel from Ancient Greece to cutting-edge laboratories, encounter infinity and its different sizes, and discover mathematical impossibilities inherent in elections. They will tackle conundrums in probability, induction, geometry, and game theory; perform “supertasks”; build apparent perpetual motion machines; meet twins living in different millennia; explore the strange quantum world—and much more.