When Least Is Best How Mathematicians Discovered Many Clever Ways to Make Things As Small (or As Large) As Possible

Name: When Least Is Best How Mathematicians Discovered Many Clever Ways to Make Things As Small (or As Large) As Possible
Price: 5.6 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780691130521

ISBN-10: 0691130523

ISBN-13: 9780691130521

Edition: 2003 (Revised)

Authors: Paul Nahin

List price: $27.95

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Description:

By combining the mathematical history of extrema with contemporary examples, Paul J. Nahin answers some intriguing questions such as: what is the best way to photograph a speeding bullet?; And why does light move through glass in the least possible amount of time?

Book details

List price: $27.95
Copyright year: 2003
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 7/22/2007
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 392
Size: 6.06" wide x 9.13" long x 1.06" tall
Weight: 1.232
Language: English

Paul J. Nahin is the author of many best-selling popular math books, including "Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt", "Digital Dice", "Chases and Escapes", "Dr. Euler's Fabulous Formula", "When Least Is Best", and "An Imaginary Tale" (all Princeton). He is professor emeritus of electrical engineering at the University of New Hampshire.



Preface



Minimums, Maximums, Derivatives, and Computers



Introduction



When Derivatives Don't Work



Using Algebra to Find Minimums



A Civil Engineering Problem



The AM-GM Inequality



Derivatives from Physics



Minimizing with a Computer



The First Extremal Problems



The Ancient Confusion of Length and Area



Dido' Problem and the Isoperimetric Quotient



Steiner '""Solution"" to Dido' Problem



How Steiner Stumbled



A ""Hard ""Problem wi