Slicing pizzas, racing turtles, and further adventures in applied mathematics / Robert B. Banks.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-284) and index.

Have you ever daydreamed about digging a hole to the other side of the world? Robert Banks not only entertains such ideas but, better yet, he supplies the mathematical know-how to turn fantasies into problem-solving adventures. In this sequel to the popular Towing Icebergs, Falling Dominoes (Princeton, 1998), Banks presents another collection of puzzles for readers interested in sharpening their thinking and mathematical skills. The problems range from the wondrous to the eminently practical. In one chapter, the author helps us determine the total number of people who have lived on e.

Ch. 1. Broad stripes and bright stars -- ch. 2. More stars, honeycombs, and snowflakes -- ch. 3. Slicing things like pizzas and watermelons -- ch. 4. Raindrops keep falling on my head and other goodies -- ch. 5. Raindrops and other goodies revisited -- ch. 6. Which major rivers flow uphill -- ch. 7. A brief look at [pi], e, and some other famous numbers -- ch. 8. Another look at some famous numbers -- ch. 9. Great number sequences : prime, fibonacci, and hailstone -- ch. 10. A fast way to escape -- ch. 11. How to get anywhere in about forty-two minutes -- ch. 12. How fast should you run in the rain -- ch. 13. Great turtle races : pursuit curves -- ch. 14. More great turtle races : logarithmic spirals -- ch. 15. How many people have ever lived -- ch. 16. The great explosion of 2023 -- ch. 17. How to make fairly nice valentines -- ch. 18. Somewhere over the rainbow -- ch. 19. Making mathematical mountains -- ch. 20. How to make mountains out of molehills -- ch. 21. Moving continents from here to there -- ch. 22. Cartography : how to flatten spheres -- ch. 23. Growth and spreading and mathematical analogies -- ch. 24. How long is the seam on a baseball -- ch. 25. Baseball seams, pipe connections, and world travels -- ch. 26. Lengths, areas, and volumes of all kinds of shapes.

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