Have you thought about why we have seven days in a week instead of eight? Why do some tunes become “classics” while the others don’t? How do we know when we meet our favourable lifelong partner? This book raises a lot of questions related to things we automatically take for granted, allowing as well as encouraging readers to keep on questioning—an essential process in order to search for the answer.
I particularly enjoyed the process of “thinking through a question”. There are small boxes where slightly more complicated problems are displayed. When I nibbled the words and tried to solve the question, different possibilities bloomed in my head. It is interesting when I started to “think out of the box” and considered results that are more “unexpected”. Not only “logic” is required, but “creativity” as well. This is the reason for the repetitive routine of “reading, scribbling, calculating, then taking a sneak peek at the answer” constantly lights up my enthusiasm to continue the quest for the final answer.
To me mathematics is an art that dominates our lives. Despite the fact most of us do not appreciate it or even notice it, it is actually a part of our lives – from leaving the house waiting for a lift, to turning on your ipod and clicking onto your favourite song… all of these are actually mathematics! Amazing, isn’t it? After reading this book, I discovered that if we pay more attention to things around us, most of the things seem to have a sequence or a pattern, and this is exactly the idea of mathematics: grouping similar aeries and try to make out their relations.
I especially like the parts related to probability, such as “Who will be the winner” and “Which horse will win the race”. Unlike fortune-telling, the results are backened with proofs and analysis yet it is all and all astonishing to me. Allow me to call it magical. The fact is that by substituting simple equations, we can get the results without even trying, hence shows the different possibilities and combinations. I think it is definitely important to have knowledge on it when making decisions, in order to ensure it is the right one, especially in competitions. In a competition, the ones who possess more mathematics skills is more likely to be the winner; in life, those who know how to adjust and calculate have a less possibility to be cheated. Along the path of striving to win, “mathematics” is an important tool.
I used to play the role of the gardener who fails to see the mathematical beauty in a garden; but after reading this book in which mathematics is illustrated perfectly to be alive, interesting and surrounding us every moment in our lives, I have actually decided that “mathematics is wonderful” is actually a fact. This book has successfully melted my fear of mathematics, thus inspired me. Therefore, I highly recommend this book to you all.
