Alex's Adventures In Numberland
by Alex Bellos · first published 2010
8mentions
2recommended by
6HN commenters
2011–2024first – last mentioned
33% recommend67% neutral
A hugely enjoyable, brilliantly researched explanation of the basic principles of maths.
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Try a book Adventures in Numberland. It's not a mathematics manual, but written in plain language explaining pretty much everything to simpletons, like me. I'm not saying you're one, but the author is a mathematician, so you might get more…
on “Ask HN: Tips for learning maths” ↗There are arena in the brain which encode integers up to <small number I forgot>. Alex’s Adventures In Numberland was a fascinating book.
on “Why the Human Brain Perceives Small Numbers Better” ↗The book "Here's Looking at Euclid" (entitled "Alex's adventures in Numberland" in the UK) by Alex Bellos documents a conversation with Pierre Pica, currently investigating the Pirahã in the Amazon, a tribe that apparently has no interest in counting, and appear not to be able to…
on “Evolutionary maths [2007]” ↗Definitely tangential to this discussion, but it's about language and sufficiently geeky I think the HN crowd would probably appreciate: I read a book a few years ago called Alex's Adventures in Numberland (https://www.amazon.com.au/Alexs-Adventures-Numberland-Alex-B...). In it he has a story about a group in South America who have no words in their language for a number greater than two (or maybe it was…
on “Blue–Green Distinction in Language” ↗It's a pretty common trope, especially for math-related books, e.g. Alex Bellos' "Alex's Adventures in Numberland".
on “Alice's adventures in a differentiable wonderland” ↗Not completely. Can't find it now, but there was research cited in the book Alex's Adventures in Numberland showing a real statistical deviation, example: Lawrences' studying Law school more frequently.
on “Atomic nucleus excited with laser: A breakthrough after decades” ↗…http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=870762 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=874471 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3690254 It was my present for proofing an early draft of "Here's Looking at Euclid" / "Alex's Adventures in Numberland"
on “Gödel and the limits of logic” ↗…http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=870762 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=874471 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3690254 I received a copy as a "Thank You" gift for proof reading an early draft of "Here's Looking at Euclid" / "Alex's Adventures in Numberland". Related: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3991160
on “Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth” ↗