The Book
Why is 11 eleven and not oneteen, and 12 twelve and not twoteen? Why of all bases, has this strange number 2.718… been chosen as the natural logarithm base called e? Why does the computer use such a strange notation as F29 to denote 3881? These are questions that may have arisen in the curious minds of young learners. Here, by answering a few of these questions, the author brings out the innately fascinating quality of mathematics and its astonishing ability to explain many mysterious phenomena of nature.
The material for Short Stories of Numbers has been collected by the author over years of adventuring in mathematics, motivated only by his love and passion for numbers and with the hope that it will serve as a friendly encouraging guiding post for other young adventurers.
The Author(s)
Rajnish Kumar is a deputy chief mechanical engineer in the Indian Railways.
Table of Contents
Evolution of the Notation of Numbers
Origin of the Mathematical Operators, Terms and Symbols
Etymology of Algebra
Why is Eleven not Oneteen and Twelve not Twoteen?
The World’s Largest Number
Sifr: The Father of Zero
Why is there no Nobel Prize in Mathematics?
Mysterious Infinity
Misunderstood Calculus
Four Fours
Happy Numbers
The Five Nines
The Good Number
Sum Equal to Product, Really
Multiplication Table
Divisibility Funda
Printer’s Errors
Digital Variants
0123456789 and More
Mystifying 1729 and Ramanujan
Lilavati
Amicable Numbers
Bicycle with Square Wheels
Perfect Numbers
Numbers in the Bible
Kaprekar Numbers
Palindromes
Weights and Lesser Weights
Best Currency System
Why the Decimal System?
Binary is Okay but Why Hexadecimal in Computers?
HCF and LCM
Power of Indices, Reaching the Moon and
The Inventor of Chess
Instant Cube Root: Mathemagic
Calculating the Size of the Earth: Trigonometrical Potentialities
Sequences and Series
Amazing Inductive Power: Mathematical Induction
Strange Geometry: Topology
Redefined Geometry in the Universe
Some Dissections
Why Worry About Population Explosion?
Nature’s Own Series: Fibonacci
Nature’s Own Number: ? (Phi)
The Story of e and p
i, Is it Really Imaginary?
The Eternal Search for Primes
Truncating Primes
Why are there 360º in a Circle?
The Platonic Solids
Magic Squares
Almost Integers
End Note: What is Mathematics?
Books to Read
Index