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ladymercury_10The authors of my number theory textbook apparently like to make up ridiculous stories about mathematicians to illustrate various principles. Right now I am reading about how Gauss was abducted by aliens from Venus, allegedly to help me learn about modular arithmetic. I kid you not, this sentence comes directly from the book: "Gauss was surprised to find that life on Venus was similar to life in Germany--the locals worked hard at high-paying technical jobs, the beer was good, and all of the hovercraft ran on schedule."
Alternate history: check
Jokes about national stereotypes: check
Puns: check
Intermediate-level college math: also check
Other things I've "learned" from this book:
Emmy Noether worked night shifts as a university security guard and employed the principle of induction to check IDs before a showing of "Raiders of the Lost Arctangent."
Euclid was a baker who thought that too much interest in pie was irrational. He invented the Euclidean Algorithm to help him bake rectangular cakes using square pans.
This has got to be the silliest and most hilarious math text I've ever seen, but my professor says the mathematics is very good. I can neither confirm nor deny this, but it is pretty clear about most things once it gets down to talking about them. The really weird part is that these object lesson joke stories actually do sort of help.
Alternate history: check
Jokes about national stereotypes: check
Puns: check
Intermediate-level college math: also check
Other things I've "learned" from this book:
Emmy Noether worked night shifts as a university security guard and employed the principle of induction to check IDs before a showing of "Raiders of the Lost Arctangent."
Euclid was a baker who thought that too much interest in pie was irrational. He invented the Euclidean Algorithm to help him bake rectangular cakes using square pans.
This has got to be the silliest and most hilarious math text I've ever seen, but my professor says the mathematics is very good. I can neither confirm nor deny this, but it is pretty clear about most things once it gets down to talking about them. The really weird part is that these object lesson joke stories actually do sort of help.
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Date: 2011-10-10 10:53 pm (UTC)Why can't they write EVERY text book like that? Particularly mathematics ones?? Wow, I hope that author is sitting on a bucket load for having a sense of humor with number theory.
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Date: 2011-10-10 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-10 11:24 pm (UTC)The only thing I've got that remotely approaches that is that one of my high school math texts had reasonably amusing word problems on occasion. The one I particularly remember involved a space ship hurtling towards Mars at a high velocity and then, at a certain distance away, firing its rockets in reverse. You had to work out how far away they were when they finally changed direction. Turns out they crashed into the surface : P
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Date: 2011-10-10 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-11 12:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-11 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-12 04:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-11 06:45 am (UTC)Actually...all of that is pretty damned awesome!
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Date: 2011-10-11 02:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-11 12:31 pm (UTC)I LOVE YOUR TEXTBOOK
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Date: 2011-10-11 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-11 03:37 pm (UTC)I had a mechanics text that featured limericks about quantum theory at some point, but I think that's about it for sheer awesomeness. I think the name of the book was, fittingly, "There Once Was a Classical Theory".
no subject
Date: 2011-10-11 07:59 pm (UTC)Haha, that sounds like a fun textbook. Were there limericks about Schrodinger's cat? :P