Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension: A Mathematician's Journey Through Narcissistic Numbers, Optimal Dating Algorithms, At Least Two Kinds of Infinity, and More

By Matt Parker

Mathematics made mouth-watering.
     Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension is an alternative math class. How can math help you choose a second-hand car? Why is a text message like a Sudoku? How much fun can you have with a barcode? Matt Parker explains that math is difficult because it's one of the few subjects that requires us to train our brains to think in an entirely new way, and to confront things with no direct analogy in everyday life--imaginary numbers, snowflakes that only exist in 196884 dimensions, and objects beyond infinity--and shows us why it's worth the effort.
     Starting with basic arithmetic and geometry, Things To Make and Do teaches us the math we never got to enjoy at school. Each chapter is structured around activities and thought experiments: we are invited to make a calculator out of dominoes, find out why wrapping oranges in plastic wrap is a good way to learn about higher dimensions, and discover what soap bubbles have to teach us about calculus. A series of incremental and hugely entertaining steps take us all the way from simple algebra to the most exotic and fascinating ideas in mathematics: Klein bottles, higher dimensional topology and the many different species of infinity, via unimaginably small pizza slices, Mobius strips and a thorough examination of The Sausage Conjecture.
     This lively, funny, and deeply intelligent book teaches math in a fun, interactive manner rather than by rote learning and exercises. You'll not look at the number 37 the same way again. And you just might take part in Mobius strip craftwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9780385680592

Matt Parker

Matt Parker is a stand-up comedian and mathematician. He writes about math for The Guardian, has a math column in The Telegraph, is a regular panelist on Radio 4's The Infinite Monkey Cage, has appeared in and worked on Five Greatest on the Discovery Channel, and has performed his math stand-up routines in front of audiences of thousands.

Reviews for Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension

[oscarwilde87_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Being good at math often goes along with being regarded in that certain way by others. Sometimes it might be admiration, more likely people wonder how anyone can be good at math and why anyone would even like it. As a high school math teacher I face this problem on a daily basis, namely when students refuse to do math because 'they will not understand it anyway' and 'will not need it in their lives'. While I can usually encourage my students to do math and solve problems, I am certainly glad that Matt Parker wrote Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension as he is able to paint a very realistic picture of where we use math in our daily lives, where we do not need it and why we (or at least some people) do it just for fun.The topics touched in the book range from numbers and their make-up, to different systems of counting, to data analysis, to properties of geometrical shapes in several dimensions. Admittedly, thinking about more dimensions than the three we move around in does seem somewhat weird and futile. Yet, it can provide scientific revelations that would otherwise not be possible. What I liked a lot about Matt Parker's book is that you basically do not need any prior understanding of mathematics (although it certainly helps at some points) and that he manages to explain everything in a very understandable way, illustrating everything with examples and making little jokes every once in a while. As a reader you are often asked to try certain things, like cutting out shapes, arranging numbers in a certain order and more of the like. This hands-on approach to math certainly facilitates the understanding of complex problems and makes you see that mathematics can even be fun.I can recommend this book to anyone (even people with an aversion to math), but if you are interested in mathematics and what you can do with it, this book will be a perfect fit for you. 5 stars.

[skybalon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting read and well written with plenty of humor. I'm not completely sure it accomplishes all of it's goals--in that I'm not completely convinced that someone that doesn't like math or had terrible math memories would change their mind. But worth the read if one is willing to give math a second chance.