{"product_id":"alexander-soifer-the-mathematical-coloring-book-9780387746401","title":"The Mathematical Coloring Book","description":"This is a unique type of book; at least, I have never encountered a book of this kind. The best description of it I can give is that it is a mystery novel, developing on three levels, and imbued with both educational and philosophical\/moral issues. If this summary description does not help understanding the particular character and allure of the book, possibly a more detailed explanation will be found useful. One of the primary goals of the author is to interest readers¿in particular, young mathematiciansorpossiblypre-mathematicians¿inthefascinatingworldofelegant and easily understandable problems, for which no particular mathematical kno- edge is necessary, but which are very far from being easily solved. In fact, the prototype of such problems is the following: If each point of the plane is to be given a color, how many colors do we need if every two points at unit distance are to receive distinct colors? More than half a century ago it was established that the least number of colorsneeded for such a coloring is either 4, or 5, or 6 or 7. Well, which is it? Despite efforts by a legion of very bright people¿many of whom developed whole branches of mathematics and solved problems that seemed much harder¿not a single advance towards the answer has been made. This mystery, and scores of other similarly simple questions, form one level of mysteries explored. In doing this, the author presents a whole lot of attractive results in an engaging way, and with increasing level of depth.","brand":"Springer London","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53917078520150,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.momoxbooks.com\/products\/alexander-soifer-the-mathematical-coloring-book-9780387746401","provider":"momoxbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}