Sum Stories

Robin Wilson is Emeritus Professor of Pure Mathematics at the Open University, Emeritus Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, and a former Fellow of Keble College, Oxford University. A former President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, he has written and edited over 50 books on the history of mathematics (including Lewis Carroll in Numberland, 2009) and on graph theory and combinatorics (including Combinatorics: A Very Short Introduction, OUP 2016, and Four Colours Suffice, 2003). Involved with the popularization and communication of mathematics and its history, he has been awarded the Mathematical Association of America's Lester Ford Award and Pólya Prize for his 'outstanding expository writing'.

This book can be recommended for any (current or prospective) mathematics major, or for a faculty member interested in punching up a lecture or looking for a topic for a math talk. Indeed, the prospective audienceof this book extends beyond academia: anyone with an interest in mathematics might find it enjoyable reading.

• Preface 1: 1 + 1 = 2 2: α + β + γ = 180° 3: a² + b² = c² 4: C = 2πr and A = πr² 5: ax² + bx + c = 0 6: φ² = φ + 1 7: x² = x 8: Mₙ = 2ⁿ − 1 and Fₙ = 2²ˆⁿ + 1 9: C(n, r) = C(n − 1, r) + C(n − 1, r − 1) 10: V − E + F = 2 11: y = mx + c 12: ∫ f′(x) dx = f (x) 13: log (a × b) = log a + log b 14: i² = −1 15: eⁱˣ = cos x + i sin x 16: 1 + 1/4 + 1/9 + 1/16 + 1/25 + . . . = π²/6 17: zₙ₊₁ = zₙ² + c 18: ℵ₀ + ℵ₀ = ℵ₀