Definitions

# Popular mathematics

Popular mathematics is mathematics literature aimed at a general audience. Sometimes this is in the form of books which require no mathematical background and in other cases it is in the form of expository articles written by professional mathematicians to reach out to others working in different areas.

See the main Popular science page for more elaboration of this definition.

## Books

Some of the most prolific popularizer's of mathematics include Keith Devlin, Martin Gardner and Ian Stewart. Titles by these 3 authors can be found on their respective pages.

Other Popular math titles include:

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### On zero

• Charles Seife (2000). Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea. Souvenir Press. ISBN 978-0285635944.
• Robert Kaplan (2000). The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero. Oxford. ISBN 978-0195142372.

### On infinity

• Brian Clegg (2003). Brief History of Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable. Constable and Robinson. ISBN 978-1841196503.
• Robert Kaplan & Ellen Kaplan (2004). The Art of the Infinite: Our Lost Language of Numbers. Penguin. ISBN 978-0141008868.

### On constants

• Petr Beckmann (1976). A History of Pi. Saint Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0312381851.
• Eli Maor (1998). "e", The Story of a Number. Princeton. ISBN 978-0691058542.
• Mario Livio (2003). The Golden Ratio. Headline Review. ISBN 978-0747249887.
• Julian Havil (2003). Gamma. Princeton. ISBN 978-0691099835.

### On complex numbers

• {{cite book | author=Paul J. Nahin | title=An Imaginary Tale: The Story of $sqrt\left\{-1\right\}$ | publisher=Princeton | year=1998 | id=ISBN 978-0691027951}}
• Paul J. Nahin (2006). Dr. Euler's Fabulous Formula. Princeton. ISBN 978-0691118222.

### On the Riemann Hypothesis

• John Derbyshire (2004). Prime Obsession. Plume Books. ISBN 978-0452285255.
• Marcus Du Sautoy; The Music of the Primes: Searching to Solve the Greatest Mystery in Mathematics. ISBN 0060935588.
• Dan Rockmore (2006). Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis: The Quest to Find the Hidden Law of Prime Numbers. Vintage. ISBN 0-37572-772-8.
• Karl Sabbagh (2002). Dr Riemann's Zeros. Atlantic Books. ISBN 1-84354-100-9.

### On Recently Solved Problems

• Robin J. Wilson (2003). Four Colours Suffice. Penguin. ISBN 978-0141009087.
• Simon Singh (2002). Fermat's Last Theorem. Fourth Estate. ISBN 1841157910.
• Donal O'Shea (2007). The Poincaré Conjecture. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-846-14012-9.
• George G. Szpiro (2003). Kepler's Conjecture. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-08601-0.

### On Classification of Finite Simple Groups

• Mario Livio (2006). The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved. Souvenir Press. ISBN 978-0285637436.
• Mark Ronan (2006). Symmetry and the Monster. Oxford. ISBN 0-19-280722-6.

### Biographies

• Paul Hoffman (1998). The Man Who Loved Only Numbers. Fourth Estate. ISBN 1-85702-811-2.
• Bruce Schechter (2000). My Brain is Open: The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdos. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-68485-980-7.
• Robert Kanigel (1991). The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan. Washington Square Press. ISBN 0-67175-061-5.
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## Magazines and Journals

The journals listed below can usually be found at your local university library.

• American Mathematical Monthly is designed to be accessible to a wide audience.
• The Mathematical Gazette contains letters, book reviews and expositions of attractive areas of mathematics.
• Mathematics Magazine offers lively, readable, and appealing exposition on a wide range of mathematical topics.
• The Mathematical Intelligencer is a mathematical journal that aims at a conversational and scholarly tone.
• Notices of the AMS - Each issue contains one or two expository articles that describe current developments in mathematical research, written by professional mathematicians. The Notices also carries articles on the history of mathematics, mathematics education, and professional issues facing mathematicians, as well as reviews of books, plays, movies, and other artistic and cultural works involving mathematics.

## Audio & Video

• Simon Singh's Fermat's Last Theorem is available in audio and there is also a Horizon television program.

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