About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherMIT Press

ISBN-100262043467

ISBN-139780262043465

eBay Product ID (ePID)6038273436

Product Key Features

Number of Pages368 Pages

Publication NameSleight of Mind : 75 Ingenious Paradoxes in Mathematics, Physics, and Philosophy

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2020

SubjectHistory & Philosophy, General, Logic, Physics / Mathematical & Computational

TypeTextbook

AuthorMatt Cook

Subject AreaMathematics, Philosophy, Science

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight24.1 Oz

Item Length9.3 in

Item Width6.4 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2019-013954

Dewey Edition23

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal165

SynopsisThis "fun, brain-twisting book . . . will make you think" as it explores more than 75 paradoxes in mathematics, philosophy, physics, and the social sciences (Sean Carroll, New York Times -bestselling author of Something Deeply Hidden ) Paradox is a sophisticated kind of magic trick. A magician's purpose is to create the appearance of impossibility, to pull a rabbit from an empty hat. Yet paradox doesn't require tangibles, like rabbits or hats. Paradox works in the abstract, with words and concepts and symbols, to create the illusion of contradiction. There are no contradictions in reality, but there can appear to be. In Sleight of Mind , Matt Cook and a few collaborators dive deeply into more than 75 paradoxes in mathematics, physics, philosophy, and the social sciences. As each paradox is discussed and resolved, Cook helps readers discover the meaning of knowledge and the proper formation of concepts--and how reason can dispel the illusion of contradiction. The journey begins with "a most ingenious paradox" from Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance . Readers will then travel from Ancient Greece to cutting-edge laboratories, encounter infinity and its different sizes, and discover mathematical impossibilities inherent in elections. They will tackle conundrums in probability, induction, geometry, and game theory; perform "supertasks"; build apparent perpetual motion machines; meet twins living in different millennia; explore the strange quantum world--and much more., Exploring more than seventy-five well-known paradoxes in mathematics, philosophy, physics, and the social sciences showing how reason and logic can dispel the illusion of contradiction. Paradox is a sophisticated kind of magic trick. A magician's purpose is to create the appearance of impossibility, to pull a rabbit from an empty hat. Yet paradox doesn't require tangibles, like rabbits or hats. Paradox works in the abstract, with words and concepts and symbols, to create the illusion of contradiction. There are no contradictions in reality, but there can appear to be. In Sleight of Mind, Matt Cook and a few collaborators dive deeply into more than 75 paradoxes in mathematics, physics, philosophy, and the social sciences. As each paradox is discussed and resolved, Cook helps readers discover the meaning of knowledge and the proper formation of concepts--and how reason can dispel the illusion of contradiction. The journey begins with "a most ingenious paradox" from Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance. Readers will then travel from Ancient Greece to cutting-edge laboratories, encounter infinity and its different sizes, and discover mathematical impossibilities inherent in elections. They will tackle conundrums in probability, induction, geometry, and game theory; perform "supertasks"; build apparent perpetual motion machines; meet twins living in different millennia; explore the strange quantum world--and much more.

LC Classification NumberBC199.P2C625 2019