Number Freak

September 1, 2009
What looks like a dull sequence of markers for counting transforms under Niedermans illuminating scrutiny into a fascinating parade of diverse numerical characters.The seemingly mundane number 29, for instance, claims membership in a numerical population (twin primes) that has defied mathematicians best efforts to classify it as finite or infinite. But the same benign number also emerges as part of a major calendar reform enacted in 45 BCE by Julius Caesar. The other 199 numbers surveyed all likewise yield unexpected secrets. Predictably, much of the numerical loresuch as the link between 53 and Fermats last theoremwill matter most to the mathematically minded. And it will be the arithmetically curious who take greatest delight in the number puzzles sprinkled throughout the text. But even readers generally averse to math will relish a cornucopia of numerical trivia revealing how FDR avoided meetings with 13 participants and why the Star Trek character Data remains unconscious for precisely 47 seconds in a much-celebrated episode. An entertaining mix of numerical fun and theory.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)