When Least Is Best

December 1, 2003
How can a factory manager minimize breakdowns? How can a disoriented hiker reach her car in the least possible time? In answering questions such as these, engineer Nahin delivers maximal mathematical enjoyment with minimal perplexity and boredom. Classical minimization problems allow Nahin to showcase the ingenuity of ancient mathematicians--and to let general readers in on the thrill of riding high-school geometry and algebra to breakthrough insights. Knowledgeable readers will probably anticipate the eventual transition from subtle geometry to complex calculus. But even specialists may learn from Nahin's chronicle of how the often-forgotten tangents of Pierre de Fermat paved the way to the calculus of Newton and Leibniz. In addition, Nahin deftly interweaves episodes from the lives of its discoverers: a rash Belgian theorist loses his sight staring at the sun; a jealous Swiss mathematician denies his own son credit for groundbreaking work. A refreshingly lucid and humanizing approach to mathematics.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)