Crimes and Mathdemeanors PDF
Preview Crimes and Mathdemeanors
Crimes and Mathdemeanors Crimes and Mathdemeanors Leith Hathout Illustrated by Karl H. Hofmann A K Peters, Ltd. Wellesley, Massachusetts Editorial, Sales, and Customer Service Offi ce A K Peters, Ltd. 888 Worcester Street, Suite 230 Wellesley, MA 02482 www.akpeters.com Copyright © 2007 by A K Peters, Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechani- cal, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hathout, Leith, 1991– Crimes and mathdemeanors / Leith Hathout ; illustrated by Karl H. Hofmann. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-1-56881-260-1 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-56881-260-4 (alk. paper) 1. Mathematical recreations. 2. Detective and mystery stories. I. Hofmann, Karl Heinrich, ill. II. Title. QA95.H356 2007 793.74--dc22 2006102291 Cover illustration by Karl H. Hofmann. Printed in the United States of America 11 10 09 08 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Table of Contents Preface vii Acknowledgments xi A Mystery on Sycamore Lane 1 The Watermelon Swindle 21 An Adventure at the Grand Canyon 27 Basketball Intrigue 39 The Moon Rock 55 A Theft at Dubov Industries 73 Murder at The Gambit 83 A Day at the Racetrack 95 Bowling Average 109 Caught on Film 119 A Mishap at Shankar Chemicals 133 Almost Expelled 147 The Urban Jungle 161 A Snowy Morning on Oak Street 181 Conclusion 191 About the Problems 193 Preface The great book of nature lies ever open before our eyes and the true philosophy is written in it … But we can- not read it unless we have fi rst learned the language and the characters in which it is written … It is writ- ten in mathematical language…. —Galileo Galilei Quotes like the one above convey the immense value of mathematics as an indispensable tool in understanding the laws that govern our physical world. However, they also make math sound serious and daunting and intimidating. I like math not because it is valuable, but because it is fun and because it is beautiful. I love the “Aha” feeling as a fl ash of insight suddenly illuminates the solution to some problems. I also love the sense of exhausted victory as a relentless mental effort provides the solution to others. Mostly, though, I love how math is constantly full of surprise, sometimes completely defying my intuition and overturning my common sense. When I was in grade school, my favorite books to read were the Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald J. Sobol. I was amazed at how Encyclopedia Brown, using a mixture of knowledge and logic, was able to solve mysteries that viii Crimes and Mathdemeanors vexed others. As I got older, and became involved in mathe- matics, I began to envision a kid detective like Encylopedia who would solve mysteries based not just on logic, but also on serious mathematics. I started playing with a few story ideas to see if such a concept would actually work. The book that you have before you is my attempt to render such a character and to convey the sense of mystery and joy that I fi nd in mathematics. Interestingly, during the process of writing, a popular television series, Numb3rs, debuted, giv- ing me hope that the idea of a mathematical detective may indeed be appealing to a broad audience. My intended audience is my friends and others like them—young people who like math, but probably not enough to just sit and read mathematics texts or work through problem books. Yet, they may be amenable to think- ing mathematically if it is within the context of solving a mystery or a puzzle—if a challenge is laid before them to match wits with the protagonist of the stories, Ravi. There- fore, the mathematics used in this book is mostly of the high-school level, with the hope that no reader will feel that the mathematics is beyond his or her understanding. My use of the name “Ravi” for the young mathemati- cal detective who solves these mysteries probably also deserves some comment. He is named after Ravi Vakil, a faculty member of the mathematics department at Stan- ford University. As I got more “serious” about math, one of my favorite books was Dr. Vakil’s A Mathematical Mosaic: Patterns & Problem Solving (Brendan Kelly Publishing, Burlington, Ontario, 1997). It has just the right fl avor of fun and rigor and has very interesting profi les of young mathematicians that Ravi Vakil had come to know. Thus, I decided to name my hero after Dr. Vakil. I must clarify that Preface ix Dr. Vakil does not know me, and I never consulted with him before naming my detective. I sincerely hope that he does not mind my choice. The problems around which the detective stories in this book are built come from many sources, which I have tried to reference in a separate index. I highly recommend all of these books to anyone with some interest in mathemat- ics. Unfortunately, over a few years of reading about math- ematics and solving math problems, I sometimes could remember a problem but not where I had seen it. Whenever I could fi nd the source of the problem at the heart of a story, I have cited it. Where I could not, I ask the forgiveness of those authors whom I did not credit. Another complicating factor is that problems are often found in many books, espe- cially when they have become popular and part of the “lore” of mathematics. This makes it diffi cult to assign original credit to any one person for a problem. In any case, I make no pretense of developing most of these problems myself— only a few are my own. I have, however, adapted them as needed and placed them within the context of interesting and novel stories. Also, I have tried to present the solu- tions in an original fashion and one suited to my intended audience. I hope you, the reader, fi nd in this book some of the pleasure that I had in writing it. If it does for some what A Mathematical Mosaic did for me—igniting a spark of enthusiasm about mathematics—I will be both humbled and proud. Acknowledgments I realize that it is unusual for someone my age to write a book, let alone a mathematics book. It would not have been possible without the encouragement of my parents, as well as the tremendous support of my wonderful pub- lisher, Klaus Peters. I am very grateful to Dr. Katherine Socha for reviewing the entire manuscript in detail and presenting many helpful suggestions as well as pointing out and correcting errors as they occurred. Also, I sincerely thank Dr. Karl Hofmann for also reviewing the stories and providing many helpful comments, and most especially for his wonderful and vibrant illustrations that truly brought the stories to life. To Ms. Charlotte Henderson, I owe an inestimable debt of gratitude. She shepherded the manu- script to production, with meticulous attention to detail. She reviewed, edited, and clarifi ed where needed, and she also redrew all of the fi gures. The book is prettier, sharper, crisper, and better because of her extensive efforts. Finally, I would like to especially thank my father. When he read my fi rst stories, he was the one who suggested that the idea of a mathematical Encyclopedia Brown-like detec- tive had the makings of a book. He is a physician who, at the time, was engrossed in writing a medical textbook. He encouraged me to pursue the idea of a book, promising that we would fi nd the discipline to work together, I on my book and he on his. He kept his promise.
The list of books you might like
