Brian Blank
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Abstract
We are in the midst of an onslaught of books devoted to particular numbers. In this article we will be concerned with several recent and not-so-recent books about pi, e, i, and 0; of the quantities in the famous equation e(pi)i + 1 = 0, only 1 does not yet have its book. Given the trend, we can look forward to its appearance, possibly followed by volumes on "+" and "=".
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Index Terms
- A Joint Review of "A History of Pi, by Petr Beckmann", St. Martins's Press, 1976, Barnes and Noble Books, 1989; "The Joy of Pi, by David Blatner", Walker & Co., 1997; "The Nothing That Is, by Robert Kaplan", Oxford University Press, 1999; "e: The Story of a Number, by Eli Maor", Princeton University Press, 1998; "An Imaginary Tale, by Paul Nahin", Princeton University Press, 1998; "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, by Charles Seife", Viking Press, 2000.
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