Julian Havil

An entertaining and enlightening history of irrational numbers, from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century

Ten amazing curves personally selected by one of today's most important math writers

Among the many constants that appear in mathematics, π, e, and i are the most familiar. Following closely behind is y, or gamma, a constant that arises in many mathematical areas yet maintains a profound sense of mystery.

The most comprehensive account of the mathematician's life and work

The first popular history of irrational numbers and their discoverers, from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century

In Nonplussed!, popular-math writer Julian Havil delighted readers with a mind-boggling array of implausible yet true mathematical paradoxes. Now Havil is back with Impossible?, another marvelous medley of the utterly confusing...

Math—the application of reasonable logic to reasonable assumptions—usually produces reasonable results. But sometimes math generates astonishing paradoxes—conclusions that seem completely unreasonable or just plain impossible but...