Name: Asimov on Numbers
ISBN: 9780671442460

Asimov on Numbers

In his clear, informal, engaging style, Isaac Asimov explains historic brainteasers and numerical oddities in the fascinating universe of numbers. From man's first act of counting to higher mathematics, from the smallest living creature to the dazzling reaches of outer space, Asimov is a master at "explaining complex material better than any other living person." (The New York Times) You'll learn: HOW to make a trillion seem small; WHY imaginary numbers are real; THE real size of the universe - in photons; WHY the zero isn't "good for nothing;" AND many other marvelous discoveries, in ASIMOV ON NUMBERS Essays: Nothing Counts One, Ten, Buckle My Shoe Exclamation Point! T-formation Varieties of the Infinite A Piece of Pi Tools of the Trade The Imaginary That Isn't Forget It! Pre-fixing It Up The Days of Our Years Begin at the Beginning That's about the Size of It The Proton Reckoner Water, Water, Everywhere Up and down the Earth The Isles of Earth

What Hacker News says

kwanbixMay 2021

One thing that I hardly see implemented is grouping of numbers and strings in 4s or 3s. Like the credit card companies do on their credit cards.

For example, if you need to show me on a website my CBU, international account number which is 24 numbers long, please, don't show them like this:

345234234665232423247322

Show it instead like this:

3452 3423 4665 2324 2324 7322

It is much much easier to read.

90~95% of the time were numbers (or even characters!) are listed, nobody splits them.

This I learned in Isaac Asimov's book "Asimov on Numbers" IIRC. Great book by the way.

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meeritaJan 2014

In no particular order:

What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness

1984

Farenheit 541

Foundation (all saga)

The Hobbit

The Lord of the Rings (all saga)

The Prince

De Bello Gallico and Other Commentaries

The Design of Everyday Things

The Riverworld (an entire saga of 5 books)

On the Good Life

Treatises on Friendship and Old Age

Asimov On Numbers

Asimov on Chemistry

The Roman Republic

And hundreds more I cannot list.

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mojoeDec 2018

Thanks! I haven't yet read "Asimov on Numbers", but I just bought a used copy, I appreciate the recommendation. And I don't have an email list yet specifically for this project, but if I get this book off the ground I'll definitely be sending an email to the list that you can join on the bottom of this page: http://compellingsciencefiction.com/. In any case, I'll post again on HN if anything comes of this.

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dalkeFeb 2015

An ngrams analysis doesn't show a significant increase in the use of "observable universe" after 1990. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=observable+uni... .

While it does increase, it seems to continue the trend which started in the 1940s.

Here's an example of Asimov using "Observable Universe" in "Asimov on Numbers" (1977): https://books.google.com/books?id=el0PAQAAMAAJ&q=observable+... .

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meeritaMar 2013

I remember to read the answer of this in an Isaac Asimov's book: Asimov On Numbers.

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