Think of a Number product reviews

I have always loved numbers. They speak the basic language of the universe, simple in nature, yet so beautifully complex in function, they can describe both the biggest, and smallest aspects of the world we live in, yet forever leave us stunned by how much deeper they can still go. This is a brilliant starting guide to the hidden wonders of numbers. Kids of any age, adults, seniors, we can all read this book and discover something new, be it the nature of Prime Numbers, the spiralling patterns of the Fibonacci Sequence that lie all around us in every flower, pinecone or member of the Brassica family of vegetables, or the amazing sequence that is Pascal's Triangle. Ever wondered how our modern numerals evolved? How about how the world first came to discover the Zero? The benefits of Mayan numerals over Roman Numerals? It's all in here, albeit summarised somewhat.

There are a huge number of puzzles, brainteasers and quizzes scattered throughout each section, with all the answers in the back of the book. These help you grasp the concepts behind the information, and give you that little buzz of pleasure when you get them right. Some of them are not at all easy.

Overall, this is a brilliant reference volume for anyone studying, well, basically anything that has a component of maths. I have found applications for some of the information I discovered in this book that I never would have considered before, such as new methods of trend analysis, data encryption and compression, and even network workload-balancing routines... it's all about how the numbers flow, and probability assessment. An excellent book, which should be considered for any child's developing library. If they can get into this at an early age, it will prove very beneficial to them as the years roll on.