The answer to a variety of mathematical puzzles will be on offer when the Lichfield Literature Festival kicks off.
So if you’ve ever wondered ‘What is the ham sandwich theorem or the buttered cat paradox? How can you find the area of an ostrich egg? Who invented the equals sign?’ then Professor Ian Stewart’s talk on October 8 is perfect for you.
Professor Ian Stewart’s Hoard of Mathematical Treasures is the sequel to Professor Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities, which began as a notebook of fun and interesting facts, and went on to sell more than 45,000 copies in the UK alone.
The Hoard’s wacky and wonderful brainteasers are closer to QI than to the dreaded school maths lesson, taking in games, puzzles, paradoxes and hilarious mathematical jokes.
Stewart, who is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick, is one of our best-loved writers on the subject, with 80 TV and 310 radio appearances to his name. He was recently awarded the new Zeeman prize for the public understanding of mathematics, and is also a successful science fiction author.
Of his book he writes:
“When rummaging through my drawers, choosing new items for my Hoard, I privately classified its contents into categories – puzzle, game, buzzword, squib, FAQ, anecdote, infodump, joke, gosh-wow, factoid, curio, paradox, folklore, arcana, and so on.”
So whether you want a bluffer’s guide to symmetry, or to hear what happens when an engineer, a physicist and a mathematician walk into a bar, Stewart will be on hand to reveal all at Lichfield Literature.
Professor Ian Stewart appears at Wade Street Church, Lichfield, on October 8 from 6pm to 7pm. Tickets cost £5 and can be booked in person at 7 The Close, Lichfield, by phone on 01543 306270, or by info@lichfieldfestival.org.
For more information go to www.lichfieldfestival.org.