In Code: A Mathematical Journey by Sarah Flannery; David Flannery
	List Price:   $13.95 Unit Price:   $11.16 You Save:   $2.79 (20%) ISBN-10:   1565123778 ISBN-13:   9781565123779 Publisher:   Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill Edition:   Reprint, illustrated Category:   Math Books, Young Adults Pub. Date:   December 2002 Pages:   352 Format:   Trade Paper 2
Description/Notes
In January 1999, Sarah Flannery, a sports-loving teenager from Blarney in County Cork, Ireland, was awarded Ireland's Young Scientist of the Year for her extraordinary research and discoveries in Internet cryptography. The following day, her story began appearing in Irish papers and soon after was splashed across the front page of the London Times, complete with a photo of Sarah and a caption calling her 'brilliant.' Just sixteen, she was a mathematician with an international reputation. IN CODE is a heartwarming story that will have readers cheering Sarah on. Originally published in England and cowritten with her mathematician father, David Flannery, IN CODE is 'a wonderfully moving story about the thrill of the mathematical chase' (Nature) and 'a paean to intellectual adventure' (Times Educational Supplement). A memoir in mathematics, it is all about how a girl next door, nurtured by her family, moved from the simple math puzzles that were the staple of dinnertime conversation to prime numbers, the Sieve of Eratosthenes, Fermat's Little Theorem, googols-and finally into her breathtaking algorithm. Parallel with each step is a modest girl's own self-discovery-her values, her burning curiosity, the joy of persistence, and, above all, her love for her family. 4 Dad's Evening Class God made the natural numbers, all the rest is the work of Man. -leopold kronecker These were the first words that my father wrote on the board-a bit alarmingly, in German-on the evening of my first class at the Cork Institute of Technology, where he lectures in mathematics. He explained that Kronecker was a German mathematician who lived in the nineteenth century. Little did I know the role that the natural numbers (1, 2, 3, and so on . . .) would play in my life over the next two years. Although, as I have already said, my father had often taught or helped with my school mathematics at home, this was the first time I had ever attended a formal lecture of his and seen him present work in an organized way to a group of people. This unusual evening class had come about as a result of a conversation he and I had the previous summer, which started something like, 'Now that you have decided to do transition year, I must do some math with you.' He continued, 'I'd like to show you how some beautiful but reasonably elementary mathematics is applied, stuff that you wouldn't ordinarily come across in school.' Not knowing exactly what he had in mind, but not wishing to be collared and dragged to the kitchen blackboard at random times, I replied, 'Dad, whatever you do, do something structured!' He promised to think carefully about the most effective but gentle way to give me a realistic glimpse into the mathematical world. Conscious of how much he would have appreciated it had someone done this for him thirty years ago, he felt obliged now to offer me the benefit of his mathematical knowledge. 'Of course, only if you are genuinely interested-I wouldn't force it on you.' Of course he wouldn't! But I was interested. So this is how the evening class was conceived, and this is how I was to be introduced to many wonderful mathematical ideas-accessible ideas I might never otherwise have encountered unless I chose to pursue mathematics as a career. The title for the intended series of lectures, 'Mathematical Excursions,' was suggested by one of Dad's favorite books, Excursions in Calculus by Robert M. Young. Dad wanted not to present mathematics in a very rigorous fashion, but rather to explore 'elementary' aspects of 'higher' mathematics, and learn how these ideas find applications in different fields of study outside mathematics. The only prerequisite for these excursions-besides a thorough grounding in ordinary arithmetic and basic algebra-was interest. The primary aim of the course was that everybody take pleasure in sharing in the spirit of discovery. The class, which met Tuesday evenings from seven to ten, consisted of eight people and ran for twenty-five nights. At fifteen and a half I was the youngest, though there were a couple others nearly as young. The rest were adults of various backgrounds: one was a secondary school mathematics teacher, one a chemistry graduate working in a medical laboratory, and others were computer scientists. All were there either because they had loved math at school but hadn't continued with it, or because they felt they hadn't properly appreciated the subject the first time around. This noncredit class, which was not part of any major, led to no award or certification at its completion and demanded no homework or study, may have seemed an ideal way of 'getting back into math' in an easygoing, informal manner. Dad told us at the outset that there would be no pressure to perform, and that we need not fear being asked questions but we could ask them at any time. We were to feel free to say 'any crazy thing' we liked, and not to be in the least afraid of appearing to make fools of ourselves. In fact, he told us, the more you are prepared to make a fool of yourself the more you'll learn. These reassurances convinced me that I was going to enjoy the next few Tuesday nights, even if I was not completely comfortable with the fact that the lecturer was my father. (Stude Originally published in England and cowritten with her father, 'In Code' is 'a wonderfully moving story about the thrill of the mathematical chase' ('Nature') and 'a paean to intellectual adventure' ('Times Educational Supplement'). A memoir in mathematics, it is all about how a girl next door became an award-winning mathematician. photo insert.