Bücher von Simon Singh

'I have a truly marvellous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.'It was with these words, written in the 1630s, that Pierre de Fermat intrigued and infuriated the mathematics community. For over 350 years, proving Fermat's Last Theorem was the most notorious unsolved mathematical problem, a puzzle whose basics most children could grasp but whose solution eluded the greatest minds in the world. In 1993, after years of secret toil, Englishman Andrew Wiles announced to an astounded audience that he had cracked Fermat's Last Theorem. He had no idea of the nightmare that lay ahead.In 'Fermat's Last Theorem' Simon Singh has crafted a remarkable tale of intellectual endeavour spanning three centuries, and a moving testament to the obsession, sacrifice and extraordinary determination of Andrew Wiles: one man against all the odds.

Some have seen philosophy embedded in episodes of The Simpsons; others have detected elements of psychology and religion. Simon Singh, bestselling author of Fermat''s Last Theorem, The Code Book and The Big Bang, instead makes the compelling case that what The Simpsons'' writers are most passionate about is mathematics.He reveals how the writers have drip-fed morsels of number theory into the series over the last twenty-five years; indeed, there are so many mathematical references in The Simpsons, and in its sister program, Futurama, that they could form the basis of an entire university course. Using specific episodes as jumping off points - from ''Bart the Genius'' to ''Treehouse of Horror VI'' - Simon Singh brings to life the most intriguing and meaningful mathematical concepts, ranging from pi and the paradox of infinity to the origins of numbers and the most profound outstanding problems that haunt today''s generation of mathematicians. In the process, he introduces us to The Simpsons'' brilliant writing team - the likes of Ken Keeler, Al Jean, Jeff Westbrook, and Stewart Burns - who are not only comedy geniuses, but who also hold advanced degrees in mathematics. This eye-opening book will give anyone who reads it an entirely new mathematical insight into the most successful show in television history.

A half century ago, a shocking Washington Post headline claimed that the world began in five cataclysmic minutes rather than having existed for all time; a skeptical scientist dubbed the maverick theory the Big Bang. In this amazingly comprehensible history of the universe, Simon Singh decodes the mystery behind the Big Bang theory, lading us through the development of one of the most extraordinary, important, and awe-inspiring theories in science.

Mathematik meets Popkultur.Spielerisch leicht und unterhaltsam lüftet Simon Singh die mathematischen Geheimnisse der erfolgreichsten Fernsehserie der Welt. Ob Homer ein donutförmiges Universum entwirft, den berühmten Fermat'schen Satz zu widerlegen scheint oder Lisa als Baseballtrainerin den Geheimnissen der Statistik auf die Spur kommt: Der britische Bestsellerautor nimmt die Episoden der ›Simpsons‹ zum Ausgangspunkt für eine Tour d'Horizon durch die Welt der Algebra und Geometrie.

In his first book since the bestselling Fermat's Enigma, Simon Singh offers the first sweeping history of encryption, tracing its evolution and revealing the dramatic effects codes have had on wars, nations, and individual lives. From Mary, Queen of Scots, trapped by her own code, to the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win World War II, to the incredible (and incredibly simple) logisitical breakthrough that made Internet commerce secure, The Code Book tells the story of the most powerful intellectual weapon ever known: secrecy.Throughout the text are clear technical and mathematical explanations, and portraits of the remarkable personalities who wrote and broke the world's most difficult codes. Accessible, compelling, and remarkably far-reaching, this book will forever alter your view of history and what drives it. It will also make you wonder how private that e-mail you just sent really is.

Der Satz des Pythagoras: a²+b²=c² steht im Zentrum des Rätsels, um das es hier geht. Diese »Urformel« gilt immer und überall, aber nur in der Zweier-Potenz, mit keiner anderen ganzen Zahl. In den Notizen des französischen Mathematikers Pierre Fermat, der im 17. Jahrhundert lebte, gibt es einen Hinweis, daß er den Beweis für dieses Phänomen gefunden hat. Doch der Beweis selbst ist verschollen.350 Jahre lang versuchten nun die Mathematiker der nachfolgenden Generationen, diesen Beweis zu führen. Keinem wollte es gelingen, manche trieb das Problem sogar in den Selbstmord. Schließlich wurde ein Preis für die Lösung des Rätsels ausgesetzt. Nun gelang dem britischen Mathematiker Andrew Wiles 1995 der Durchbruch. Simon Singh wiederum gelang es, diese auf den ersten Blick abgelegene Geschichte so zu erzählen, daß niemand und auch kein Mathematikhasser sich ihrer Faszination entziehen kann: Ein Glanzlicht des modernen Wissenschaftsjournalismus!