July 28, 2008 23:26:59
Posted By Peter Bentley
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I received a long letter (on paper) from a reader in USA today. I looked him up online; an 80
year
old who has served in the Air Force all over the world and now tutors in a university in
Washington. Here is some of
what he wrote (personal details and name removed). I wrote back thanking him for his nice
words.
Dear Dr Bentley:
Your book The Book of Numbers (c) 2008 is
one of the most fascinating books I
have read recently,
Ever since my troubles with arithmetic throughout grade
school I have been intrigued by
numbers and how to use them... Continued work in college studies over many years led to
becoming a tutor for those who were having trouble in mathematics from second grade
through
college algebra. presently I tutor Math (and other subject) to challenged students... and
recognized by several teachers as "one of the best math tutors"; an acclamation I am quite
proud
of.
There have been many number "tricks" I have discovered
to overcome a lack of memory for
memorizing times tables and other rote memory requirements placed on students in the
early
days without calculators. these come quite in handy when tutoring students with math
challenges
today.
It was because of these early school challenges with
arithmetic that helped turn me on to the
need to investigate alternative methods of working with numbers. And taught me how
mysterious
and beautiful they are.
Your book has been quite intruiging. I am now looking
forward to learning even more about
numbers beyond ordinary arithmetic, algebra and geometry. Ev3en though one may not be
able to
comprehend numbers like Phi, Chi, Pi, i, e or c, there is still a possibility of learning how to
use
them.
Like Aristotle, who seems to have disbelieved the
possibility of infinity, I am inclined to do
the same yet I must recognize that somehow it, along with imaginary numbers do exist and
can
be used in equations in a finite world.
Thank you for your book. It is thoroughly enjoyed and I
will have to peruse it often. It is my
belief that someday some new "Einstein" will arise and complete (?) the work Einstein did. I
believe the Unified Theory is still in the process of being proved.
A THOUGHT: What would happen if someone came up
with a workable formula (even if not as
simple as E=mc2) that may include most if not all of those special numbers such as Phi, Chi,
Pi, i,
e and c? Might it solve the enigma of the universe? Or, possibly if someone could create a
Klein
Bottle as we can a Mobius Circle would we be able to see a replica of space we could
understand?
Sincerely [name removed] An inquisitive soul.
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