Mathematica in Action

Prof.Wagon shares his experience about the difficulties he encountered in ensuring the correctness of the algorithms. The lessons he offers on the importance of careful thinking and meticulously checking the results of calculations is alone worth the price of the book.The algorithms in the book require Mathematica 3. They seem to work well with Mathematica 4 as well.The selection of topics is excellent. This book can provide a great start to a lot fun and learning with Mathematica. I hope Prof.Wagon brings out a new expanded edition for the current edition of Mathematica soon.

Pictures, programs, proofs and explanations makes this one of the best math books I've seen. For example, Chapter 9 (Penrose Tiles) has 9 pages. In those 9 pages are 25 different pictures, many quite beautiful. There are 3 different programs given which will recreate all of pictures. In the midst of this is a very clear discussion of nonperiodic tilings and Penrose tilings. That's just Chapter 9, there are 25 other chapters, and every one of them just as good. The programs are provided on a CD, so you can experiment with them yourself. More interesting material is at the author's webpage.