000			nam a22 4500
999			_c32302 _d32302
008			230912b xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780262542296
082			_a165 _bCOO
100			_aCook, Matt
245			_aSleight of mind : 75 ingenious paradoxes in mathematics, physics, and philosophy
260			_bMIT Press, _c2021 _aCambridge :
300			_axii, 350 p. ; _bill., _c23 cm
365			_b2050.00 _cINR _d01
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520			_aParadox is a sophisticated kind of magic trick. A magician's purpose is to create the appearance of impossibility, to pull a rabbit from an empty hat. Yet paradox doesn't require tangibles, like rabbits or hats. Paradox works in the abstract, with words and concepts and symbols, to create the illusion of contradiction. There are no contradictions in reality, but there can appear to be. In Sleight of Mind, Matt Cook and a few collaborators dive deeply into more than 75 paradoxes in mathematics, physics, philosophy, and the social sciences. As each paradox is discussed and resolved, Cook helps readers discover the meaning of knowledge and the proper formation of concepts--and how reason can dispel the illusion of contradiction. The journey begins with "a most ingenious paradox" from Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance. Readers will then travel from Ancient Greece to cutting-edge laboratories, encounter infinity and its different sizes, and discover mathematical impossibilities inherent in elections. They will tackle conundrums in probability, induction, geometry, and game theory; perform "supertasks"; build apparent perpetual motion machines; meet twins living in different millennia; explore the strange quantum world--and much more.
650			_aMathematical physics
650			_aBraintwisting
650			_aMagic trick
650			_aIllusion of contradiction
650			_aKnowledge
650			_aConcept formation
650			_a Educational work
942			_2ddc _cBK