What is a space-filling curve? What is the mathematical basis behind cryptography? How does the scanner at your grocery store know when it hasn't scanned a UPC number correctly? Now that Fermat's Last Theorem has been solved, what's the next big challenge for mathematicians? These questions and others are part of the explorations you will take in The Mathematical Explorer.

The Mathematical Explorer is for everyone, young or old, who has ever delighted in finding the unexpected. You won't need a degree in higher math; all you'll need is a little basic algebra and a sense of fun. More than just an electronic textbook, The Mathematical Explorer is part guide, part calculator, part museum, part textbook--and completely fun!

Based on Mathematica technology, this stand-alone product combines text, graphics, and formulas in an easy-to-use notebook interface that is completely interactive, making you a participant and not just a spectator to mathematical ideas. The Mathematical Explorer invites you to explore many interesting questions about both physical and abstract phenomena and to gain insight by computation and visualization.

About the Author

Stan Wagon, an award-winning author, math educator, snow sculptor, and square-wheeled bicyclist, teamed up with mathematical software experts Wolfram Research, Inc. to create The Mathematical Explorer. Wagon, who authored the notebooks that make up The Mathematical Explorer, is a professor of mathematics and computer science at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.