With a foreword by Tim Rice, this book will change the way you see the world. Why is it better to buy a lottery ticket on a Friday? Why are showers always too hot or too cold? And what's the connection between a rugby player taking a conversion and a tourist trying to get the best photograph of Nelson's Column? These and many other fascinating questions are answered in this entertaining and highly informative book, which is ideal for anyone wanting to remind themselves - or discover for the first time - that maths is relevant to almost everything we do. Dating, cooking, travelling by car, gambling and even life-saving techniques have links with intriguing mathematical problems, as you will find explained here. Whether you have a PhD in astrophysics or haven't touched a maths problem since your school days, this book will give you a fresh understanding of the world around you.
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Amazon Review
If you've ever bought a Lottery ticket and wondered about your bad luck afterwards, you've had to deal with math. From timing to probability, it pervades our every waking moment, and even the most crippling maths-phobia can't make it go away. Writers Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham throw up their hands in defeat and give in to the amusing, interesting and practical aspects of math in Why Do Buses Come in Threes?. Taking their title from the oft-noticed phenomenon of clumping in mass transit, they explain in clear, common-sense language why this must be so. At the end of their description, you might be left with the uneasy sense that you just learned some maths and on a quick review, you'll find that the authors have in fact snuck some in under your radar. In chapter after chapter, Eastaway and Wyndham successfully navigate statistics, codes, coincidences and many other parts of our lives, peeling away the surface to show what's really going on to make our lives so weird and wonderful. Diagrams and drawings help to make their points even clearer and there are almost never any scary formulae to frighten the timid. If you've been waiting your whole life to learn the Ham Sandwich Theorem, or just want to put some old fears to rest, Why Do Buses Come in Threes? is the solution. --Rob Lightner, Amazon.com
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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'An interesting read for even the most maths-phobic' - The Good Book Guide
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By Gerry C
Format:Paperback
Maths books, even 'popular' ones, generally approach the subject from an abstract point of view. That is partly because mathematics is a beautiful subject in its own right, regardless of its link with the real world. The problem, however, is that most people don't see it that way. What makes 'Why do buses' different is that it is centred firmly on the world of everyday experiences that most people can relate to, like coincidences and traffic jams, and from that starting point it goes on to explore the mathematical ideas behind those phenomena. The book isn't nearly as mathematical as it could be, but if there was more maths in it, I'm prepared to bet that far fewer people would ever have read it, which would defeat the point of it.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Some people have a fear of mathematics, possibly because of the abstract teaching methods that were in use in my schooldays. I get the impression that things have changed somewhat since then, but in any case this book provides an easy to understand some of the things that happen in everyday life.
The first chapter begins with numbers that occur frequently in plants, explaining why four-leafed clovers are rare. Depending on the species, plants tend to have three leaves like clovers, or five leaves like buttercups, pansies and primroses, rather than four. The chapter then describes more curiosities about numbers and ratios that occur in plants.
The ninth chapter deals with the title of the book, explaining why buses that begin their journeys at evenly spaced intervals and travelling along the same route don't usually arrive at their destination at evenly spaced intervals. The author suggests that it is quite common for a bus to catch up the one ahead, but that it is most unlikely that a third bus will catch these two, so buses may come in twos but rarely threes.
Other chapters deal with route planning, opinion polls, betting, apparent coincidences, angles, making tea, cutting cake, secret codes, sports rankings, game theory, set theory, map reading, traffic jams, queues, scheduling, logic and deduction. If some of these sound intimidating, don't worry as they are all presented in an easy-going style that makes them more interesting than they might otherwise be.
The final chapter presents a few mathematical tricks that you can play on unsuspecting children as a good way to get them interested in numbers. All in all, this book presents mathematics in an entertaining and easily accessible way. If you enjoy it, there is a sequel, How Long Is a Piece of String? by the same author, but if you are choosing between them, I'd nominate this one as slightly the better of the two.
The first chapter begins with numbers that occur frequently in plants, explaining why four-leafed clovers are rare. Depending on the species, plants tend to have three leaves like clovers, or five leaves like buttercups, pansies and primroses, rather than four. The chapter then describes more curiosities about numbers and ratios that occur in plants.
The ninth chapter deals with the title of the book, explaining why buses that begin their journeys at evenly spaced intervals and travelling along the same route don't usually arrive at their destination at evenly spaced intervals. The author suggests that it is quite common for a bus to catch up the one ahead, but that it is most unlikely that a third bus will catch these two, so buses may come in twos but rarely threes.
Other chapters deal with route planning, opinion polls, betting, apparent coincidences, angles, making tea, cutting cake, secret codes, sports rankings, game theory, set theory, map reading, traffic jams, queues, scheduling, logic and deduction. If some of these sound intimidating, don't worry as they are all presented in an easy-going style that makes them more interesting than they might otherwise be.
The final chapter presents a few mathematical tricks that you can play on unsuspecting children as a good way to get them interested in numbers. All in all, this book presents mathematics in an entertaining and easily accessible way. If you enjoy it, there is a sequel, How Long Is a Piece of String? by the same author, but if you are choosing between them, I'd nominate this one as slightly the better of the two.
35 of 38 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I was looking for a book to widen my knowledge of Maths, because I am thinking of applying to do it at university. I wanted to read around the subject in an interesting way. "Why Do Buses Come In Threes" was a brilliant read! It makes Maths a lot of fun and it tells you about many different ways in which Maths can be used in real-life. Most of the book is easy to understand, although some of it is harder and more mathematical, but it is truly great and I would definitely recommend it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
A bit light on the maths
This book takes a fun look at how maths can explain certain phenomena in our everyday lives. I thought it was a bit light on the maths, but this is just a personal whinge- others... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Martensgirl
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting
Very interesting if necessarily eclectic.
It needed a little more real maths for me to have awarded it a 5.
It needed a little more real maths for me to have awarded it a 5.
Published 2 months ago by Book Boy
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but not educational
I got what I expected with this book. I was not expecting to read a math book that outlined in detail complex math formulae about normal everyday situations. Read more
Published 23 months ago by L. Davidson
5.0 out of 5 stars
mathematically genious
It becomes more and more apparent with each chapter just how much maths is in everyday life, and it's not just obvious counting patterns either, there are connections to some... Read more
Published on 18 April 2009 by Nicola
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for sceptical pupils
"Sir, what's the point of maths?" The question that any maths teacher dreads. This is one of the books that I always recommend to my older pupils (aged 15 plus) who want to see... Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2007 by Phil
2.0 out of 5 stars
Does ANYONE ask these questions?
This book addresses 18 questions that anyone might ask where a knowledge of mathematics would be helpful. Examples include "Why am I always in traffic jams? Read more
Published on 30 Mar 2007 by Andrew Walker
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing
I just finished reading "Why Do Buses Come In Threes?" and I was disappointed with it. I was expecting something more and the book sure had the potential to be a quite interesting... Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2006 by Bruno Espadana
5.0 out of 5 stars
Common sense maths for the rest of us.
If you have an interest in the reasons for things, a hunch that maths may explain these things, and an inability to grasp mathematical formulae then this may well be the book... Read more
Published on 15 April 2006 by red_monkey
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent reminder about why maths is fun
The two messages of this book are that mathematics is important to everyday life, and that it's fun. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2005 by A. K. Johnston
5.0 out of 5 stars
A lot of fun
This book is a fun look at mathematics and answers some real questions, rather than the convoluted ones we had in our books at school. Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2000
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