Free (DRM-free) Tal [Danish Academic Maths & Numbers Explanation Essay w/Audiobook]

[ATDrake]

Tal (Number) by Henrik Kragh Sørensen (faculty profile), an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics at Aarhus University, is the 47th in the Tænkepauser (Reflections) series of Danish-language accessibly-written short essays intended to introduce an academic topic to a general audience, this one apparently explaining the fiddlier points of numbers and various related mathematical concepts such as infinity and how “guess my number” games work, for the non-numerically inclined, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Aarhus University Press in Denmark.

This is part of their generous program which gives away each new volume and its accompanying audiobook for a limited time after first publication. If you are interested in the history of mathematics and can read Danish (or are willing to run it through Google Translate), the author maintains a blog about it (he has also contributed some sections to the Verdensboger historical overview series we've previously been offered volumes of), and some other related matters on his personal website.

Currently free throughout March 13th directly @ the university's website (DRM-free ePub & PDF available worldwide; for the MP3 audiobook, scroll down to where it says “Om bogen” and “Download … som lydbog gratis”)

Beskrivelse på dansk
1, 2, 3 og så videre i 1 uendelighed. Men så nemt er det bogstaveligt talt ikke at holde tal på tallene. Der er nemlig ikke bare 1 uendelighed i tallenes verden, men faktisk uendeligt mange uendeligheder. Alene tallene mellem 0 og 1 vil det være umuligt for de fleste mellem 0 og 100 at sætte tal på. Måske lige med undtagelse af Henrik Kragh Sørensen, 1 talnørd fra Aarhus Universitet. På side 6 kan han endda forudsige, at det tal, du tænker på, er 42. Men rolig nu, han kan ikke læse hver eneste tanke, du får; han er bare god til at regne den ud.