Mathematical Fallacies, Flaws, And Flimflam

This book is a collection of mathematical mistakes made by ordinary citizens, students, teachers, and occasionally seasoned researchers, along with an analysis for most of them. While all the material is for personal enlightenment and amusement, high school and college teachers may use the material to illustrate important and subtle points in mathematics. Newspapers are responsible for several of these mathematical mishaps, particularly in arithmetic (especially percentages) and probability. Quite a number of the "Fallacies" come from professional mathematicians. Some are the result of simple oversight, and others are deliberately crafted by the mathematician to drive home an important point to students. A glimpse at the Table of Contents offers examples from number theory, algebra and trigonometry, geometry, finite mathematics, probability, calculus, linear algebra and advanced undergraduate mathematics.