Zero, Infinity and the Wild 13

Over 20 percent of all numbers start with 1, and so it is 1 – the number with which counting begins – that marks the beginning of this entertaining journey through the world of numbers. With 2, the world is divided into two parts, and in 3 it comes back together again. 4 is the number of orientation, 5 the number of nature, and with 6 order is finally instilled in the world. The seven wise men were actually twenty-two, and there is no logical reason why a week has seven days. For a long time 0 did not exist, and was long overdue by the time it was invented in India 2000 years ago. If the French Revolution had had its way, a day would have consisted of ten hours, each 100 minutes long, and each of those minutes would have lasted 100 seconds. Wild 13 destroys the perfect inner balance of 12 – but does that necessarily mean it is unlucky? With -1 we enter the realm of negative numbers. Their apparent paradoxes are perfectly illustrated by the following joke, which also features in this wonderfully fleet-footed book: A professor is standing outside a lecture theatre. He sees five students go in, and after a while six students come out. The professor thinks to himself: ‘If another one goes in now, the lecture theatre will be empty again.’

*‘A supremely accessible book and an essential one, even for people who have had nothing to do with numbers since school apart from checking their speedometer or their drinks receipts.’ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

*Albrecht Beutelspacher’s entertaining study of numbers

*The renowned mathematician and founding director of the Mathematikum museum in Gießen tells the most exciting stories about the most important numbers

*‘Zero, Infinity and Wild 13’ proves that every number is a key to the world… a fascinating book!’ Welt am Sonntag