A Celebration of 10

A gorgeous exploration that will fascinate readers of any age. Dick Tahta was one of the world's great mathematics communicators and in his papers he left details of a proposed book—this book. 10 of the best mathematics communicators in the world have gotten together to complete the book, including John Mason, Anne Watson, David Pimm, Nathalie Sinclair, Tony Brown, to help us answer Dick's challenge in his introduction: "If we address ourselves directly to our number words, one, two, three ..., they remain strangely silent about their inner meanings; in this respect they behave like but few other words of our language. It is remarkable that in our daily lives we encounter them constantly and use them as the most reliable bearers of concepts in our possession. Yet we allow ourselves to be content with their usefulness while knowing them only ‘by name.’ They pass by us mute, like alien slaves valued only for their services, and we do not dignify them by inquiring into their ‘person’; or their homeland. And yet they do have ‘personalities’ chosen by early humans out of their colorful, chaotic environment to be the bearers of his concept of numbers.”  

Alf Coles is a mathematics educator with a long history of writing and contributing to mathematics popularisation projects. He worked with Dick Tahta on Leapfrogs, which yielded Images of Infinity, a Tarquin title for over 30 years.