The Handy Math Answer Book

Museum of the History of

Science, 449–50

Museums, 448–50

Music, 378–80

Music of the spheres, 379–80

Mutually exclusive events,

251

Myanmar, 51

Myller, Rolf, 456

Mysticism. SeeReligion and

mysticism

N

n-gon, 180

n-space, 170–71

Naive set theory, 122

Napier, John, 24, 145–46,

351–52, 352 (ill.)

Napier’s Bones, 146, 351–52,

352 (ill.), 358

Napoleon, 324, 325 (ill.)

Nasar, Sylvia, 453, 457

NASCAR driver numbers,

436, 437 (ill.)

Nash, John, 453, 457

National Incident-Based

Reporting System, 394

Natural logarithms, 145

Natural sciences. SeeBiolo-

gy; Environment; Geology;

Meteorology

Negation, 108

Neptune, 292 (ill.)

Nested Grid Model (NGM),

314

New Scientist(magazine),

451–52

New Zealand Mathematical

Society, 447–48

Newton, Sir Isaac, 27, 30,

212 (ill.)

calculus, 28, 210, 221

laws of motion, 29

mathematical analysis,

211–12

orbital mechanics, 345

and religion, 383

Newton’s Law of Conserva-

tion of Momentum, 278

Newton’s Law of Constant

Acceleration, 278

Newton’s Law of Inertia,

277–78

Newton’s Law of Universal

Gravitation, 278–79

Nine, as significant number,

386–87

The Nine Billion Names of

God(Clarke), 455

Nobel, Alfred Bernhard, 36

Nobel Prize, 36

Nonary system, 6

Nonempty set, 124

Non-Euclidean geometry, 30,

31, 165, 205–6, 207

Non-Hindu-Arabic numerals,

418 (ill.), 419

Non-homogeneous linear

differential equations, 234

Nonlinear differential equa-

tion, 235–36

Non-multivalued functions,

129

Non-regular numbers, 75

Non-vanishing numbers, 74

Non-zero, 91

Normal distribution, 261–62,

262 (ill.)

Normal lines, 176, 177 (ill.)

Normalized vector, 238–39

Norse mythology, 386–87

Notebooks, 365

Null/empty set, 124

The Number Devil: A Mathe-

matical Adventure

(Enzensberger, Berner, and

Heim), 456

Number guessing, 437–38

Number theory, 67

Numbers. See alsoArith-

metic; Mathematical opera-

tions

base, 86, 87

binary/decimal system

conversion, 88, 88 (table)

cardinal, 79–81, 80–81

(table)

classification of, 71, 72,

72 (table), 75

complex, 76–78, 78 (ill.)

composite, 83

congruence, 82

decimal system, 69

definition of, 69

exponents, 86–87

Fibonacci sequence, 84,

86, 86 (table)

googol, 73

Great Internet Mersenne

Prime Search (GIMPS),

86

highest, 72–74, 73–74

(table)

Hindu-Arabic numerals,

69–71

imaginary, 75, 76–78, 78

(ill.)

indeterminate, 91

infinity, 80

irrational, 74–75

Mersenne primes, 85, 85

(table), 86

non-regular, 75

non-vanishing, 74

non-zero, 91

one-to-one correspon-

dence, 78, 79 (ill.)

ordinal, 79–81, 80–81

(table)

perfect, 78

place value, 72

placeholder, 90

powers of ten, 88–90, 89

(ill.), 90 (table)

prime, 83–84, 84 (table),

85, 85 (table)

rational, 74–75

real, 74–75

regular, 75

scientific notation, 89

Sieve of Eratosthenes, 83

with special significance,

385–87

vanishing, 74

zero, 90–91

NUMB3RS(television show),

456

Numeral, 6

Numerator, 98–99

Numerical analysis, 269

Numerical symbols, 6

Numerical weather predic-

tion, 313

498 Numerology, 385

Handy Math BM 8/19/07 5:18 PM Page 498