This book gives a scientific account of all aspects of the game of golf and answers the questions which occur to all who play the game. The mechanics of the swing and the impact of the club on the ball are explained. Together these decide the range of the ball - which is shown to be the most important factor for success. The aerodynamics of the ball's flight has several surprises, including the effects of dimples and spin. Understanding these effects allows a calculation of the ball's flig...

This book gives a scientific account of all aspects of the game of golf and answers the questions which occur to all who play the game. The mechanics of the swing and the impact of the club on the ball are explained. Together these decide the range of the ball - which is shown to be the most important factor for success. The aerodynamics of the ball's flight has several surprises, including the effects of dimples and spin. Understanding these effects allows a calculation of the ball's flig...

Updated and revised throughout, this new edition of The Science of Soccer applies scientific analysis to football, giving us the answers to questions like "what's the chance of a team that wins the Premiership also winning the Cup? Can you predict how many goals will be scored? What's the best height for footballers? Is the team that wins the league the best team?"Starting with a qualitative description of the basic physics that relate to the ball and its bounce, t...

The seventeen equations that form the basis for life as we know it.Most people are familiar with history's great equations: Newton's Law of Gravity, for instance, or Einstein's theory of relativity. But the way these mathematical breakthroughs have contributed to human progress is seldom appreciated. In In Pursuit of the Unknown, celebrated mathematician Ian Stewart untangles the roots of our most important mathematical statements to show that equations ha...

From the sudden expansion of a cloud of gas or the cooling of a hot metal, to the unfolding of a thought in our minds and even the course of life itself, everything is governed by the four Laws of Thermodynamics. These laws specify the nature of 'energy' and 'temperature', and are soon revealed to reach out and define the arrow of time itself: why things change and why death must come.In this Very Short Introduction Peter Atkins explains the basis and deeper implications of each law, highl...

David Acheson's extraordinary little book makes mathematics accessible to everyone. From very simple beginnings he takes us on a thrilling journey to some deep mathematical ideas. On the way, via Kepler and Newton, he explains what calculus really means, gives a brief history of pi, and even takes us to chaos theory and imaginary numbers. Every short chapter is carefully crafted to ensure that no one will get lost on the journey. Packed with puzzles and illustrated by world famous cartooni...

The idea of this book is to help build confidence with maths via a series of tests and puzzles. After a gentle 'warm-up' section, the puzzles and tests get progressively more challenging over the course of the book. There is a hints section for readers who get stuck, as well as a complete set of answers for every test at the back of the book.After the 'warm-up' section, there are puzzles and tests on 'lateral thinking', 'fun with numbers', 'logic puzzles', 'geometrical puzzles' and...

Pi is the controlling constant for circles, globes, orbits, the inverse square power distribution and many of the other fundamental aspects of our universe. This ebook is an effort to put forward the idea that a better understanding of pi is required. The entire knowledge base of our understanding of science could be greatly changed with additional efforts in the study of pi.

A superlative, fascinating graphic account of Albert Einstein's strange world and how his legacy has been built upon since.It is now more than a century since Einstein's theories of Special and General Relativity began to revolutionise our view of the universe. Beginning near the speed of light and proceeding to explorations of space-time and curved spaces, Introducing Relativity plots a visually accessible course through the thought experiments that have g...

What is time? The 5th-century philosopher St Augustine famously said that he knew what time was, so long as no one asked him.Is time a fourth dimension similar to space or does it flow in some sense? And if it flows, does it make sense to say how fast? Does the future exist? Is time travel possible? Why does time seem to pass in only one direction?These questions and others are among the deepest and most subtle that one can ask, but Introducing Time ...

“Quite possibly the best popular science book I’ve ever read” (Popular Science) shows how the tools that enabled us to overcome the uncertainty of the weather will enable us to find new answers to modern science's most pressing questionsWhy does your weather app say “There’s a 10% chance of rain” instead of “It will be sunny tomorrow”? In large part this is due to the insight of Tim Palmer, who made uncertainty essential to the study of weather and climate...

What really happens at the most fundamental levels of nature?Introducing Particle Physics explores the very frontiers of our knowledge, even showing how particle physicists are now using theory and experiment to probe our very concept of what is real.From the earliest history of the atomic theory through to supersymmetry, micro-black holes, dark matter, the Higgs boson, and the possibly mythical graviton, practising physicist and CERN contributor Tom Whyntie gives us a mind-e...