The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure

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On the ninth night, Robert dreams he is in bed, suffering from the flu, when the Number Devil appears next to him. The Number Devil teaches Robert about natural numbers, which the Number Devil calls garden-variety numbers, the unusual characteristics of infinite, and infinite series. Robert finds himself at the North Pole, where the Number Devil introduces irrational numbers ( unreasonable numbers), as well as aspects of Euclidean geometry, such as vertices ( dots) and edges ( lines). By the eleventh night, Robert has shown considerable increased interest in mathematics, but questions its validity, to which the Number Devil introduces the concept of mathematical proofs, ending with the Number Devil showing Robert a complicated proof of basic arithmetic. On the twelfth night, Robert and the Number Devil receive an invitation (which names the Number Devil as Teplotaxl) to Number Heaven, as Robert's time with the Number Devil has finished. At Number Heaven, Robert learns of imaginary numbers, which Teplotaxl describes as imaginative numbers, as well as the Klein bottle. Walking through Number Heaven, Teplotaxl introduces Robert to various famous mathematicians, such as Fibonacci, whom Teplotaxl calls Bonacci, and George Cantor, or Professor Singer. The book ends with Robert in class using his newfound mathematical knowledge. Eisenbichler, Ernst. "Der "Fliegende Robert" der Literaten". Bayerischer Rundfunk (in German) . Retrieved 16 December 2011. Using gematria, scholars have variously decoded 666 to learn the biblical beast’s name. A leading theory deciphers 666 as Nron Qsr or Nro Qsr, taken as the Greek and Latin, respectively, for Nero Caesar. The beastly 666, then, may refer to Nero’s persecution of early Christians, though this theory has historical problems. Another similarly problematic theory identifies 666 as Muhammed, the founding Islamic prophet viewed as a false prophet in medieval Christianity. For Chinese gamers, 666 has an altogether different meaning. Liù, the pinyin for the Chinese word for six, is a homophone for the word for skilled. 6 or a string of 6’s can be used by Chinese gamers to show respect for an instance of highly skilled gameplay. The idea of the “number of a man” or “beast” may refer to the practice of gematria in Jewish numerology, where every letter of the Hebrew alphabet corresponds to a number (e.g., aleph=1, bet=2, etc.), and words and names correspond to the sums of these numbers.

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure - Goodreads The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure - Goodreads

Matsumoto, Valerie J. "Faculty Show Depth, Breadth of the Written Word". UCLA Today. University of California Press. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012 . Retrieved 23 October 2011. The Number Devil - PC". IGN. Archived from the original on November 25, 2004 . Retrieved 5 September 2011. Auclaire-Meier, Sebastien. " Der Zahlenteufel. Ein Hörspiel in neun Nächten für alle, die Angst vor der Mathematik haben" (in German). Archived from the original on 26 April 2012 . Retrieved 16 December 2011. The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure ( German: Der Zahlenteufel. Ein Kopfkissenbuch für alle, die Angst vor der Mathematik haben) is a book for children and young adults that explores mathematics. It was originally written in 1997 in German by Hans Magnus Enzensberger and illustrated by Rotraut Susanne Berner. The book follows a young boy named Robert, who is taught mathematics by a sly "number devil" called Teplotaxl over the course of twelve dreams.

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For a time after the fourth night, Robert cannot find the Number Devil in his dreams; later, however, on the fifth night, Robert finds himself at a desert where the Number Devil teaches him about triangular numbers through the use of coconuts. On the sixth night, the Number Devil teaches Robert about the natural occurrence of Fibonacci numbers, which the Number Devil shortens to Bonacci numbers, by counting brown and white rabbits as they reproduce multiple times. By this dream, Robert's mother has noticed a visible change in Robert's mathematical interest, and Robert begins going to sleep earlier to encounter the Number Devil. The seventh night brings Robert to a bare, white room, where the Number Devil presents Pascal's triangle and the patterns that the triangular array displays. On the eighth night, Robert is brought to his classroom at school. The Number Devil arranges Robert's classmates in multiple ways, teaches him about permutations, and what the Number Devil calls vroom numbers ( factorials). An illustration by Rotraut Susanne Berner depicts the Number Devil showing a mathematical proof to Robert. Robert is a young boy who suffers from mathematical anxiety due to his boredom in school. His mother is Mrs. Wilson. He also experiences recurring dreams—including falling down an endless slide or being eaten by a giant fish—but is interrupted from this sleep habit one night by a small devil creature who introduces himself as the Number Devil. Although there are many Number Devils (from Number Heaven), Robert only knows him as the Number Devil before learning of his actual name, Teplotaxl, later in the story.

Number Devil: All 12 Chapter Short Summary (written in my own Number Devil: All 12 Chapter Short Summary (written in my own

a b Karacs, Imre (29 July 2000). "From long division to multiplication". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18 . Retrieved 26 October 2011. a b Deborah Loewenberg Ball and Hyman Bass (January 2000). "The Number Devil book review" (PDF). Notices of the AMS. 47 (1): 51–56 . Retrieved 3 September 2011. Thuy-Anh Mai, Angie. "Personal Reflections on The Number Devil". Math Horizons. Mathematical Association of America . Retrieved 16 December 2011.

is the sum of the first thirty-six natural numbers, which makes it a triangular number: [4] ∑ i = 1 36 i = 1 + 2 + 3 + ⋯ + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666 {\displaystyle \sum _{i=1}