Alex Bellos, 2010
Bloomsbury
p 157
According to legend, [irrational numbers] existence was first proved by the Pythagorean discple Hippasus, which didn't endear him to the Brotherhood; he was declared a heretic and was drowned at sea.
p 164
Pi has got this name only since 1706, when the Welshman William Jones introduces the symbol pi in his book, the snappily titled A New Introduction to the Mathematics, for the Use of some Friends, who have neither Leisure, Convenience, nor, perhaps, Patience, to search into so many different Authors, and turn over so many tedious Volumes, as is unavoidably required to make but tolerable progress in the Mathematics. The Greek letter, which was probably an abbreviation for the word periphery, did not immediately catch on, however, becoming standard notation for pi only 30 years later, when Leonhard Euler adopted it.
p 181
In La Géométrie, Descartes introduces what has become standard algebraic notation. [...] When the book was being printed, however, the printer started to run out of letters. He enquired if it mattered if x, y or z was used. Descartes replied not, so the printer chose to concentrate on x since it is used less frequently in French than y or z.
p 321
Buying an insurance policy is a negative-expectation bet and, as such, it is a bad gamble.
p 322
The belief that a jackpot is 'due' is known as the gambler's fallacy.
p 324
Steve Jobs: 'We are making [the shuffle] less random to make it feel more random.'
p 326
Birthday paradox: it is more likely than not that 2 persons in a group of 23 will share the same birthday.