Robert Kaplan

Ellen Kaplan

The value of nothing is explored in rich detail as the author reaches back as far as the ancient Sumerians to find evidence that humans have long struggled with the concept of zero, from the Greeks who may or may not have known of it, to the East where it was first used, to the modern-day desktop PC, which uses it as an essential letter in its computational alphabet.

A Natural History of Zero

The Nothing that is

Michael Kaplan

A layperson's sojourn into the realm of probability evaluates statistical information for a wide variety of arenas from poker and politics to weather and war, and profiles men and women who use probability in creative and revelatory ways.

Adventures in Probability

Chances Are--

A compelling journey through history, mathematics, and philosophy, charting humanity’s struggle against randomness Our lives are played out in the arena of chance. However little we recognize it in our day-to-day existence, we are always riding the odds, seeking out certainty but settling—reluctantly—for likelihood, building our beliefs on the shadowy props of probability. Chances Are is the story of man’s millennia-long search for the tools to manage the recurrent but unpredictable—to help us prevent, or at least mitigate, the seemingly random blows of disaster, disease, and injustice. In these pages, we meet the brilliant individuals who developed the first abstract formulations of probability, as well as the intrepid visionaries who recognized their practical applications—from gamblers to military strategists to meteorologists to medical researchers, from blackjack to our own mortality.

Chances Are . . .

The New York Times called Chances Are, the authors' look at the application of probability in everyday life, a "dizzying, exhilarating ride." In Bozo Sapiens, they take us on a another funhouse journey, exploring the surprising, or alarming, number of ways that humans can make bad judgments and poor decisions. The Kaplans' ability to explain everything from statistics to evolutionary biology in witty, accessible, and anecdotal style will endear this book to readers of Blink, Freakonomics, and other recent pop-social science successes.

Why to Err is Human

Bozo Sapiens

The Pleasures of Mathematics

The Art of the Infinite

Setting Mathematics Free

Out of the Labyrinth

It is easy to be wary of mathematics - but as this book shows, drawing on science, literature and philosophy, its patterns are evrywhere. In witty and eloquent prose, Robert and Ellen Kaplan take mathematics back to its estranged audience, bringing understanding and clarity to a traditionally difficult subject, and revealing the beauty behind the equations. Only by letting loose our curiosity can we learn to appreciate the wonder that can be found in mathematics - an 'art' invented by humans, which is also timeless.

Our Lost Language of Numbers

“In this sparkling narrative, mathematics is indeed set free.” -Michael Shermer, author of The Believing Brain In classrooms around the world, Robert and Ellen Kaplan's pioneering Math Circle program, begun at Harvard, has introduced students ages six to sixty to the pleasures of mathematics, exploring topics that range from Roman numerals to quantum mechanics. In Out of the Labyrinth, the Kaplans reveal the secrets of their highly successful approach, which embraces the exhilarating joy of math's “accessible mysteries.” Stocked with puzzles, colorful anecdotes, and insights from the authors' own teaching experience, Out of the Labyrinth is both an engaging and practical guide for parents and educators, and a treasure chest of mathematical discoveries. For any reader who has felt the excitement of mathematical discovery-or tried to convey it to someone else-this volume will be a delightful and valued companion.

Traces the development of mathematical thinking and describes the characteristics of the "republic of numbers" in terms of humankind's fascination with, and growing knowledge of, infinity.

A witty, conversational, and accessible tour of math's profoundest mysteries. Mathematical symbols, for mathematicians, store worlds of meaning, leap continents and centuries. But we need not master symbols to grasp the magnificent abstractions they represent, and to which all art aspires. Through language, anyone can come to delight in the works of mathematical art, which are among our kind's greatest glories. Taking the concept of infinity, in its countless guises, as a starting point and a helpful touchstone, the founders of Harvard's pioneering Math Circle program Robert and Ellen Kaplan guide us through the “Republic of Numbers,” where we meet both its upstanding citizens and its more shadowy dwellers, explore realms where only the imagination can go, and grapple with math's most profound uncertainties, including the question of truth itself-do we discover mathematical principles, or invent them?

Ellen Kaplan

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