Featured in an interview with Don Watkins on Opensource.com and on ElectronicsWeekly.com,
"We have entered an era where learning Python is as essential as knowing the analytical skills of mathematics, and so from students to teachers, Math Adventures with Python is an indispensable book for all." —Gabrielle Birkman, Mathematician and Writer
"Peter Farrell subverts the structure of a traditional math textbook and adopts an approach centered on student creation and discovery. Rather than treating mathematical facts as symbolic formalism to be mindlessly imitated by students, Math Adventures with Python seeks to teach mathematics through guided discovery. " —Dr. Tien Chih, Professor of Mathematics, Montana State University-Billings.
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Math Adventures with Python will show you how to harness the power of programming to keep math relevant and fun. With the aid of the Python programming language, you’ll learn how to visualize solutions to a range of math problems as you use code to explore key mathematical concepts like algebra, trigonometry, matrices, and cellular automata.
Once you’ve learned the programming basics like loops and variables, you’ll write your own programs to solve equations quickly, make cool things like an interactive rainbow grid, and automate tedious tasks like factoring numbers and finding square roots. You’ll learn how to write functions to draw and manipulate shapes, create oscillating sine waves, and solve equations graphically.
You’ll also learn how to:
- Draw and transform 2D and 3D graphics with matrices
- Make colorful designs like the Mandelbrot and Julia sets with complex numbers
- Use recursion to create fractals like the Koch snowflake and the Sierpinski triangle
- Generate virtual sheep that graze on grass and multiply autonomously
- Crack secret codes using genetic algorithms
As you work through the book’s numerous examples and increasingly challenging exercises, you’ll code your own solutions, create beautiful visualizations, and see just how much more fun math can be!