Book Review Of The Number Devil

I'm guessing that I don't need to say what this is a book review of because you have probably read the title if not look up you nit wit (no offence). The Number Devil by Magnus Enzensberger is one of those classic books that you need to read before you die. It combines math with a lot of humor so that you learn while not falling down on the floor dying.




In the first chapter they introduced Robert (the main guy) and the number devil. The number devil was a guy that keeps appearing Roberts’s dreams and teaching him math. And they talked about how simple numbers are and they talked about one and how you can make any number with it. (At the end the number devil blew up)



In the next chapter it talked about how important the number 0 is. They said that without it you can’t have place value and that it was the last number to be found.



In the next chapter they talked about division and prime numbers in a cave.



In the forth chapter they talked about reminders on the beach with a giant fuzzy calculator. The number devil and Robert got into a argument on whether or not the nine chain would ever reach 1. (Remainders are what’s left over when you divide.



The fifth chapter talked about triangle numbers in the desert. A triangular number is the number of dots in an equilateral triangle evenly filled with dots. For example, three dots can be arranged in a triangle; three is a triangle number. The ninth triangle number is the number of dots in a triangle with no dots on a side.



In the sixth chapter they talk about Fibonacci numbers in potato a field. Fibonacci numbers are a way of counting in which the next number is the sum of the previous two.



In the seventh chapter they built a pyramid out of cubes and did a bunch of math stuff with it.



Eighth chapter they talked about number combinations. Like ABC BCA CBA ACB BAC and so on.



In the ninth chapter they talked about fractions and the number 1.618. 1.618 is a weird number because it’s everywhere. People have done a lot of math and the number keeps popping up. It’s called the golden ratio.



In the tenth chapter they talked more about the golden ratio. They also talked about geometry and some paper cut outs that fold into shapes!



In the eleventh chapter they talked about proving numbers on a roof garden. They said it was like crossing a stream every time you think your almost there you get stuck.



In the last chapter they talked about pie in number hell/number heaven.



I did not really like the book but it did teach me a lot about math. I think I know about stuff my big sister Kayla does not know =).