The Cambridge World History of Food

Thisbookdevelopsthemathematicalskillsnecessaryfortheinvestigationoftheincreasinglypervasivecodesusedtoidentifyeverythingfromcreditcardstobookstosupermarketgoods.Animportantpartofsuchcodesisthecheckdigit,whichcanpointoutwhenanerrorhasbeenmade,eitheraccidentallyintransmission,ordeliberatelyinanattemptatfraud.Mathematicsplaysacrucialroleindesigningandverifyingsuchcheckdigitschemes.Beginningundergraduatesandpre-universitystudentsshouldfindthisbookbothaccessibleandfun.Intheprocessofdescribingtheidentificationnumberschemes,theauthorintroducesmanyfundamentalareasofdiscretemathematics,includingmodulararithmeticandgrouptheory,withemphasisontheirapplications.Auniquepointofthebookisthewayitoffersstudentsthepossibilityofwritingpaperssummarizingagiventopictoimprovetheirunderstanding.Italsocontainspointersintotheliteratureforfurtherreading.