This text originated as a lecture delivered November 20, 1984, at
Queen's University, in the undergraduate colloquim series established to
honor Professors A. J. Coleman and H. W. Ellis and to acknow- ledge
their long lasting interest in the quality of teaching under- graduate
students. In another colloquim lecture, my colleague Morris Orzech, who
had consulted the latest edition of the Guilllless Book oj Records,
remainded me very gently that the most "innumerate" people of the world
are of a certain tribe in Mato Grosso, Brazil. They do not even have a
word to express the number "two" or the concept of plurality. "Yes
Morris, I'm from Brazil, but my book will contain numbers different from
'one.' " He added that the most boring 800-page book is by two Japanese
mathematicians (whom I'll not name), and consists of about 16 million
digits of the number 11. "I assure you Morris, that in spite of the
beauty of the apparent randomness of the decimal digits of 11, I'll be
sure that my text will include also some words." Acknowledgment. The
manuscript of this book was prepared on the word processor by Linda
Nuttall. I wish to express my appreciation for the great care, speed,
and competence of her work.