# How to suggest new entries to David Wells' “Book of Curious and Interesting Numbers?”

This book. I'm sure many here, if not most, have read it. If not, I recommend it. It's great fun.

Is the author even alive? I'd like to suggest a few entries that are not in the latest (1997) edition. For example, 0.73908513321516064... which is... nah, I won't tell. See if you can find out what this is.

I haven't found any contact information, and his name is so common any web search is maddeningly cluttered.

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solution to x=cos(x)? –  Chris Sep 15 '11 at 17:33
Chris gets the cookie. –  JCCyC Sep 15 '11 at 17:37
@JCC: I was wondering, did you know that it has a name? It's the Dottie number. –  mixedmath Sep 15 '11 at 20:04
If there hasn't been a new edition in 14 years, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for one. Are you aware of Plouffe's inverter, pi.lacim.uqam.ca/eng It handles your .739 number quite well. –  Gerry Myerson Sep 16 '11 at 1:48

Yes, thank you, I'm alive and well, and currently writing a book on how to teach mathematics at high school and elementary level.

The book was originally published in 1986, and then the second revised edition came out in 1998, which is a long time ago. Since then, the resources of the Internet. In this context, have exploded – as the reference to Plouffe's inverter perfectly illustrates.

So I'm afraid it won't be a third edition. The Internet wins, again!

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Well, the first page of Google hits for "david wells" math contains http://www.thetutorpages.com/tutor/david-wells-London-maths-tutor, which is the guy you're looking for. There's a contact form if you want tutoring, but perhaps you can try using it just to get in touch.