The book consists of short stories about a variety of mathematical objects: numbers, figures, mathematical games. The author introduces readers to both mathematical concepts studied in school and to important modern directions that are not included in the course of secondary school. In a special section of the book, interesting tasks are collected. From the author's foreword: Journalists like to write about physicists with their huge synchrophasotrons, powerful lasers, superconducting materials. I love to talk about engineers.... Willingly tell about chemists who create new materials; about biologists who comprehend the secrets of life They don’t like to write about maths. There is nothing impressive here . Well, the mathematician proved a dozen other theorems, so not only to understand them - it is difficult to pronounce, the language will break about the special terms that this science is stuffed with Here remains mathematics all the time as if in the shadows . But new results in mathematics are waiting for physicists, and chemists, and biologists, and engineers. And not only wait, but include mathematicians in their research groups. Because mathematics allows you to write down any phenomena using formulas, and then from these formulas you can get as much information about the object of research as you can not get from hundreds of observations. Writing about mathematics is difficult. Each of her theorems is based on other theorems, like bricks of a high tower, and in order to get to the upper rows, you have to climb a high steep wall, mastering the achievements of previous generations of mathematicians. However, some modern methods of mathematics can sometimes be told to a layman, which I tried to do in this book. The short stories from which the book is composed can be read in any order, but in each chapter the first stories are simpler and the last more difficult. About the author. Anatoly Pavlovich Savin (1932 - 1998) - scientist, popularizer of mathematics, author of many articles and books for youth, permanent member of the editorial board of the journal "Quantum", presenter of the section "Quantum" for junior schoolchildren, creator, organizer and inspirer of the competition "Mathematics 6-8" . The account of Anatoly Pavlovich's students goes to hundreds of thousands - from those who once went to his classes in a mathematical circle, to all those who read his books and solved his problems - to all of you, our readers. How many people first touched mathematics through him, felt its beauty, understood the taste of a beautiful task! Not all of them became mathematicians, but I want to believe that this light did not go out in each of them ... Our loss is irreparable, but a person is alive as long as he is remembered and loved, and we remember and love Anatoly Pavlovich, and therefore he is with us. P. S. Scan - my, processing and creating a book - bga.