all Products Applied Mathematics

How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking

Ellenberg, Jordan

Select Format

Print Book

Paperback

Item Condition New

$19.00 USD $31.67 USD

$19.00 USD

~~$31.67 USD~~ $19.00 USD

Sale Sold out

Shipping calculated at checkout.

Quantity

View full details

"Witty, compelling, and just plain fun to read . . ." --Evelyn Lamb, Scientific American

The Freakonomics of math--a math-world superstar unveils the hidden beauty and logic of the world and puts its power in our hands

The math we learn in school can seem like a dull set of rules, laid down by the ancients and not to be questioned. In How Not to Be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg shows us how terribly limiting this view is: Math isn't confined to abstract incidents that never occur in real life, but rather touches everything we do--the whole world is shot through with it.

Math allows us to see the hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of our world. It's a science of not being wrong, hammered out by centuries of hard work and argument. Armed with the tools of mathematics, we can see through to the true meaning of information we take for granted: How early should you get to the airport? What does "public opinion" really represent? Why do tall parents have shorter children? Who really won Florida in 2000? And how likely are you, really, to develop cancer?

How Not to Be Wrong presents the surprising revelations behind all of these questions and many more, using the mathematician's method of analyzing life and exposing the hard-won insights of the academic community to the layman--minus the jargon. Ellenberg chases mathematical threads through a vast range of time and space, from the everyday to the cosmic, encountering, among other things, baseball, Reaganomics, daring lottery schemes, Voltaire, the replicability crisis in psychology, Italian Renaissance painting, artificial languages, the development of non-Euclidean geometry, the coming obesity apocalypse, Antonin Scalia's views on crime and punishment, the psychology of slime molds, what Facebook can and can't figure out about you, and the existence of God.

Ellenberg pulls from history as well as from the latest theoretical developments to provide those not trained in math with the knowledge they need. Math, as Ellenberg says, is "an atomic-powered prosthesis that you attach to your common sense, vastly multiplying its reach and strength." With the tools of mathematics in hand, you can understand the world in a deeper, more meaningful way. How Not to Be Wrong will show you how.

Accessories:

No Accessory

Publisher

PENGUIN GROUP

Bisac Major Subject

Mathematics

Binding Type

Paperback

Country Of Origin

Number Of Units

Length

8.6 Inches

Barcode Indicator

EAN

Width

5.3 Inches

Publication Date

2015-05-26

Height

1.0 Inches

ISBN 10

0143127535

Weight

0.85 Pounds

Book EAN

9780143127536

Target Audiance

Adults

User reviews will be displayed here...

Item added to your cart

How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking