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  • Is Math Real?: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics' Deepest Truths by Eugenia Cheng book cover
  • Is Math Real?: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics' Deepest Truths by Eugenia Cheng book cover
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Is Math Real?: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics' Deepest Truths

by Eugenia Cheng

Questions at the heart of mathematics

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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

    The metadata states that this book won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

  • Editorial selection

    New Scientist Best Book of the Year

    Named a New Scientist Best Book of the Year.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Questions at the heart of mathematics

Eugenia Cheng approaches mathematics through the questions that give its ideas meaning, including the deceptively simple “Why does 1 + 1 = 2?” The book challenges the view of math as a sequence of rules and single correct answers, presenting curiosity as part of how mathematical understanding develops. Its focus is the philosophy of the subject: what mathematical truth is, how we come to it, and why asking basic questions can lead toward deeper ideas. This framing makes the book an exploration of both mathematics and the ways people are taught to think about it.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Adults interested in the history and philosophy of mathematics.
  • Readers who want to reconsider math beyond rules, procedures, and finding the right answer.
  • Those curious about how basic questions can open onto deeper mathematical ideas.

Themes

Mathematical truthCuriosity and questioningHow mathematics is taughtPhilosophy of mathematics

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

One of the world's most creative mathematicians offers a new way to look at math--focusing on questions, not answers    
  
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
A New Scientist Best Book of the Year   

"Brilliant." --Popular Science  

Where do we learn math: From rules in a textbook? From logic and deduction? Not really, according to mathematician Eugenia Cheng: we learn it from human curiosity--most importantly, from asking questions. This may come as a surprise to those who think that math is about finding the one right answer, or those who were told that the "dumb" question they asked just proved they were bad at math. But Cheng shows why people who ask questions like "Why does 1 + 1 = 2?" are at the very heart of the search for mathematical truth.    
  
Is Math Real? is a much-needed repudiation of the rigid ways we're taught to do math, and a celebration of the true, curious spirit of the discipline. Written with intelligence and passion, Is Math Real? brings us math as we've never seen it before, revealing how profound insights can emerge from seemingly unlikely sources.     
 
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