Humble Pi When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World
Humble Pi When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World by Matt Parker, published by Penguin on January 19, 2021, is a 336-page exploration of the unexpected consequences of mathematical errors in everyday life. This book addresses the common question of how math applies to real-world situations, revealing how miscalculations can lead to significant outcomes, from financial disasters to engineering failures.
Readers will discover a range of amusing and informative anecdotes about mathematical mishaps that have impacted various aspects of society, including the internet, elections, and even historical events. Matt Parker delves into the quirks of mathematics, illustrating how simple mistakes, such as a misplaced decimal or a unit conversion error, can lead to chaos. With a blend of humor and insight, this edition invites readers to appreciate the critical role of math in our lives while acknowledging that everyone makes mistakes.
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The book-length answer to anyone who ever put their hand up in math class and asked, “When am I ever going to use this in the real world?”
“Fun, informative, and relentlessly entertaining, Humble Pi is a charming and very readable guide to some of humanity’s all-time greatest miscalculations—that also gives you permission to feel a little better about some of your own mistakes.” —Ryan North, author of How to Invent Everything
Our whole world is built on math, from the code running a website to the equations enabling the design of skyscrapers and bridges. Most of the time this math works quietly behind the scenes . . . until it doesn’t. All sorts of seemingly innocuous mathematical mistakes can have significant consequences.
Math is easy to ignore until a misplaced decimal point upends the stock market, a unit conversion error causes a plane to crash, or someone divides by zero and stalls a battleship in the middle of the ocean.
Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near misses, and mathematical mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman Empire, and an Olympic team, Matt Parker uncovers the bizarre ways math trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.
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