Book
Humble pi : when math goes wrong in the real world / Matt Parker.
"This tour of real-world mathematical disasters reveals the importance of math in everyday life. All sorts of seemingly innocuous mathematical mistakes can have significant consequences. 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 ways math trips us up"-- Provided by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780593084687 (hardcover)
- Physical Description: 313 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Publisher: New York : Riverhead Books, 2020.
- Copyright: ©2019
Content descriptions
| General Note: | "First published in Great Britain as "Humble pi : a comedy of maths errors" by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK, 2019--Title page verso. Page numbers are in reverse order. Includes index. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Mathematics. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cookstown Branch | 510 Par | 31681010190049 | NONFIC | Available | - |
- Baker & Taylor
"This tour of real-world mathematical disasters reveals the importance of math in everyday life. All sorts of seemingly innocuous mathematical mistakes can have significant consequences. 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 ways math trips us up"-- - Penguin Putnam
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The book-length answer to anyone who ever put their hand up in math class and asked, âWhen am I ever going to use this in the real world?âÂ
âFun, informative, and relentlessly entertaining, Humble Pi is a charming and very readable guide to some of humanity's all-time greatest miscalculationsâthat also gives you permission to feel a little better about some of your own mistakes.â âRyan North, author of How to Invent EverythingÂ
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 doesnât. 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.
