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Math with Bad Drawings: Illuminating the Ideas That Shape Our Reality - Hardcover | Diverse Reads

Math with Bad Drawings: Illuminating the Ideas That Shape Our Reality

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A hilarious reeducation in mathematics-full of joy, jokes, and stick figures-that sheds light on the countless practical and wonderful ways that math structures and shapes our world.

In Math With Bad Drawings, Ben Orlin reveals to us what math actually is; its myriad uses, its strange symbols, and the wild leaps of logic and faith that define the usually impenetrable work of the mathematician.

Truth and knowledge come in multiple forms: colorful drawings, encouraging jokes, and the stories and insights of an empathetic teacher who believes that math should belong to everyone. Orlin shows us how to think like a mathematician by teaching us a brand-new game of tic-tac-toe, how to understand an economic crises by rolling a pair of dice, and the mathematical headache that ensues when attempting to build a spherical Death Star.

Every discussion in the book is illustrated with Orlin's trademark "bad drawings," which convey his message and insights with perfect pitch and clarity. With 24 chapters covering topics from the electoral college to human genetics to the reasons not to trust statistics, Math with Bad Drawings is a life-changing book for the math-estranged and math-enamored alike.

ISBN-13: 9780316509039

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Running Press Book Publishers

Publication Date: 09-18-2018

Pages: 376

Product Dimensions: 7.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.40(d)

Ben Orlin is the author of the blog Math With Bad Drawings. He also writes on topics related to math for the Atlantic, Slate, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune. He began his teaching career in Oakland, California, and later taught at King Edward's School in Birmingham, England. He lives with his wife, a mathematician, in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

How To Think Like A Mathematician

1 Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe 7

2 What Does Math Look Like to Students? 20

3 What Does Math Look Like to Mathematicians? 22

4 How Science and Math See Each Other 30

5 Good Mathematician vs. Great Mathematician 38

II Design: The Geometry Of Stuff That Works

6 We Built This City on Triangles 52

7 Irrational Paper 65

8 The Square-Cube Fables 73

9 The Game of Dice 89

10 An Oral History of the Death Star 105

III Probability: The Mathematics Of Maybe

11 The 10 People You Meet in Line for the Lottery 123

12 Children of the Coin 141

13 What Does Probability Mean in Your Profession? 151

14 Weird Insurance 158

15 How to Break the Economy with a Single Pair of Dice 178

IV Statistics: The Fine Art of Honest Lying

16 Why Not to Trust Statistics 199

17 The Last .400 Hitter 218

18 Barbarians at the Gate of Science 231

19 The Scoreboard Wars 249

20 The Book Shredders 267

V On The CUSP: The Power of a Step

21 The Final Speck of Diamond Dust 286

22 Bracketology 299

23 One State, Two State, Red State, Blue State 314

24 The Chaos of History 329

Endnotes 346

Acknowledgments 368