Beyond Infinity : An Expedition to the Outer Limits of Mathematics

Emotions are powerful. In newspaper headlines, on social media and in political debates, they have become the primary way of understanding the world around us. But emotions have a way of obscuring the truth, and of making it more difficult to see the reality behind the rhetoric. In Thinking Better, Eugenia Cheng shows how mathematical logic can help us cut through the emotive yet illogical arguments that companies and politicians use to deceive us. First Cheng explains how mathematicians use black-and-white logic to build clear, irrefutable arguments, and how we can recognise when someone is using false logic to mislead us. Then - using debate-provoking examples from the modern world ranging from the United Airlines passenger fiasco to the question of free public healthcare - she shows how we can learn to apply logic to our messy world, where black and white merge through infinite shades of grey. Clear-sighted, revelatory and filled with useful real-world examples of logic and illogic at work, Beyond Infinity is an essential guide to the mathematician's art of thinking better. Even small children know there are infinitely many whole numbers - start counting and you'll never reach the end. But there are also infinitely many decimal numbers between zero and one. Are these two types of infinity the same? Are they larger or smaller than each other? Can we even talk about 'larger' and 'smaller' when we talk about infinity? In Beyond Infinity, international maths sensation Eugenia Cheng reveals the inner workings of infinity. What happens when a new guest arrives at your infinite hotel - but you already have an infinite number of guests? How does infinity give Zeno's tortoise the edge in a paradoxical foot-race with Achilles? And can we really make an infinite number of cookies from a finite amount of cookie dough? Wielding an armoury of inventive, intuitive metaphor, Cheng draws beginners and enthusiasts alike into the heart of this mysterious, powerful concept to reveal fundamental truths about mathematics, all the way from the infinitely large down to the infinitely small. "[Cheng] does a great service by showing us non-mathematician schlubs how real mathematical creativity works." —Wall Street Journal How big is the universe? How many numbers are there? And is infinity + 1 is the same as 1 + infinity? Such questions occur to young children and our greatest minds. And they are all the same question: What is infinity? In Beyond Infinity , Eugenia Cheng takes us on a staggering journey from elemental math to its loftiest abstractions. Along the way, she considers how to use a chessboard to plan a worldwide dinner party, how to make a chicken-sandwich sandwich, and how to create infinite cookies from a finite ball of dough. Beyond Infinity shows how one little symbol holds the biggest idea of all. How one powerful concept reveals the biggest (and smallest) mathematical truths How big is the universe? How many numbers are there? And is infinity + 1 is the same as 1 + infinity? Such questions occur to young children and our greatest minds. And they are all the same question: What is infinity? In Beyond Infinity , Eugenia Cheng takes us on a staggering journey from elemental math to its loftiest abstractions. Along the way, she considers how to use a chessboard to plan a worldwide dinner party, how to make a chicken-sandwich sandwich, and how to create infinite cookies from a finite ball of dough. Beyond Infinity shows how one little symbol holds the biggest idea of all. A mathematician and scientist in residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago helps readers explore the concept of infinity through unique concepts including chessboards, a chicken-sandwich sandwich and the creation of infinite cookies from an infinite dough ball.-- Source other than Library of Congress "The hilarious and charming Eugenia Cheng leads us in search of what's bigger than infinity, and smaller than its opposite, "--Amazon.com