The universe and the teacup : the mathematics of truth and beauty

Filled with “a thousand fascinating facts and shrewd observations (Martin Gardner, Los Angeles Times), this “beguiling and lucid book” (San Francisco Chronicle) demonstrates how the truth and beauty of everything, from relativity to rainbows, is all in the numbers. Line drawings. Discusses The Relevance Of Mathematics To Most Aspects Of Life, And Directly Relates Ideas From Math To Problem Solving In Unusual Places, Such As Whether There Is Life On Mars, And The Unabomber Case. Ch. 1. What's Math Got To Do With It -- Pt 1. Where Mind Meets Math -- Ch. 2. Exponential Amplification -- Ch. 3. Calculated Risks -- Pt. 2. Interpreting The Physical World -- Ch. 4. Measure Of Man, Woman, And Thing -- Ch. 5. Matter Of Scale -- Ch. 6. Emerging Properties: More Is Different -- Ch. 7. Mathematics Of Prediction -- Ch. 8. Signal In The Haystack -- Pt. 3. Interpreting The Social World -- Ch. 9. Voting: Lani Guinier Was Right -- Ch. 10. Fair Division: The Wisdom Of Solomon -- Ch. 11. Mathematics Of Kindness: Math Proves The Golden Rule -- Pt. 4. Mathematics Of Truth -- Ch. 12. Truth About Why Things Happen -- Ch. 13. Burden Of Proof -- Ch. 14. Emmy And Albert: The Unvarying Nature Of Truth. K.c. Cole. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [203]-208) And Index. Mathematics is the breathtaking invention of ours that expands the reach of the human mind, puts us in touch with the tiniest particles of physics, and takes us to the outermost reaches of the cosmos. Perhaps because of its power and its abstraction, math scares many people. The Universe and the Teacup is a poetic and passionate book that reveals how the tools of mathematics get us to these fundamental truths and shows us why math need not be intimidating. Using the O. J. Simpson trial and the Lani Guinier affair, the bell curve and Emmy Noether, the nineteenth-century woman scientist whose work was essential for Einstein's Theory of Relativity, Cole shows how mathematics breaks the mind barrier. Explores how mathematics can explain such events as the O.J. Simpson verdict and the errors undermining the infamous "Bell Curve," and introduces a little-known woman without whom the theory of relativity never would have worked Finding out what's true is a central passion of human activity.