The Joy of X cover art

The Joy of X

A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity

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The Joy of X

By: Steven Strogatz
Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
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About this listen

Many people take math in high school and promptly forget much of it. But math plays a part in all of our lives all of the time, whether we know it or not. In The Joy of x, Steven Strogatz expands on his hit New York Times series to explain the big ideas of math gently and clearly, with wit, and insight.

Whether he is illuminating how often you should flip your mattress to get the maximum lifespan from it, explaining just how Google searches the internet, or determining how many people you should date before settling down, Strogatz shows how math connects to every aspect of life. Discussing pop culture, medicine, law, philosophy, art, and business, Strogatz is the math teacher you wish you'd had. Whether you aced integral calculus or aren't sure what an integer is, you'll find profound wisdom and persistent delight in The Joy of x.

©2012 Steven Strogatz (P)2019 Tantor Engineering Mathematics
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have read a number of maths books recently, enjoyed this one. I found it glossed of some ideas I would have like to hear more about and got stuck on some I still recommend for people interested in the subject.

nice maths book

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very interesting book with lots of real life examples. I got the audible version and missed out on the images/diagrams, which would have helped visually with the topics more, but still very good. the author has a clear writing style which helps you follow along while still showing his enthusiasm for the subject. The narrator does an excellent job at getting across the enthusiasm, even for the harder topics, keeping you engaged throughout.

better read than listened to

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Due to age related problems and ADD which I've had my entire life I've listened to this many times and am listening yet again. If I didn't multitask while listening maybe I'd be able to switch to a different audiobook sooner. I do love this. While I have zoned out at certain parts and need to relisten to some parts again, and probably again, I've definitely understood for the first time some things I should have grasped as a small child. Even the parts that I had already discovered thanks to other audiobooks and the text format, the explanations here helped reinforce what I think I understood. Hopefully most of it will stick a lot longer. We shall see. Even the bits I'm still vague about, even those parts were entertaining, most of the time.

I'm so grateful

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A fun quick trip in arithmetic, maths and geometry that doesn’t labour on the teaching. Like all maths audiobooks can fall down in references to mathematical symbols and graphs but not as frequently as some. Recommended as a refresher

Mathematics overview

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I really enjoyed infinite powers so followed on with this book but found it very difficult to listen too unfortunately. the narrators voice was just too much of a distraction and I found it got in the way of the story.

Horribly narrated

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