Showing results by author "Eugenia Cheng" in All Categories

From imaginary numbers to the perplexing order of operations we all had drilled into us, Eugenia Cheng—mathematician, writer and woman on a mission to rid the world of maths phobia—brings us maths as we've never seen it before, revealing how profound insights can emerge from seemingly unlikely sources. Written with intelligence and passion, Is Maths Real? is a celebration of the true, curious spirit of the discipline.

Emotions are powerful. In newspaper headlines and on social media, they have become the primary way of understanding the world. But strong feelings make it more difficult to see the reality behind the rhetoric. In The Art of Logic, Eugenia Cheng shows how mathematical logic can help us see things more clearly - and know when politicians and companies are trying to mislead us.

At first glance, the concept of equality in maths seems unambiguous. When we see the equality sign, we think of 'solving for x' or balancing two sides of an equation or maybe even the many famous equations that make use of this elegant, innocuous symbol: =. But between those parallel lines lies a mathematical playground of choice and abstraction, leading to far greater insight than you could have dreamed.

Science and maths have never been the preserve of lone geniuses: collaboration has always been at the heart of intellectual endeavour. But to this day, men like Einstein remain the pervasive archetype of genius and the intellectual contributions of women past and present have gone unacknowledged. x+y is one mathematician's manifesto for how we can fix that - and why that requires rethinking how we think about thinking itself.

Aspiring bakers will embrace this charming picture book about baking pie by using simple math, from one of the world’s most creative and celebrated mathematicians. X + Y are dreaming of baking infinite pie. But they don’t know if infinite pie is real. With the help of quirky and uber-smart...