A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper: Making Sense of the Numbers in the Headlines

Description

In this book, John Allen Paulos continues his liberating campaign against mathematical illiteracy. Although a lover of newspapers, he recognizes that they do not give us the truth in black or white. Whatever they tell us about health scares or racial quotas, voting patterns or DNA testing, this book argues that it is certain to be simplified. Chaos theory, for example, reveals why it is pointless to predict economic or environmental trends. This series of essays takes the reader through an imaginary newspaper - from politics and business to arts and sports - and looks at the ways in which we use maths, roaming through such mathematical and scientific issues as probability, chaos theory, paradox, game theories and their bearing on our everyday existence.

John Allen Paulos is professor of mathematics at Temple University in Philadelphia. He is author of several books, including the bestseller Innumeracy which was a New York Times bestseller for 18 weeks and A Mathematician Plays the Market. He has appeared on many television and radio shows in the United States and has contributed articles to the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the London Review of Books. In 2003, Paulos won the American Association for the Advancement of Science award for promoting public understanding of science.

Mathematics is all around you. And it's a great defence against the sharks, cowboys and liars who want your vote, your money, or your life - as Paulos's latest book makes crystal clear * Ian Stewart, author of Does God Play Dice? *