Mathmatters: The Hidden Calculations of Everyday Life

Description

Mathmatters is a humorous guide to the hidden calculations that are essential to everything we do. From making a cup of coffee to negotiating traffic to selecting candidates for an interview, we can't make it through the day without employing some essential mathematics. Did you know that there are some serious calculations involved in making the perfect cup of coffee (involving ratios)? That an understanding of Braess's paradox will mean you can remain calm about road closures on your commute as they may make your journey faster (using equations relating to speed/distance/time)? Or that your online shopping habit can teach you about game theory (mathematical models of strategies)? Full of easy-to-understand mathematics and fun, if not entirely helpful, illustrations, Mathmatters is your essential guide to understanding the rules and measures that surround us every day, and determine the outcome of every move we make, every button we press and much of our decision-making, whether we are aware of it or not.

Chris Waring studied for a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College, London before becoming a maths teacher. Since then he has taught small children and Oxbridge candidates and everybody in between. He is the author of An Equation for Every Occasion, Maths in Bite-sized Chunks and From Zero to Infinity in 26 Centuries, also published by Michael O'Mara Books.