内容简介

“A dizzying, dazzling debut.” —Nature

“A welcome addition to the math-for-people-who-hate-math genre...All but the stubbornly innumerate will enjoy this amusing mathematical miscellany.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Kit Yates is a brilliant explainer and storyteller. Perhaps most charming of all, his stories are a bit like Sherlock Holmes tales: mysteries whose solutions seem surprising and then elementary, once the clever reasoning behind them is revealed. I loved this book and learned something on every page.”

—Steven Strogatz, professor of mathematics, Cornell University, and author of Infinite Powers and The Joy of X

“Kit Yates shows how our private and social lives are suffused by mathematics. Ignorance may bring tragedy or farce. This is an exquisitely interesting book. It’s a deeply serious one too and, for those like me who have little math, it’s delightfully readable.”

—Ian McEwan, author of Atonement

“Kit Yates is a natural storyteller. Through fascinating stories and examples, he shows how math is the beating heart of so much of modern life. An exciting new voice in the world of science communication.”

—Marcus du Sautoy, author of The Music of the Primes

“Used wisely, mathematics can save your life. Used unwisely, it can ruin it. A lucid and enthralling account of why math matters in everyone’s life. A real eye-opener.”

—Ian Stewart, author of In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed the World

作者简介

Kit Yates is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences and codirector of the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Bath. He completed his PhD in mathematics at the University of Oxford in 2011. His research demonstrates that mathematics can be used to describe all sorts of real-world phenomena: from embryo formation to locust swarming and from ...

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精彩摘录

TimeFliesWhenYou'reGettingOldOnetheorynotesthatourmetabolismslowsaswegetolder,matchingtheslowingofourheartbeatsandourbreathing.Justaswithastopwatchthatissettorunfast,children'sversionofthese"biologicalclocks"tickmorequickly.Inafixedperiodoftimechildrenexperiencemorebeatsofthesebiologicalpacemakers(breathsorheartbeats),makingthemfeelasifalongertimehaselapsed.Acompetingtheorysuggeststhatourperceptionoftime'spassagedependsupontheamountofnewperceptualinformationwearesubjectedtofromourenvironment.Themorenovelstimuli,thelongerourbrainstaketoprocesstheinformation.Thecorrespondingperiodoftimeseem,satleastinretrospect,tolastlonger.Itmightbethatratherthantimeactuallyslo...

——引自第36页

Mathematicsprovidesmultiplewaystobeeconomicalwiththetruth.Thestatsproclaimedinnewspapers,championedinads,orspoutedbypoliticiansarefrequentlymisleading,occasionallydisingenuous,butrarelycompletelyincorrect.Theseedsofthetruthareusuallycontainedwithintheirfigures,butrarelythewholefruit.Sometimesthesedistortionsarearesultofwillfulmisrepresentation,whileonotheroccasionstheperpetratorsaregenuinelyunawareofthebiastheyareimposingortheerrorsintheircalculations.Inhisclassicbook,HowtoLiewithStatistics,DarrellHuffsuggeststhat"despiteitsmathematicalbase,statisticsisasmuchanartasitisascience."Ultimately,thedegreetowhichwebelievethestatswecomeacrossshoulddependonhowcompleteapicture...

——引自第143页