Six Maths Essentials
Found a better price? Request a price match
Six Maths Essentials
Latest News
Celebrating Roald Dahl and the team's favourite stories
Roald Dahl day takes place on September 13th and the Book Hero team is reflecting...
Meet Serena: The Month I Finally Started Reading Again
After months of being stuck in a reading slump, Serena set herself one simple goal...
I'm spending book money on puzzles (and it's all Amelia's fault)
Lizzy is sharing her current plight, struggling with having money left over for books when...
New Rolife Just Arrived π
Our Rolife range just got even bigger! Discover heaps of new DIY miniature houses, book...
Everyone is reading Dungeon Crawler Carl - And you should too!
Dungeon Crawler Carl is the latest series that everyone has been reading and talking about....
See moreThe 'Mozart of mathematics' (New York Times) takes us on a tour of the core ideas of mathematical thinking.
In Six Maths Essentials, the renowned mathematician Terence Tao shows how mathematics has evolved from counting and geometry into a flexible set of tools for understanding an increasingly complex world. He moves effortlessly from children discovering infinity through play to the numbers that underpin our online lives; from Johannes Kepler using algebra to price a barrel of wine to curved geometries that explain why GPS works and planes don't fly in straight lines on a map. Along the way, dice games, insurance policies and financial crises illuminate probability's promise - and its limits - while deceptively simple rules give rise to chaos, pattern and life itself.
Six Maths Essentials, Tao's first popular maths book, provides a glimpse into the workings of his incomparable mind and how he thinks about the creativity and interconnectedness of the mathematical enterprise. Contrary to popular perception, mathematics, he insists, isn't magic. It's a powerful way of thinking from first principles and of modelling the world that anyone can learn.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780241829486
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 27 October 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Pelican
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 25.0mm
Width: 138.0mm
Height: 222.0mm
Weight: 400g
Pages: 160
About the Author
Terence Tao is an Australian American professor of mathematics based at UCLA. The recipient of a Fields Medal, a MacArthur Genius Grant and a Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, among many other accolades, he is one of the most decorated and prolific mathematicians working today.
More from Science & Nature
View allWhy buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
Science & Nature lists from the team
Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!



