Professor Ian Stewart

Uncertainty is everywhere. It lurks in every consideration of the future— the weather, the economy, the sex of an unborn child— even quantities we think that we know, such as populations or the transit of the planets, contain the possibility of error. It's no wonder that, throughout history, we have attempted to produce rigidly defined areas of uncertainty—we prefer the...

What's the Use? asks why there is such a vast gulf between public perceptions of mathematics and reality. It shows how mathematics is vital, often in surprising ways, behind the scenes of daily life. How politicians pick their voters. How an absurd little puzzle solved 300 years ago leads to efficient methods for kidney transplants. How an Irish mathematician's obsession...

From the bestselling author of Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities 'Britain's most brilliant and prolific populariser of maths' ALEX BELLOS What is the maximum land you can enclose inside a given border? What is the minimum number of colours you can use to colour in a map so that no region shares a shade? And how do you calculate...

'Stewart is Britain's most brilliant and prolific populariser of maths' - Alex Bellos 'The instructive equivalent of a Michelin-starred tasting menu' - Tim Radford Many people think mathematics is useless. They're wrong. In the UK, the 2.8 million people employed in mathematical science occupations contributed £208 billion to the economy in a single year - that's 10 per cent of...

School maths is not the interesting part. The real fun is elsewhere. Like a magpie, Ian Stewart has collected the most enlightening, entertaining and vexing 'curiosities' of maths over the years. Now, the private collection is displayed in his cabinet. There are some hidden gems of logic, geometry and probability – like how to extract a cherry from a cocktail...