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Numbercrunch

12 Ways Numbers Make Sense of the World
By Professor Oliver Johnson
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Brief Description
Lucid and entertaining. With barely an equation in sight, Numbercrunch makes a passionate case for how just a little bit more numeracy could help us all. - Tom Whipple, The Times The perfect introduction to the power of mathematics - fluent, friendly and practical. - Tim... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2799
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This is a mathematician's toolkit for cutting through wall-to-wall information overload and making sense of our modern world.

This is a mathematician's toolkit for cutting through wall-to-wall information overload and making sense of our modern world.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Lucid and entertaining. With barely an equation in sight, Numbercrunch makes a passionate case for how just a little bit more numeracy could help us all.

- Tom Whipple, The Times

The perfect introduction to the power of mathematics - fluent, friendly and practical.

- Tim Harford, bestselling author of How to Make the World Add Up

In our hyper-modern world, we are bombarded with more facts, stats and information than ever before. So, what can we grasp hold of to make sense of it all?

Oliver Johnson reveals how mathematical thinking can help us understand the myriad data all around us. From the exponential growth of viruses to social media filter-bubbles; from share-price fluctuations to the growth of computing power; from the datafication of our sports pages to quantifying climate change.

Not to mention the things much closer to home: ever wondered when the best time is to leave a party? What are the chances of rain ruining your barbecue this weekend? How about which queue is the best to join in the supermarket?

Journeying through the three sections of Randomness, Structure, and Information, we meet a host of brilliant minds such as Alan Turing, Enrico Fermi, and Claude Shannon, and we learn the tools, tips and tricks to cut through the noise all around us - from the Law of Large Numbers to Entropy to Brownian Motion.

Lucid, surprising, and endlessly entertaining, Numbercrunch equips you with a definitive mathematician's toolkit to make sense of your world.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781788708371

Publisher: Bonnier Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 11 April 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Heligo Books

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 23.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 236g

Pages: 224

Collections

Education & Reference Non-Fiction Professor Oliver Johnson Science & Nature

About the Author

Oliver Johnson is Professor of Information Theory in the Institute for Statistical Science in the School of Mathematics at the University of Bristol. He was previously a research fellow at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. He has frequently appeared on BBC Radio 4 and written for the Spectator, and has been quoted in a variety of newspapers including The Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and New York Times. Oliver is on Twitter as @BristOliver, where he tweets about maths, music and Aston Villa. He lives in Bristol.

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