We've all heard that a picture is worth a thousand words, but what if we don't understand what we're looking at? Social media has made charts, infographics, and diagrams ubiquitous-and easier to share than ever. We associate charts with science and reason; the flashy visuals are both appealing and persuasive. Pie charts, maps, bar and line graphs, and scatter plots (to name a few) can better inform us, revealing patterns and trends hidden behind the numbers we encounter in our lives. In short, good charts make us smarter-if we know how to read them.
However, they can also lead us astray. Charts lie in a variety of ways-displaying incomplete or inaccurate data, suggesting misleading patterns, and concealing uncertainty-or are frequently misunderstood, such as the confusing cone of uncertainty maps shown on TV every hurricane season. To make matters worse, many of us are ill-equipped to interpret the visuals that politicians, journalists, advertisers, and even our employers present each day, enabling bad actors to easily manipulate them to promote their own agendas.
In How Charts Lie, data visualization expert Alberto Cairo teaches us to not only spot the lies in deceptive visuals, but also to take advantage of good ones to understand complex stories.
In the eighteenth century, the British minister and mathematician Thomas Bayes devised a theorem that allowed him to assign probabilities to events that had never happened before. It languished in obscurity for centuries until computers came along and made it easy to crunch the numbers. Now, as the foundation of big data, Bayes's formula has become a linchpin of the digital economy.
But here's where things get really interesting: Bayes's theorem can also be used to lay odds on the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence; on whether we live in a Matrix-like counterfeit of reality; on the 'many worlds' interpretation of quantum theory being correct; and on the biggest question of all: how long will humanity survive?
The Doomsday Calculation tells how Silicon Valley's profitable formula became a controversial pivot of contemporary thought. Drawing on interviews with thought leaders around the globe, it's the story of a group of intellectual mavericks who are challenging what we thought we knew about our place in the universe. The Doomsday Calculation is a must-listen for anyone interested in our culture and its future.
A Fields medalist recounts his lifelong transnational effort to uncover the geometric shape-the Calabi-Yau manifold-that may store the hidden dimensions of our universe.
Harvard geometer and Fields medalist Shing-Tung Yau has provided a mathematical foundation for string theory, offered new insights into black holes, and mathematically demonstrated the stability of our universe. In this autobiography, Yau reflects on his improbable journey to becoming one of the world's most distinguished mathematicians. Beginning with an impoverished childhood in China and Hong Kong, Yau takes readers through his doctoral studies at Berkeley during the height of the Vietnam War protests, his Fields Medal-winning proof of the Calabi conjecture, his return to China, and his pioneering work in geometric analysis. This new branch of geometry, which Yau built up with his friends and colleagues, has paved the way for solutions to several important and previously intransigent problems. With complicated ideas explained for a broad audience, this book offers listeners not only insights into the life of an eminent mathematician, but also an accessible way to understand advanced and highly abstract concepts in mathematics and theoretical physics.
'Another terrific book by Rob Eastaway' SIMON SINGH
'A delightfully accessible guide to how to play with numbers' HANNAH FRY
How many cats are there in the world?
What's the chance of winning the lottery twice?
And just how long does it take to count to a million?
Learn how to tackle tricky maths problems with nothing but the back of an envelope, a pencil and some good old-fashioned brain power.
Join Rob Eastaway as he takes an entertaining look at how to figure without a calculator. Packed with amusing anecdotes, quizzes, and handy calculation tips for every situation, Maths on the Back of an Envelope is an invaluable introduction to the art of estimation, and a welcome reminder that sometimes our own brain is the best tool we have to deal with numbers.
For seven years, Paul Lockhart's A Mathematician's Lament enjoyed a samizdat-style popularity in the mathematics underground, before demand prompted its 2009 publication to even wider applause and debate. An impassioned critique of K-12 mathematics education, it outlined how we shortchange students by introducing them to math the wrong way. Here Lockhart offers the positive side of the math education story by showing us how math should be done. Measurement offers a permanent solution to math phobia by introducing us to mathematics as an artful way of thinking and living.
In conversational prose that conveys his passion for the subject, Lockhart makes mathematics accessible without oversimplifying. He makes no more attempt to hide the challenge of mathematics than he does to shield us from its beautiful intensity. Favoring plain English over jargon and formulas, he succeeds in making complex ideas about the mathematics of shape and motion intuitive and graspable. His elegant discussion of mathematical reasoning and themes in classical geometry offers proof of his conviction that mathematics illuminates art as much as science.
Measurement is an invitation to summon curiosity, courage, and creativity in order to experience firsthand the playful excitement of mathematical work.
Bestseller over cijfers en feiten
Een van de belangrijkste boeken die ik ooit heb gelezen.' Bill Gates
'Iedereen zou dit boek moeten lezen.' de Volkskrant
Wat is nu de gemiddelde levensverwachting in de wereld?
Hoeveel meisjes maken de basisschool af?
Welk percentage van de wereldbevolking leeft in armoede?
Op eenvoudige vragen over wereldwijde trends geven we systematisch de verkeerde antwoorden. Het is zelfs zo erg dat een chimpansee die willekeurig antwoorden kiest consequent leraren, journalisten, Nobelprijswinnaars en studenten overtreft.
In Feitenkennis legt hoogleraar Internationale Gezondheid en wereldfenomeen Hans Rosling uit waarom dit gebeurt. Hij presenteert daarbij tien redenen en komt zo met een radicaal nieuwe verklaring.
Ons probleem is dat we niet weten wat we niet weten, en dat zelfs onze gissingen gebaseerd zijn op onbewuste en voorspelbare vooroordelen. Het blijkt dat onze wereld in een veel betere staat is dan we denken. Dat betekent niet dat er geen echte zorgen zijn. Maar als we ons de hele tijd zorgen maken om de verkeerde dingen en ons niet richten op de feiten, kunnen we het zicht verliezen op de dingen die ons het meest bedreigen.
Feitenkennis zit boordevol anekdotes, aangrijpende verhalen en uiteraard met de kenmerkende grafieken van Rosling.
Without calculus, we wouldn't have cell phones, TV, GPS, or ultrasound. We wouldn't have unraveled DNA or discovered Neptune or figured out how to put 5,000 songs in your pocket.
Though many of us were scared away from this essential, engrossing subject in high school and college, Steven Strogatz's brilliantly creative, down to earth history shows that calculus is not about complexity; it's about simplicity. It harnesses an unreal number-infinity-to tackle real world problems, breaking them down into easier ones and then reassembling the answers into solutions that feel miraculous.
Infinite Powers recounts how calculus tantalized and thrilled its inventors, starting with its first glimmers in ancient Greece and bringing us right up to the discovery of gravitational waves. Strogatz reveals how this form of math rose to the challenges of each age: how to determine the area of a circle with only sand and a stick; how to explain why Mars goes 'backwards' sometimes; how to turn the tide in the fight against AIDS.
As Strogatz proves, calculus is truly the language of the universe. By unveiling the principles of that language, Infinite Powers makes us marvel at the world anew.
Many people take math in high school and promptly forget much of it. But math plays a part in all of our lives all of the time, whether we know it or not. In The Joy of x, Steven Strogatz expands on his hit New York Times series to explain the big ideas of math gently and clearly, with wit, and insight.
Whether he is illuminating how often you should flip your mattress to get the maximum lifespan from it, explaining just how Google searches the internet, or determining how many people you should date before settling down, Strogatz shows how math connects to every aspect of life. Discussing pop culture, medicine, law, philosophy, art, and business, Strogatz is the math teacher you wish you'd had. Whether you aced integral calculus or aren't sure what an integer is, you'll find profound wisdom and persistent delight in The Joy of x.
The statistics concept is a vital source that is used commonly in the discipline of mathematics. It is crucial and plays a very significant role in order to understand the arrangement as well as the representation of data. There can be different ways through which data can be demonstrated, and statistics is one of them. It is extremely important in order to show the reposts of a company whether it is about its progress and sales or profit or loss. The concept of statistics has a variety of measurements that are used in order to evaluate and demonstrate a data set in a better way. This concept or discipline also make very good use of the pictorial forms such as bar graphs, wheels, etc. in order to show and demonstrate a report. Undoubtedly, the statistics and its concepts have a vital role to play when it comes to demonstrating the data and progress of different industries and sectors.
The Golden Ratio is an irrational number and simultaneously an excellent technique which bestows a lot to those who are into the designing field. It helps in a number of things, which are essential for the proper construction of architecture as well as designing. The Golden ratio has a lot of names which are famous for the discrete tasks which can be performed by the Golden Ratio and so accordingly it is named.
The Golden Ratio was used by a number of distinguished mathematicians and artists, which have also created some great masterpieces which are well-known and famous worldwide. These masterpieces include the many architectural buildings, sculptors, images, paintings, designs etc.
The Golden ratio is an amazing technique and most probably the only one technique, which is present in a number of domains such as mathematics, physics, art, architecture, paintings etc. The Golden Ratio is directly related to nature, which makes it more interesting and easy going.
Statistics has been derived from the Latin word 'status, an Italian word 'statist' or a German word 'Statistic', all of which means a 'political state'. The use of statistics has been employed in various fields like biostatics, agriculture, economics, sociology, business management etc.
The field of statistics is not afresh, and its beginning can be dated back to the times of the beginning of the human activities. However, the utilization of statistics has increased over the years when it first began to be used. In the earlier times statistics was referred to as the science of statecraft and was used for collecting data related to population count in the ruler's area, crime, mortality, income, birth rate and was also used for keeping a track of the key events of the time for administrative purposes. However, in the modern times, the use of statistics has been employed in a variety of fields. Its use has been extended in the areas of formulation and prediction of future plans and policies of the state administration.
The word statistics is used in multiple number of ways depending on its use. There are some instances where it is used in plural form that reflects upon the word 'statistics' being referred to as numerical data and statements. There are other instances where it is used in singular form to refer to the subject of study just like any other subject like mathematics, economics etc.
The importance of statistics has subsequently increased over all these passing years. It is because of the benefits that it provides to the user. The statistical findings have made assumption of anomalous information easy. In fact, the use of the statistical thinking has become necessary for the citizens.
