A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper: Making Sense of the Numbers in the Headlines - Softcover

Paulos, John Allen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140251812 ISBN 13: 9780140251814

Publisher: Penguin, 1996

Synopsis

From crime figures to health scares, election polls to stock market forecasts, numbers make the news all the time. But are they accurate?

John Allen Paulos, travels through the pages of an average newspaper, revealing how mathematics is at the heart of the articles we read every day - even horoscopes and the sports pages - and how often they mislead us. By understanding simple concepts such as probability, chaos theory and game theory, you'll be able to see through faulty statistics, stock market forecasters and conspiracy theorists - and make the figures truly add up.

About this title

Review:

Mathematics is all around you. And it's a great defence against the sharks, cowboys and liars who want your vote, your money, or your life - as Paulos's latest book makes crystal clear (Ian Stewart, author of Does God Play Dice?)

Synopsis:

In this book, John Allen Paulos continues his liberating campaign against mathematical illiteracy. Although a lover of newspapers, he recognizes that they do not give us the truth in black or white. Whatever they tell us about health scares or racial quotas, voting patterns or DNA testing, this book argues that it is certain to be simplified. Chaos theory, for example, reveals why it is pointless to predict economic or environmental trends. This series of essays takes the reader through an imaginary newspaper - from politics and business to arts and sports - and looks at the ways in which we use maths, roaming through such mathematical and scientific issues as probability, chaos theory, paradox, game theories and their bearing on our everyday existence.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0140251812
• ISBN 13: 9780140251814
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224