“결국 수학적인 것이 살아남는다”

급변하는 세상, 수학은 언제나 올바른 도구다

 

내가 보유한 주식이 오를지 내릴지 예측할 수 있을까? 오늘 프리미어리그에서 토트넘이 득점할 확률은 얼마일까? 중요한 결정 상황에서 ‘틀리지 않는’ 전략은 무엇일까? 이 모든 질문을 단숨에 해결해줄 강력한 무기가 있다. 바로 수학이다. 당신이 수포자였든 아니든, 수학은 일상에서 마주하는 거의 모든 문제를 해결한다. 아주 쉽고 간단하게, 하지만 정확하게. 《수학의 힘》에서 다루는 수학은 남들에게 뽐내거나 문제를 풀 때나 필요한 그럴듯한 전문지식이 아니다. 이것은 당신의 삶을 ‘실제로’ 바꿔줄 힘에 관한 책이다.

 

'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 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 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.