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How to Bake Pi

Audiobook
Nonfiction: Mathematics
Unabridged   8.25 hour(s)
Publication date: 05/05/2015

How to Bake Pi

An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics

Available from major retailers or BUY FROM AMAZON
Audio CD ISBN:9781622316687
Digital Download ISBN:9781622316694

Summary

A groundbreaking popular book that uses cooking to shed light on the heart of mathematics.

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Product Description

What is math? And how exactly does it work? In How to Bake Pi, math professor Eugenia Cheng provides an accessible introduction to the logic of mathematics— sprinkled throughout with recipes for everything from crispy duck to cornbread—that illustrates to the general reader the beauty of math. Rather than dwell on the math of our high school classes, with formulas to memorize and confusing symbols to decipher, Cheng takes us into a world of abstract mathematics, showing us how math can be so much more than we ever thought possible.

Cheng is an expert on category theory, a cutting-edge subject that is all about figuring out how math works, a kind of mathematics of mathematics. In How to Bake Pi, Cheng starts with the basic question “What is math?” to explain concepts like abstraction, generalization, and idealization. By going back to the logical foundation of the math we all know (and may or may not love), she shows that math is actually designed to make difficult things easier. From there, she introduces us to category theory, explaining how it works to organize and simplify the whole discipline of mathematics. The result is a book that combines some of the most satisfying features of popular math books while still looking long and hard into unexplored territory.

Through lively writing and easy-to-follow explanations, How to Bake Pi takes even the most hardened math-phobe on a journey to the cutting edge of mathematical research.

Reviews/Praise

“It would seem that the only thing more complicated than reading a book on mathematics would be listening to a book on mathematics. Reader Gilbert, however, has made Cheng’s surprisingly accessible book on category theory not only understandable but entertaining.”
      —Booklist starred review [October 15, 2015]

Author Bio

EUGENIA CHENG is a senior lecturer in mathematics at the University of Sheffield in the UK and a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Chicago. She has been interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s More or Less and Woman’s Hour, and was one of 32 female experts selected for the BBC Academy Expert Training Day