The Joy Of X: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity

Steven Strogatz

Oct 2012 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

“Delightful . . . easily digestible chapters include plenty of helpful examples and illustrations. You'll never forget the Pythagorean theorem again!”—Scientific American

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, insight, and brilliant illustrations.

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.

Ratings and reviews

This looks to be a great book based on the sample chapters. Unfortunately, the Play store only provides "Features" and "Best For" keywords instead of simply stating whether a title is DRM-restricted. Returned.

I think it's distinctly amusing that the tile of this book is "From ONE to infinity", yet the book almost immediately starts out by talking about negative numbers ;) It's a FASCINATING read that will change the way you see numbers... Even if you think you don't like math, this book will enlighten and bemuse you. And that's a promise. Just read the sample, you'll see.

An extraordinary book to understand math! From the very simple to the complicated, this book has something to blow your mind in each chapter, no matter how much or little your math education is.

About the author

STEVEN STROGATZ is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics at Cornell University. A renowned teacher and one of the world’s most highly cited mathematicians, he has blogged about math for the New York Times and The New Yorker and has been a frequent guest on Radiolab and Science Friday. He is the author of Sync and The Joy of x. He lives in Ithaca, New York.