How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking

The book How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking is an "exploration of the practical applications of mathematics, empowering readers to make better decisions, challenge assumptions, and navigate the complexities of the world with mathematical thinking."^[1]

The book How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellenberg is a 2014 best-selling book by Jordan Ellenberg. Ellenberg is a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard and an MFA in creative writing from Johns Hopkins. His areas of research specialization are number theory and algebraic geometry.

Key focus of the book: The book How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking is an "exploration of the practical applications of mathematics, empowering readers to make better decisions, challenge assumptions, and navigate the complexities of the world with mathematical thinking."^[2]

Book summary from Amazon.com:

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The math we learn in school can seem like a dull set of rules, laid down by the ancients and not to be questioned. In How Not to Be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg shows us how terribly limiting this view is: Math isn't confined to abstract incidents that never occur in real life, but rather touches everything we do--the whole world is shot through with it.

Math allows us to see the hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of our world. It's a science of not being wrong, hammered out by centuries of hard work and argument. Armed with the tools of mathematics, we can see through to the true meaning of information we take for granted: How early should you get to the airport? What does "public opinion" really represent? Why do tall parents have shorter children? Who really won Florida in 2000? And how likely are you, really, to develop cancer?

How Not to Be Wrong presents the surprising revelations behind all of these questions and many more, using the mathematician's method of analyzing life and exposing the hard-won insights of the academic community to the layman--minus the jargon...

Ellenberg pulls from history as well as from the latest theoretical developments to provide those not trained in math with the knowledge they need. Math, as Ellenberg says, is "an atomic-powered prosthesis that you attach to your common sense, vastly multiplying its reach and strength." With the tools of mathematics in hand, you can understand the world in a deeper, more meaningful way. How Not to Be Wrong will show you how.^[3]

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