[1/2] What's the Use?: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics (This is the base. Why do we need mathematics in everyday life?) (Category Math)

It was with great pleasure that I read this popular science book by Ian Stewart. (Ian Stewart). The original came out in 2021 in English, and the Russian edition in 2024So the book is quite fresh:) The title of the book is the title of the article. 1960 Eugene Wigner the inexplicable effectiveness of mathematics. Ian’s goal in this book is to show that mathematics underlies almost all modern technology and affects all areas of life. He refutes the misconception that with the advent of computers, mathematics has lost its importance. (Probably because of the possibility of calculating many things bruteforce). On the contrary, he argues that it is mathematics that makes possible such phenomena of the twenty-first century as digital photography, satellite navigation, Internet security, climate prediction and much more. The book is interesting to read, as the author is fluent in the topic - he is a professor of mathematics, a member of the Royal Society of London, and he also knows how to tell complex things in simple language. When it comes to the book itself, the first 13 Chapters discuss different sections of mathematics with basic theory (but without formula) and with practical effects

1. Unfathomable efficiency Introduction where the author shares the main ideas of the book as described above 2. How Politicians Choose Their Voters The author describes the problem of voting on the example of districts in the United States, and also here we are talking about the fair division of the conditional cake by two people. 3. Let the pigeon drive the bus. - a large chapter that begins with the traveling salesman problem, considering the complexity of the P and NP problems, the questions of infinities that fill the space of the Peano and Hilbert curves, and then the possibilities of vision and autopilot machines

Continuation in next post.

#PopularScience #Math #Physics