Jordan Ellenberg

The columnist for Slate's popular "Do the Math" celebrates the logical, illuminating nature of math in today's world, sharing in accessible language mathematical approaches that demystify complex and everyday problems.

The Power of Mathematical Thinking

How Not to be Wrong

How should a democracy choose its representatives? How does disease spread? How do computers teach themselves chess, and why is chess easier for them than analyzing a sentence? What should your kids study in school if they really want to learn to think? All of these are questions about geometry. Jordan Ellenberg reveals the mathematics behind some of the most important scientific, political and philosophical conundrums we face. The word 'geometry', from the Greek, means 'measuring the world'. If anything, geometry doesn't just measure the world - it explains it. Shape shows us how.

The Hidden Geometry of Absolutely Everything

Shape

O Poder do Pensamento Matematico

Nasıl Hata Yapmazsınız

An instant New York Times Bestseller! “Unreasonably entertaining . . . reveals how geometric thinking can allow for everything from fairer American elections to better pandemic planning.” —The New York Times From the New York Times-bestselling author of How Not to Be Wrong—himself a world-class geometer—a far-ranging exploration of the power of geometry, which turns out to help us think better about practically everything. How should a democracy choose its representatives? How can you stop a pandemic from sweeping the world? How do computers learn to play Go, and why is learning Go so much easier for them than learning to read a sentence? Can ancient Greek proportions predict the stock market? (Sorry, no.) What should your kids learn in school if they really want to learn to think? All these are questions about geometry. For real. If you're like most people, geometry is a sterile and dimly remembered exercise you gladly left behind in the dust of ninth grade, along with your braces and active romantic interest in pop singers. If you recall any of it, it's plodding through a series of miniscule steps only to prove some fact about triangles that was obvious to you in the first place. That's not geometry. Okay, it is geometry, but only a tiny part, which has as much to do with geometry in all its flush modern richness as conjugating a verb has to do with a great novel. Shape reveals the geometry underneath some of the most important scientific, political, and philosophical problems we face. Geometry asks: Where are things? Which things are near each other? How can you get from one thing to another thing? Those are important questions. The word "geometry"comes from the Greek for "measuring the world." If anything, that's an undersell. Geometry doesn't just measure the world—it explains it. Shape shows us how.

The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and Everything Else

How should a democracy choose its representatives? How can you stop a pandemic from sweeping the world? How do computers learn to play chess? Can ancient Greek proportions predict the stock market? (Sorry, no.) What should your kids learn in school if they really want to learn to think? The answers to all these questions can be found in geometry. In Shape, Sunday Times-bestselling author Jordan Ellenberg reveals the geometry underneath some of the most important scientific, political, and philosophical problems we face, from the spread of coronavirus to rise of machine learning. The word 'geometry,' from the Greek, means 'measuring the world.' But geometry doesn't just measure the world - it explains it. Shape shows us how.

A Novel

The Grasshopper King

Professor Higgs brings new promise as head of the Gravinics Department at Chandler State University, devoted to the study of the language, mythology, and history of an obscure Soviet republic regaled by a misfit poet.

Comment le statisticien Abraham Wald a-t-il sauvé des centaines de pilotes américains pendant la seconde guerre mondiale ? Comment le courtier de Baltimore a-t-il persuadé ses clients qu'il pouvait prévoir les cours de la bourse de façon infaillible ? Comment les étudiants du M.I.T. ont-ils réussi à plumer la loterie du Massachussets ? En apparence, ces questions n'ont rien en commun. Pourtant la réponse est toujours la même : la force de la pensée mathématique. Vous en doutez ? Vous pensez que les maths ne servent à rien ? L'art de ne pas dire n'importe quoi a été écrit pour vous. Par des exemples bien choisis dans des domaines très divers (débats politiques, calculs de pourcentages, recherche de suspects...), Jordan Ellenberg analyse des erreurs très communes dont l'absurdité nous apparaît clairement une fois qu'on a réduit la question à son squelette mathématique. Pour lui, les mathématiques sont "la continuation du bon sens par d'autres moyens" - des moyens plus puissants qui "révèlent les structures dissimulées sous la surface chaotique du monde".

Ce que le bon sens doit aux mathématiques

L'art de ne pas dire n'importe quoi

This debut novel is a profoundly absurd campus satire about immortality, obsession, obscurity, and true love.

Jordan Ellenberg

Books

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