Is Math Real? by Eugenia Cheng

Is Math Real? by Eugenia Cheng

One of the world's most creative mathematicians offers a new way to look at math--focusing on questions, not answers     

   

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize 

A New Scientist Best Book of the Year    

 

"Brilliant." --Popular Science   



 Where do we learn math: From rules in a textbook? From logic and deduction? Not really, according to mathematician Eugenia Cheng: we learn it from human curiosity--most importantly, from asking questions. This may come as a surprise to those who think that math is about finding the one right answer, or those who were told that the "dumb" question they asked just proved they were bad at math. But Cheng shows why people who ask questions like "Why does 1 + 1 = 2?" are at the very heart of the search for mathematical truth.     

   

Is Math Real? is a much-needed repudiation of the rigid ways we're taught to do math, and a celebration of the true, curious spirit of the discipline. Written with intelligence and passion, Is Math Real? brings us math as we've never seen it before, revealing how profound insights can emerge from seemingly unlikely sources.      

  

Eugenia Cheng is an honorary fellow at the University of Sheffield and a scientist in residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. How to Bake Pi, Beyond Infinity, and The Art of Logic in an Illogical World are among her works. She currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.