"The book is a more polished, extensive discussion of the concepts that pepper Orlin's blog, featuring his trademark caustic wit, a refreshingly breezy conversational tone, and of course, lots and lots of bad drawings. It's a great, entertaining read for neophytes and math fans alike because Orlin excels at finding novel ways to connect the math to real-world problems-or in the case of the Death Star, to problems in fictional worlds."¡ªArs Technica
"Ben Orlin is terribly bad at drawing. Luckily he's also fantastically clever and charming. His talents have added up to the most glorious, warm, and witty illustrated guide to the irresistible appeal of mathematics."¡ªHannah Fry, mathematician, University College London and BBC presenter
"Brilliant, wide ranging, and irreverent, Math with Bad Drawings adds ha ha to aha. It'll make you smile - plus it might just make you smarter and wiser."¡ªSteven Strogatz, Professor of Mathematics, Cornell University, author of The Joy of x
"MATH WITH BAD DRAWINGS is a gloriously goofy word-number-and-cartoon fest that drags math out of the classroom and into the sunlight where it belongs. Great for your friend who thinks they hate math - actually, great for everyone!"¡ªJordan Ellenberg, author of How Not To Be Wrong
"Ben Orlin has hit the seemingly unattainable sweet spot. He has written a book that is funny and serious, that is entertaining and informative, and that would interest a reader with or without a background in mathematics. Math with Bad Drawings would be a wonderful book for people who love math, used to love math, want to love math, want to know what math is good for, or just want to know what math really is."¡ªMath Horizons
Chapter Page
Introduction 1
How To Think Like A Mathematician
1. Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe 7
2. What Does Math Look Like to Students? 20
3. What Does Math Look Like to Mathematicians? 22
4. How Science and Math See Each Other 30
5. Good Mathematician vs. Great Mathematician 38
II Design: The Geometry Of Stuff That Works
6. We Built This City on Triangles 52
7. Irrational Paper 65
8. The Square-Cube Fables 73
9. The Game of Dice 89
10. An Oral History of the Death Star 105
III Probability: The Mathematics Of Maybe
11. The 10 People You Meet in Line for the Lottery 123
12. Children of the Coin 141
13. What Does Probability Mean in Your Profession? 151
14. Weird Insurance 158
15. How to Break the Economy with a Single Pair of Dice 178
IV Statistics: The Fine Art of Honest Lying
16. Why Not to Trust Statistics 199
17. The Last .400 Hitter 218
18. Barbarians at the Gate of Science 231
19. The Scoreboard W...ars 249
20. The Book Shredders 267
V On The CUSP: The Power of a Step
21. The Final Speck of Diamond Dust 286
22. Bracketology 299
23. One State, Two State, Red State, Blue State 314
24. The Chaos of History 329
Endnotes 346
Acknowledgments 368