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This entertaining tour of real-world mathematical disasters reveals the importance of math in our everyday lives

Our whole world is built on math, from the code running a website to the equations enabling the design of skyscrapers and bridges. Most of the time this math works quietly behind the scenes…until it doesn't. All sorts of seemingly innocuous mathematical mistakes can have significant consequences.

Humble Pi is the book-length answer to anyone who ever put their hand up

in math class and asked, "When am I ever going to use this in the real world?" Math is easy to ignore until a misplaced decimal point upends the stock market, a unit conversion error causes a plane to crash, or someone divides by zero and stalls a battleship in the middle of the ocean.

Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near-misses and mathematical mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman Empire, and an Olympic team, Matt Parker uncovers the bizarre ways

math trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.

Biografie

POPULAR MATH WITH AN ENTERTAINING PREMISE: Parker knows his way around a

math joke. His book is a nerdy delight that will appeal to math-phobes and number geeks

alike.

REAL-WORLD TAKEAWAYS: Understanding how math drives our lives can help us learn

from its pitfalls. All the structures we rely on are only as strong as the humans doing the

calculations and checking the work.

ENTERTAINING PERFORMER: Parker's mathematical stand-up act draws sold-out

crowds at comedy clubs and science festivals.

Kenmerk

Matt Parker is the author of Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension as well as a stand-up comedian and YouTuber with over 100 million views. He writes about math for The Guardian, hosts the Science Channel's Outrageous Acts of Science, and appears regularly on various BBC shows including More or Less, The Infinite Monkey Cage, and QI. Matt performs his math stand-up routines in front of audiences of thousands and is the first person to use an overhead projector at the Hammersmith Apollo since Pink Floyd.

Author Residence: London

Author Hometown: Goldalming, England

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