Jane Hesling reviews Weird Math: a Teenage Genius and His Teacher Reveal the Strange Connections Between Math and Everyday Life by David Darling and Agnijo Banerjee
An exploration of some of the puzzles, paradoxes and mind-bending mathematical concepts that fill our universe – that’s what’s on offer from science writer David Darling, who has teamed up with his teenage, mathematical-genius student Agnijo Banerjee to write Weird Math: a Teenage Genius and His Teacher Reveal the Strange Connections Between Math and Everyday Life.
The book takes a fascinating look at some of the oddities of the mathematical universe. The authors explain the maths terms when they crop up, so there’s no need to be scared away, but some previous mathematical education will help. The first few chapters explore some concepts that you may have already come across in other popular-science books, such as Flatland. You may find yourself trying to bend your brain to see in 4D, but fair warning, this may cause a headache.
The book takes you through such peculiar concepts as the largest numbers. Chance, chaos and prime numbers all get explored and explained – you will even learn about how prime numbers help cicadas survive. The mathematics of music are discussed, with the duo describing the different series of scale bases, and how they differ all over the world.
The authors cover everything from astronomer Johannes Kepler’s apparent musings about harmonics, which led to important discovers in astrophysics; to thinking about what music out in the wider universe might be like, and whether we would still consider it music. Some cosmology is investigated via infinity, while knots, manifolds and topology also get a chapter. Knots, it turns out, can get even more complicated than the tangled mess your earphones always seem to end up in.
The final chapter is all about proof and the truth and purity of mathematics. As the authors show, mathematics is truly everywhere, and sometimes it’s very weird.
- 2018 Basic Books 304pp £16.56hb
