Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors by: Parker, Matt
Hardcover. London, Allen Lane/Penguin Books, 1st UK, 2019, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 314 pages. This book is all about what happens when math goes wrong in the real world. Exploring and explaining a litany of near-misses and mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries and the Roman empire, Matt Parker shows us the bizarre ways math trips us all up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world. Mathematics doesn't have good 'people skills', but we would all be better off, he argues, if we saw it as a practical ally. By making math our friend, we can use it to our advantage and learn from its pitfalls.