Is Math Real?: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics' Deepest Truths (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781541601826)

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
A New Scientist Best Book of 2023

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

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.  

Author: Eugenia Cheng
ISBN-10: 1541601823
ISBN-13: 9781541601826
Publisher: Basic Books
Language: English
Published: 08/15/2023
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 8.40h x 6.10w x 1.70d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2023
Publishers Weekly 08/07/2023