David Sumpter – författare

Vad har fotboll med matematik att göra? Det mesta faktiskt. Från antalet skott på mål till tabeller och taktik är fotbollen full av siffror, mönster och former.Matematikprofessorn David Sumpter visar hur vi genom matematikens lins kan se fotboll på ett nytt sätt. Vi får lära oss om likheterna mellan en myrkoloni och holländsk totalfotboll, hur sannolikhetsteori kan ge tretton rätt, fysiken bakom Zlatans cykelspark och hur Barcelonas mittfält är uppbyggt geometriskt.Mer än en sport innehåller också unika beräkningar för svensk fotboll: Vem vinner Allsvenskan? Hur ska förbundskaptenen välja spelare? Varför är damfotbollen bättre på att ta tillvara talanger än herrfotbollen?Mer än en sport ger nya insikter i en sport vi har följt i hela våra liv. Men den är mer än en bok om fotboll, och så mycket bättre av precis den anledningen. Sky Sports

'Football looked at in a very different way' Pat Nevin, former Chelsea and Everton star and football media analystFootball – the most mathematical of sports. From shot statistics and league tables to the geometry of passing and managerial strategy, the modern game is filled with numbers, patterns and shapes. How do we make sense of them? The answer lies in the mathematical models applied in biology, physics and economics. Soccermatics brings football and mathematics together in a mind-bending synthesis, using numbers to help reveal the inner workings of the beautiful game.This new and expanded edition analyses the current big-name players and teams using mathematics, and meets the professionals working inside football who use numbers and statistics to boost performance.Welcome to the world of mathematical modelling, expressed brilliantly by David Sumpter through the prism of football. No matter who you follow – from your local non-league side to the big boys of the Premiership, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A or the MLS – you'll be amazed at what mathematics has to teach us about the world's favourite sport.

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER'An entertaining tour that will change how you see the world' Sean Carroll, author of Something Deeply HiddenIs there a secret formula for improving your life? For making something a viral hit? For deciding how long to stick with your current job, Netflix series, or even relationship?This book is all about the equations that make our world go round. Ten of them, in fact. They are integral to everything from investment banking to betting companies and social media giants. And they can help you to increase your chance of success, guard against financial loss, live more healthily and see through scaremongering. They are known only by mathematicians - until now.With wit and clarity, mathematician David Sumpter shows that it isn't the technical details which make these formulas so successful. It is the way they allow mathematicians to view problems from a different angle - a way of seeing the world that anyone can learn.Empowering and illuminating, The Ten Equations that Rule the World shows how maths really can change your life.

'Packed with practical examples and insightful wisdom. . . A highly enjoyable and effective guide to better thinking' Sabine Hossenfelder'I wish David Sumpter had been my maths teacher. I hated the subject at school. I hoover up his books now' Sunday Times Acclaimed mathematician David Sumpter shows how we can deal with the chaos and complexity of our livesWhat is the best way to think about the world? How often do we consider how our own thinking might impact the way we approach our daily decisions? Could it help or hinder our relationships, our careers, or even our health?Thinking about thinking is something we rarely do, yet it is something science questions all the time. David Sumpter has spent decades studying what we could all learn from the mindsets of scientists, and Four Ways of Thinking is the result. Here he reveals the four easily applied approaches to our problems: statistical, interactive, chaotic and complex.Combining engaging personal experience with practical advice and inspiring tales of ground-breaking scientific pioneers (with a tiny bit of number crunching along the way), Sumpter explains how these tried and tested methods can help us with every conundrum, from how to bicker less with our partners to pitching to a tough crowd - and in doing so change our lives.

'Fascinating' - Financial TimesAlgorithms are running our society, and as the Cambridge Analytica story has revealed, we don’t really know what they are up to.Our increasing reliance on technology and the internet has opened a window for mathematicians and data researchers to gaze through into our lives. Using the data they are constantly collecting about where we travel, where we shop, what we buy and what interests us, they can begin to predict our daily habits. But how reliable is this data? Without understanding what mathematics can and can’t do, it is impossible to get a handle on how it is changing our lives. In this book, David Sumpter takes an algorithm-strewn journey to the dark side of mathematics. He investigates the equations that analyse us, influence us and will (maybe) become like us, answering questions such as:- Who are Cambridge Analytica? And what are they doing with our data?- How does Facebook build a 100-dimensional picture of your personality?- Are Google algorithms racist and sexist?- Why do election predictions fail so drastically? - Are algorithms that are designed to find criminals making terrible mistakes?- What does the future hold as we relinquish our decision-making to machines?Featuring interviews with those working at the cutting edge of algorithm research, including Alex Kogan from the Cambridge Analytica story, along with a healthy dose of mathematical self-experiment, Outnumbered explains how mathematics and statistics work in the real world, and what we should and shouldn’t worry about. A lot of people feel outnumbered by algorithms – don’t be one of them.