Richard Elwes – författare

'Fascinating and immensely readable' Ian Stewart 'A charming tour through the realm of the very, very, very numerous, from the ancient world through to the distant future' Jordan Ellenberg, author of How Not to Be WrongWhat if, every time you wanted to write down 1,000,000, you had to draw a picture of a god? And what if that number were the biggest you had a symbol for? In ancient Egypt, those were the rules: anything bigger broke maths. Writing down some numbers is still beyond us today: try it with all the zeroes in a googolplex, or an outrageous alien number like FISH 7. Even harnessing every particle in the universe, you wouldn't come close. But that hasn't stopped us from hunting down these mind-bendingly big numbers and studying them.In Huge Numbers, mathematician and Numberphile presenter Richard Elwes shows how counting has shaped human thought. Whether recorded with notches carved on a tally stick, beads on an abacus, or electrical signals carrying binary code, it allows us to test the limits of mathematics over and over, breaking it down and putting it back together again.Come on a fascinating tour that spans continents and millennia, from the Mayan calendar to today's chatbots. You'll see that huge numbers are everywhere, expanding our horizons and powering our modern world.

'Fascinating and immensely readable' Ian Stewart 'A charming tour through the realm of the very, very, very numerous, from the ancient world through to the distant future' Jordan Ellenberg, author of How Not to Be WrongWhat if, every time you wanted to write down 1,000,000, you had to draw a picture of a god? And what if that number were the biggest you had a symbol for? In ancient Egypt, those were the rules: anything bigger broke maths. Writing down some numbers is still beyond us today: try it with all the zeroes in a googolplex, or an outrageous alien number like FISH 7. Even harnessing every particle in the universe, you wouldn't come close. But that hasn't stopped us from hunting down these mind-bendingly big numbers and studying them.In Huge Numbers, mathematician and Numberphile presenter Richard Elwes shows how counting has shaped human thought. Whether recorded with notches carved on a tally stick, beads on an abacus, or electrical signals carrying binary code, it allows us to test the limits of mathematics over and over, breaking it down and putting it back together again.Come on a fascinating tour that spans continents and millennia, from the Mayan calendar to today's chatbots. You'll see that huge numbers are everywhere, expanding our horizons and powering our modern world.

Can you outrun a bullet? How do you build an electronic brain? Could you slow down time? How do you unleash chaos? From Plato's classification of regular polyhedra to making a million on the stock market, How to Solve the Da Vinci Code gives you everything you need to understand how numbers work, and the impact they have on our lives every day.

What can we learn from fish in a pond? How do social networks connect the world? How can artificial intelligences learn? Why would life be different in a mirror universe? Mathematics is everywhere, whether we are aware of it or not. Exploring the subject through 35 of its often odd and unexpected applications, this book provides an insight into the 'hidden wiring' that governs our world. From the astonishing theorems that control computers to the formulae behind stocks and shares, and from the foundations of the internet to the maths behind medical imaging, Chaotic Fishponds and Mirror Universes explains how mathematics determines every aspect of our lives - right down to the foundations of our bodies.

This is the perfect introduction for those who have a lingering fear of maths. If you think that maths is difficult, confusing, dull or just plain scary, then The Maths Handbook is your ideal companion. Covering all the basics including fractions, equations, primes, squares and square roots, geometry and fractals, Dr Richard Elwes will lead you gently towards a greater understanding of this fascinating subject. Even apparently daunting concepts are explained simply, with the assistance of useful diagrams, and with a refreshing lack of jargon. So whether you're an adult or a student, whether you like Sudoku but hate doing sums, or whether you've always been daunted by numbers at work, school or in everyday life, you won't find a better way of overcoming your nervousness about numbers and learning to enjoy making the most of mathematics.

Von gespiegelten Universen, sozialen Netzwerken, dem Aufstieg des Homo oeconomicus und dem Ärger im Lehrerzimmer Kann uns die Mathematik helfen, besser zu lügen? Wird es Maschinen geben, die klüger sind als wir? Wie wäre es, in einem gespiegelten Universum zu leben? Was können wir von Fischen in einem Teich lernen? Ob Sie es glauben oder nicht – Antworten auf all diese Fragen finden Sie in der Welt der Zahlen. Mathematik ist einfach überall. Dieses Buch behandelt in 35 kurzen Kapiteln ihre überraschendsten Anwendungen im Alltag. Es holt das oft so ungeliebte Fach aus dem Klassenzimmer mitten ins Leben, und es zeigt, wie die Mathematik jenes „verborgene Netz“ knüpft, das unsere Welt durchdringt und beherrscht. Richard Elwes lädt sie zu einer anregenden Entdeckungsreise ein. Es geht um Wettervorhersagen, Wahlen und Warteschlangen, um bildgebende Verfahren und schwarze Löcher, um ein mathematisches Modell, wie man zu Reichtum gelangt, und um Einsteins Wegweiser durch den Raum. Sie werden die Formel für jedes jemals geschossene Foto kennenlernen und sich Ihrer eigenen Erbsubstanz nähern. Das Chaos im Karpfenteich zeigt, warum die oft so fremd erscheinende Welt der Mathematik Ihnen viel näher und vertrauter ist, als Sie es sich bisher vorstellen konnten.