The math we learn in school can seem like a dull set of rules, laid down by the ancients and not to be questioned. In How Not to Be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg shows us how terribly limiting this view is: Math isn’t confined to abstract incidents that never occur in real life, but rather touches everything we do—the whole world is shot through with it. Math allows us to see the hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of our world. It’s a science of not being wrong, hammered out by centuries of hard work and argument. Armed with the tools of mathematics, we can see through to the true meaning of information we take for granted: How early should you get to the airport? What does “public opinion” really represent? Why do tall parents have shorter children? Who really won Florida in 2000? And how likely are you, really, to develop cancer? How Not to Be Wrong presents the surprising revelations behind all of these questions and many more, using the mathematician’s method of analyzing life and exposing the hard-won insights of the academic community to the layman—minus the jargon. Ellenberg chases mathematical threads through a vast range of time and space, from the everyday to the cosmic, encountering, among other things, baseball, Reaganomics, daring lottery schemes, Voltaire, the replicability crisis in psychology, Italian Renaissance painting, artificial languages, the development of non-Euclidean geometry, the coming obesity apocalypse, Antonin Scalia’s views on crime and punishment, the psychology of slime molds, what Facebook can and can’t figure out about you, and the existence of God. Ellenberg pulls from history as well as from the latest theoretical developments to provide those not trained in math with the knowledge they need. Math, as Ellenberg says, is “an atomic-powered prosthesis that you attach to your common sense, vastly multiplying its reach and strength.” With the tools of mathematics in hand, you can understand the world in a deeper, more meaningful way. How Not to Be Wrong will show you how.
 
 
我們在學校所學到的數學，似乎只是一組由古人所制定的枯燥規則，而且絲毫不容質疑。在《數學教你不犯錯》一書當中，艾倫伯格 (Jordan Ellenberg) 向我們展示了上述觀點有多麼狹隘；數學不僅僅是現實生活中不存在的抽象事件，而是關乎我們所做的每件事——整個世界其實都與數學緊密相連。透過數學，我們會發現世界看似雜亂無章的表面下，其實暗藏結構。數學是追求真理的科學，是好幾世紀來苦心研究與論證的成果。運用數學，我們能夠看清楚那些我們視為理所當然的訊息所蘊藏的真實含意：搭機前必須提早多久抵達機場？「民意」所代表的真實意義是什麼？為什麼高挑的父母會生下矮小的孩子？2000年美國總統大選，在佛羅里達贏得多數選票的究竟是小布希還是高爾？你罹患癌症的機率有多高？《數學教你不犯錯》用淺顯易懂的語言以及數學家分析生活大小事的方法，向普羅大眾披露不易得知的學術圈洞見，並揭露上述問題意想不到的真相。艾倫伯格在書中從日常生活談到化外宇宙，在廣大的時空背景中探討數學，書中舉例眾多，像是棒球、雷根經濟政策、大膽的樂透彩券購買方案、伏爾泰、心理學實驗面臨的可重複性危機、義大利文藝復興畫作、人工智慧語言、非歐幾何學的發展、現代人類的肥胖症危機、美國法學家 Antonin Scalia 對犯罪與刑罰的觀點、粘菌行為背後的心理學、 Facebook 可以分析理解使用者的哪些資訊，以及上帝的存在。艾倫伯格透過歷史例證及最新的理論發展，提供未受過專業數學訓練的讀者所需的知識。他表示：「在一般常識上，如果能再輔以數學這種無比強大的工具，我們理解事物的廣度與深度也會隨之增加。」本書將向您展示如何透過數學，用更深層且更有意義的方式看待世界。