Math with Bad Drawings: Illuminating the Ideas That Shape Our Reality

(Paperback)

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Description

A hilarious and bestselling reintroduction to mathematics, illustrating the ideas with stories, humor, and stick figures.

In Math with Bad Drawings, Ben Orlin reveals what math is all about. His tools are unorthodox: jokes, cartoons, strange-but-true stories, and beneath it all, the empathy of a veteran teacher who believes that math should belong to everyone. Orlin helps us to think like mathematicians by teaching a brand-new game of tic-tac-toe, profiling the ten people you meet in line for the lottery, and documenting the headaches that ensue when the Evil Empire attempts to build a spherical Death Star. Math with Bad Drawings will change the way you see the subject-and the world.

Reviews

"Ben Orlin has hit the seemingly unattainable sweet spot. He has written a book that is funny and serious, that is entertaining and informative, and that would interest a reader with or without a background in mathematics. Math with Bad Drawings would be a wonderful book for people who love math, used to love math, want to love math, want to know what math is good for, or just want to know what math really is."--Math Horizons
"Ben Orlin is terribly bad at drawing. Luckily he's also fantastically clever and charming. His talents have added up to the most glorious, warm, and witty illustrated guide to the irresistible appeal of mathematics."--Hannah Fry, mathematician, University College London and BBC presenter
"Brilliant, wide ranging, and irreverent, Math with Bad Drawings adds ha ha to aha. It'll make you smile - plus it might just make you smarter and wiser."--Steven Strogatz, Professor of Mathematics, Cornell University, author of The Joy of x
"Illuminating, inspiring, and hilarious, Math with Bad Drawings is everything you wanted to learn in class but never thought to ask. A joyful romp through mathematics and all its wisdom."--Bianca Bosker, author of the New York Times-bestselling Cork Dork
"MATH WITH BAD DRAWINGS is a gloriously goofy word-number-and-cartoon fest that drags math out of the classroom and into the sunlight where it belongs. Great for your friend who thinks they hate math - actually, great for everyone!"--Jordan Ellenberg, author of How Not To Be Wrong
"Orlin's ability to masterfully convey interesting and complex mathematical ideas through the whimsy of drawings (that, contrary to the suggestion of the title, are actually not that bad) is unparalleled. This is a great work showing the beauty of mathematics as it relates to our world. This is a must read for anyone who ever thought math isn't fun, or doesn't apply to the world we live in!"--John Urschel, mathematician named to Forbes(R) "30 Under 30" list of outstanding young scientists and former NFL player
"The book is a more polished, extensive discussion of the concepts that pepper Orlin's blog, featuring his trademark caustic wit, a refreshingly breezy conversational tone, and of course, lots and lots of bad drawings. It's a great, entertaining read for neophytes and math fans alike because Orlin excels at finding novel ways to connect the math to real-world problems-or in the case of the Death Star, to problems in fictional worlds."--Ars Technica

Author Bio

Ben Orlin is the author of Math with Bad Drawings (as well as the blog of the same name), Math Games with Bad Drawings and the companion game kit The Ultimate Game Collection, and Change Is the Only Constant. His writing on math and education has appeared in The Atlantic, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Vox, and Popular Science. He has taught middle and high school mathematics and has spoken about math and education at colleges and universities across the United States. He lives with his family in St. Paul, Minnesota.