Humble Pi

A Comedy of Maths Errors

By: Matt Parker

Narrated by: Matt Parker

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Humble Pi written and read by Matt Parker.

What makes a bridge wobble when it's not meant to? Billions of dollars mysteriously vanish into thin air? A building rock when its resonant frequency matches a gym class leaping to Snap's 1990 hit I've Got The Power? The answer is maths. Or, to be precise, what happens when maths goes wrong in the real world.

As Matt Parker shows us, our modern lives are built on maths: computer programmes, finance, engineering. And most of the time this maths works quietly behind the scenes, until...it doesn't. Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near-misses and mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman empire and a hapless Olympic shooting team, Matt Parker shows us the bizarre ways maths trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world.

Mathematics doesn't have good 'people skills', but we would all be better off, he argues, if we saw it as a practical ally. This book shows how, by making maths our friend, we can learn from its pitfalls. It also contains puzzles, challenges, geometric socks, jokes about binary code and three deliberate mistakes. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.

©2019 Matt Parker (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Matt Parker has pulled off something wonderful...his stories are superb." (Marcus Berkmann)

"Bought it yesterday, enjoying it enormously, well done!" (Dara Ó Briain)

"[Matt Parker] shows off math at its most playful and multifarious." (Jordan Ellenberg, author of How to Not Be Wrong)

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if you've already watched his youtube material you will already have heard most of this.

Entertaining

Great content for audiobook. I am curious if it is understandable by someone with no interest in maths.

Humor

This book was a sweet bundle of comedy of errors. One of the standout was bodybuilding.com week debate. The whole time I was laughing. But the best part is where I got to learn new stuff from these stories.

Chuckles, chuckles and some serious maths!

Loved it! Full of chuckles, full of serious math!

Gives you a whole another perspective of the importance of getting math right when needed.

A lovely book for all-a horror book for engineers!

Legendary book!

Such a good book and masterfully read! Please make an audiobook of Things To See And Do In The Fourth Dimension! Please!