Engineering Mathematics

For going on two decades, Scientific American’s “Ask the Experts” column has been answering reader questions on all fields of science. We’ve taken your questions from the basic to the esoteric and reached out to top scientists, professors, and researchers to find out why the sky is blue or whether we really only use 10 percent of our brains. Now, we’ve combed through our archives and have compiled some of the most interesting questions (and answers) into a series of books.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AUTHOR Breaking Barriers in STEM "Emma’s Code" isn't merely a tale to be told at bedtime. This story unfolds the ambitions of a young girl who refuses to let societal norms dictate her dreams. Through her eyes, readers not only witness the trials and tribulations of a budding scientist but also the broader challenges many face when defying traditional gender roles. Readers are encouraged to explore, dream, and dismantle barriers in spaces often dominated by men. The tale emphasizes virtues such as resilience, self-worth, and the undying spirit of pursuing passions...

What 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.

Many of the artists that we encounter are completely unaware of the mathematics that bubble beneath their craft, while some consciously use it for inspiration. Our instincts might tell us that these two subjects are incompatible forces with nothing in common – mathematics being the realm of precise logic and art being the realm of emotion and aesthetics – but what if we’re wrong? Blueprints asks us to consider that mathematics and art may not be polar opposites after all.

Ever since the dawn of human civilisation, we have been trying to make predictions about what's in store for us. We do this on a personal level, so that we can get on with our lives efficiently (should I hang my laundry out to dry, or will it rain?). But we also have to predict on a much larger scale, often for the good of our broader society (how can we spot economic downturns or prevent terrorist attacks?). For just as long, we have been getting it wrong.

Learn how to tackle tricky maths problems with nothing but the back of an envelope, a pencil and some good old-fashioned brain power. Join Rob Eastaway as he takes an entertaining look at how to figure without a calculator. Packed with amusing anecdotes, quizzes, and handy calculation tips for every situation, Maths on the Back of an Envelope is an invaluable introduction to the art of estimation and a welcome reminder that sometimes our own brain is the best tool we have to deal with numbers.

PLAYING WITH REALITY explores the riveting history of games since the Enlightenment, weaving an unexpected path through military theory, biology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and the future of democracy. As neuroscientist and physicist Kelly Clancy shows us, games have been deeply intertwined with the arc of history. War games shaped the outcomes of real wars in nineteenth and twentieth century Europe. Game theory warped our understanding of human behavior and brought us to the brink of annihilation.

One of the great mysteries of science is that its fundamental laws are written in the language of mathematics. Graham Farmelo's thrilling new book shows how modern maths has helped physicists to rethink gravity, space, and time. The Universe Speaks in Numbers takes us on an adventure from the Enlightenment to the present with a vibrant cast of characters, illuminating the most exciting and controversial developments in contemporary thought.

Every time we download a song from iTunes, take a flight across the Atlantic or talk on our mobile phones, we are relying on great mathematical inventions. Maths may fail to provide answers to various of its own problems, but it can provide answers to problems that don't seem to be its own - how prime numbers are the key to Real Madrid's success, to secrets on the internet and to the survival of insects in the forests of North America.

Who hasn't feared the math Minotaur in its labyrinth of abstractions? Now, in Out of the Labyrinth, Robert and Ellen Kaplan - the founders of The Math Circle, the popular learning program begun at Harvard in 1994 - reveal the secrets behind their highly successful approach, leading listeners out of the labyrinth and into the joyous embrace of mathematics.

We all know that numbers go on forever, that you could spend your life counting and never reach the end of the line, so there can’t be such a thing as a "biggest number". Or can there? To find out, David Darling and Agnijo Banerjee embark on an epic quest, revealing the answers to questions like: are there more grains of sand on Earth or stars in the universe? Is there enough paper on Earth to write out the digits of a googolplex? And what is a googolplex? Then things get serious.

Dare senso al mondo, alle esperienze quotidiane e, ancor più, agli eventi che ci sorprendono o dai quali può dipendere la nostra sopravvivenza. Quante volte una dimenticanza o un impercettibile ritardo nel compiere un'azione hanno conseguenze importanti o addirittura drammatiche? È ciò che i matematici chiamano caos, un concetto che ha un'origine assai remota nel pensiero umano, condizione della bellezza della natura per i filosofi presocratici, forza speculare all'armonia nel taoismo.

Un estimulante viaje que comienza con la aparición de los números primos—objeto de profundas y sorprendentes investigaciones matemáticas a lo largo de los siglos—y nos lleva hasta los límites del infinito, el número más grande de todos y el único que consigue que las matemáticas y la filosofía encuentren un lugar común.

Math is famous for its equations: 1 + 1 = 2, a^2 + b^2 = c^2, or y = mx + b. Much of the time it can seem like that’s all mathematics is: following steps to show that what’s on one side of an equation is the same as what’s on the other. In Unequal, Eugenia Cheng shows that’s just part of the story, and the boring part to boot. It isn’t even just about numbers and symbols at all, but a world of shapes, symmetries, logical ideas, and more.

Mathematics shapes almost everything we do. From building rockets to the handheld technology that governs our day-to-day lives, we are all in debt to the mathematical geniuses of the past. But the history of mathematics is warped; it looks like a sixteenth-century map that enlarges Europe at the expense of Africa, Asia and the Americas. The Secret Lives of Numbers introduces listeners to a new group of mathematical boundary-smashers, those who have been erased by history because of their race, gender or nationality.

In a time of dire need, as climate change, conflict, and economic upheaval imperil our existence and our mental well-being deteriorates from not utilising our minds as God intended, Francis Keith Robins introduces a groundbreaking approach to saving humanity – reshaping our thought processes through mathematics. In his book, The Fourth Coming, Robins provides a detailed, step-by-step guide to unlocking our inherent mathematical potential. His vision is to create a society that is inclusive, equal, and peaceful – one that aligns with God’s desire for us.

Este libro es mucho más que una simple colección de datos; es una puerta a las maravillas ocultas del conocimiento. A través de sus páginas, descubrirás hechos tan asombrosos como inesperados, que te harán repensar lo que crees saber sobre el mundo. Cada curiosidad está diseñada para despertar tu imaginación y ofrecerte una nueva perspectiva sobre el mundo que nos rodea. Si alguna vez te has preguntado por qué ciertos patrones se repiten en la naturaleza o cómo ciertos eventos históricos cambiaron el curso de la humanidad, aquí encontrarás respuestas que te sorprenderán.

Do you want to become mentally sharper and quicker? Do you want to be able to save time and calculate large numbers on the go while you're shopping or adding up a bill at a restaurant? Do you want other people to notice how you seem to not need a calculator, how you seem like such a genius? If yes, then this audiobook is for you. Mental math is the ability to solve math problems in your head, without the need to write or use a calculator. And it has all of the benefits implied above and much more.

Ведущий физик-теоретик Карло Ровелли обращается к фигуре древнегреческого философа Анаксимандра — автора первой научной концепции мироустройства, — чтобы проследить историю научной мысли. Автор тщательно реконструирует теории Анаксимандра на основе того, что нам известно, обращая особое внимание на их историко-философский контекст. В книге органично переплетаются описания первых концепций мироустройства и размышления видного ученого нашего времени о самой природе научного мышления.

The complexity of mathematics - its abstract rules and obscure symbols - can seem very distant from the everyday. There are those things that are real and present, it is supposed, and then there are mathematical concepts: creations of our mind, mysterious tools for those unengaged with the world. Yet, from its most remote history and deepest purpose, mathematics has served not just as a way to understand and order, but also as a foundation for the reality it describes.