Beautiful Equations

February 29, 2008 4:42 PM

Inspiring books about mathematics and statistics?

This summer I am going to be studying for a comprehensive exam in political methodology (statistics, game theory, formal modeling, simulations etc...). That is, I will be reading about math and statistics 2-4 hours daily for 104 days.

To break up the monotony and help get inspired, I am looking for books showing that mathematics / statistics is meaningful, important, and beautiful.

The books should be readable by a non-gifted, non-math major.

Any suggestions from the hive?

Thanks!

posted by chrisalbon to science & nature (31 comments total)

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, a biography of Paul Erdős.
The Nash biography, A Beautiful Mind, is about 10,000 times more interesting than the movie.
And there's always Gödel, Escher, Bach.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:50 PM on February 29, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation. Read it a few years ago. It's basic, but I really, really enjoyed it.
posted by ReiToei at 5:06 PM on February 29, 2008

Andrew Gelman is a statistician who often presents interesting, politically meaningful analyses. Not exactly inspiring, but right up your alley, it sounds like. You might check out his blog.
posted by Coventry at 5:15 PM on February 29, 2008

Archimedes ' Revenge. It's a quick overview of some really interesting types of math, including stat, game theory and a few other things I can't recall at the moment.

I've also heard that both The Realm of Numbers and The Realm of Algebra, by Isaac Asimov are very good, but unfortunately out of print. The former you can find pretty easily, the latter, not so much.
posted by electroboy at 5:17 PM on February 29, 2008

The World of Mathematics. It's what made me want to be a math major. (Then the math department made me want to not be a math major, but that's another story.)
posted by languagehat at 5:30 PM on February 29, 2008

Richard Feynman, Six Easy Pieces
A few basic principles of physics and why they matter, laid out with wit, charm, and clarity.

William Poundstone, Fortune's Formula
A tour of the people and concepts that link Las Vegas, Wall Street, the Jewish Mob, Information Theoreticians, and Nobel laureate economists.

Michael Lewis, Moneyball
How Billy Beane used a novel approach to statistics to give the Oakland A's a competitive edge.

Ian Ayres, Super Crunchers
How statisticians and data analysis are reshaping various industries.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Fooled by Randomness
Read this when you think that your studies of statistics have decoded for you the secret language of God and you need to be taken down a peg.
posted by MonkeyMeat at 5:35 PM on February 29, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

The Music Of The Primes by Marcus Du Sautoy was an interesting read. He describes the Riemann Hypothesis in a way that even this idiot could appreciate, and explains the implications cleverly. Definitely should be on your list.
posted by punilux at 5:37 PM on February 29, 2008

The Man Who Knew Infinity, about the Indian math genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.
posted by Bella Sebastian at 5:42 PM on February 29, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Whoops, meant to add this link: The Man Who Knew Infinity.
posted by Bella Sebastian at 5:42 PM on February 29, 2008

Beyond Numeracy, John Allen Paulos. Lots of short, unlinked essays on mathematical subjects. (contents)
posted by Leon at 5:57 PM on February 29, 2008

Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction by (Fields Medalist) Timothy Gowers is wonderful, as is Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife.

And if you're in quantitative social sciences, then Edward Tufte's books are, of course, required reading — and inspirational and beautiful!
posted by caek at 6:13 PM on February 29, 2008

2nding The Man Who Loved Only Numbers - Erdos is a fascinating man. If you like the book you should also then the documentary on his life (available from Netflix) called N is a Number.
If you like biographies, read Classic Feynman Adventures. (It includes material from both of his earlier autobiographies) It is an easy read and he is an amazing character so it might make a nice break from having to think so hard.
posted by metahawk at 6:20 PM on February 29, 2008

Ian Stewart has some very nice books as well, on a variety of mathematical topics.
posted by leahwrenn at 6:30 PM on February 29, 2008

I can't think of a better book to at least get you pumped on math/computation/logic, etc. than Gödel Escher Bach. I didn't "learn" much math from reading it, but it definitely fits the bill for "inspiring," IMO. Someone mentioned it above; I second the recommendation.
posted by Hello, Revelers! I am Captain Lavender! at 7:10 PM on February 29, 2008

Thirding The Man Who Loved Only Numbers. Erdös a fascinating figure, and that alone would make his story worth reading. But on top of his story, the book presents a lot of the classic tales that are part of the mathematical culture. A non-mathematician reading this book can increase their ability to get inside jokes told by mathematicians dramatically. Besides, it's well written, has real math content, and is very accessible.

Gödel, Escher, Bach is one of my favorite books of all time, but it's not a short little read and goes way beyond mathematics. I recommend it to anyone who might be interested, but maybe not if you plan on getting anything else read. His collection of Scientific American articles Metamagical Themas is a nice random walk through recreational mathematics. (Does anyone know if Martin Gardner's articles have been collected and published?) I'm a fan of many of Hofstadter's works, though his later works are much more personal (and as a result, he sometimes comes across as somewhat unpleasantly arrogant).
posted by ErWenn at 7:23 PM on February 29, 2008

If you haven't read Freakonomics, do so. It's the book that started my love affair with multivariate regression analysis. It's great, too, because he explores a lot of political/policy questions - for instance, how can we close the educational achievement gap?
posted by lunasol at 7:39 PM on February 29, 2008

Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity, by David Foster Wallace, is a damn fine book. I can't think of a subject that his singular writing style is better-adapted to.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:59 PM on February 29, 2008

Nitpick: Feynman never wrote an autobiography, both Surely You're Joking and What Do You Care are transcripts of him describing interesting events in his life but neither are properly (auto)biographical.

They're both absolutely excellent books, though more about science as a whole than math per se, and even then only tangentially.
posted by Skorgu at 9:40 PM on February 29, 2008

Zero, the Biography of a Dangerous Idea is a fascinating book. It's about the history of the concept of zero. The book goes through Ancient Greece all the way to modern day, showing the connection between the idea of nothingness, mathematics, philosophy, art, and the rest of life. And! It also offers a proof of Winston Churchill being a carrot!

This is, really, a well-written book definitely worth the read. It's very light mathematics, meant for a general audience.
posted by Ms. Saint at 10:31 PM on February 29, 2008

Meaning from Data: Statistics Made Clear. Haven't watched this particular course, but I have watched another course from this instructor and it was good.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 10:46 PM on February 29, 2008

I would begin with Lady Luck: The Theory of Probability, by Warren Weaver.

This book was originally part of the Science Study Series and was written for high school students a couple of generations ago. It has stayed in print ever since. It's the best historical introduction to probability theory I've seen, and it never fails to be fresh and engaging. If you are comfortable with first year high school algebra, the mathematics will never leave you behind, and yet this is not an altogether easy book. I remember poring over it for hours, and I had a feeling of accomplishment when I finished it that has remained with me to this day.
posted by jamjam at 11:35 PM on February 29, 2008

It may be too basic if you are studying statistics, but How to Lie with Statistics is a classic.

Nthing Godel, Escher, Bach -- it was one of my favourite maths books. Not really statistics, more an exploration of logic and formal systems. It's hard to classify.
posted by katrielalex at 4:12 AM on March 1, 2008

Try The Broken Dice by Ivar Ekeland. Modern mathematics introduced through tales from Norse sagas!
posted by gimonca at 8:50 AM on March 1, 2008

Seconding The World of Mathematics
Calculated Risks by Gerd Gigerenzer
Tangentially, How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman
posted by lukemeister at 9:12 AM on March 1, 2008

The Pleasures of Counting by Thomas Körner. Lots of chapters on interesting applications of maths to the real world. Contains actual mathematics, but mostly basic stuff albeit deployed in sophisticated ways.
posted by crocomancer at 9:34 AM on March 1, 2008

Seconding The Pleasures of Counting by Thomas Körner. I have a fond memory of spending hours on a Saturday night reading it at Borders in London before I decided I needed to buy it. I know how to party!
posted by lukemeister at 9:38 AM on March 1, 2008

This is an awesome thread, and everyone's suggesting excellent books.

An exciting^(TM) book, said to have inspired Nash to become a mathematician, though perhaps a little footloose and fancy-free with accuracy, is the 1932 classic: Men of Mathematics. (amazon, wiki).
posted by johnjoe at 10:54 AM on March 1, 2008

Try What the Numbers Say, by Derrick Niederman and David Boyum.
posted by breezeway at 11:26 AM on March 1, 2008

Two math books that I've enjoyed:

A Mathematician's Apology by G. H. Hardy, and
The Millennium Problems: The Seven Greatest Unsolved Mathematical Puzzles of Our Time by Keith J. Devlin
posted by aflatoon at 3:30 PM on March 1, 2008

Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh. A great dramatic read about the proof to an elegant theorem 400 years in the making.
posted by heatherann at 6:09 PM on March 1, 2008

Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott
Flatterland by Ian Stewart
Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz by Burger and Starbird
posted by tomcochrane at 7:13 AM on March 2, 2008