Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Introduction ix
4. Outsmarting a Virus with Math 1
5. Uncertainty 8
6. The Inescapable Casino 15
7. Resolving the Fuel Economy Singularity 29
8. The Median Voter Theorem: Why Politicians Move to the Center 39
9. The Math That Takes Newton into the Quantum World 45
10. Decades- Old Computer Science Conjecture Solved in Two Pages 54
11. The Three- Body Problem 61
12. The Intrigues and Delights of Kleinian and Quasi- Fuchsian Limit Sets 78
13. Mathematical Treasures from Sid Sackson 92
14. The Amazing Math Inside the Rubik’s Cube 108
15. What Is a Hyperbolic 3- Manifold? 115
16. Higher Dimensional Geometries: What Are They Good For? 122
17. Who Mourns the Tenth Heegner Number? 137
18. On Your Mark, Get Set, Multiply 145
19. 1994, The Year Calculus Was Born 153
20. Gauss’s Computation of the Easter Date 160
21. Mathematical Knowledge and Reality 172
22. The Ins and Outs of Mathematical Explanation 189
23. Statistical Intervals, Not Statistical Significance 198
24. Contributors 205
25. Notable Writings 213
26. Acknowledgments 225
27. Credits 227