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vladco's review
3.0
A timely read in this time of COVID-19 and fake news. Well researched, well written. A touch predictable if you’re familiar with modern research into behavioral economics and basic human irrationality.
zhzhang's review
5.0
A very down-to-earth book using math to explain a lot of situations in daily life, especially currently for the corona virus spread all over the world. The chapters of exponential growth, the sensitivity, specificity and second opinion and the S-I-R model all contribute a very good explanation of a epidemic. The author also tackles different sides of manipulation of math. We can use math to make our life much more easier or the other way around - The miscalculation of a dosage due to wrong decimal points could lead us to a fatal situation. I learned a lot from this book which also has helped to see through the numbers themselves and understand the message needs to be delivered behind the numbers.
jeansbookbag's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
This was an interesting look at how math shapes our everyday lives. It was not too dry and pretty readable. The real-life anecdotes and examples really kept this book from reading like a boring textbook.
madhukaraphatak's review
5.0
One of the best mathematical books I have ever read. Teaching the real effect of mathematics ( mostly statistics and probability theory) with real-world stories made it fun to read. How a simple idea like dependent probability which we learn using dice examples in our school, can have a huge impact on the conviction in a murder case was eye-opening.
The book primarily talks about mathematical ideas like exponential growth, conditional probabilities, median vs mean, etc in a real-world context. As application of mathematics is exploding using data science and Machine learning, understanding these nuances of their application is very important.
Chapter 4 which talks about media misuse of statistics is highly relevant to today's fake news era.
The last chapter about mathematical epidemiology which concerns mathematical modeling of epidemics is one of the real needs of today's COVID-19 pandemic. It clearly shows why quarantine and lockdowns are important and gives a cautionary tale if it's not followed how fast an epidemic can spread.
The books leave us with single an important message
"Never take mathematical results as absolute truth. Always question the source of data, assumptions behind the model, and their biases.". Taking this attitude towards the mathematics as yet another tool to model the complex real-world makes it more potent rather than blind usage.
The book primarily talks about mathematical ideas like exponential growth, conditional probabilities, median vs mean, etc in a real-world context. As application of mathematics is exploding using data science and Machine learning, understanding these nuances of their application is very important.
Chapter 4 which talks about media misuse of statistics is highly relevant to today's fake news era.
The last chapter about mathematical epidemiology which concerns mathematical modeling of epidemics is one of the real needs of today's COVID-19 pandemic. It clearly shows why quarantine and lockdowns are important and gives a cautionary tale if it's not followed how fast an epidemic can spread.
The books leave us with single an important message
"Never take mathematical results as absolute truth. Always question the source of data, assumptions behind the model, and their biases.". Taking this attitude towards the mathematics as yet another tool to model the complex real-world makes it more potent rather than blind usage.
soniafriemel's review
informative
lighthearted
3.0
really interesting concepts but the way this book was written was infuriating. it was so disjointed and choppy and it felt like nothing was actually fully developed. the ideas presented are really engaging though.
bpag314's review against another edition
4.0
The Maths of Life and Death provides a broad overview of some of the different areas in life that Maths plays a fundamental roll in. Covering topics from exponential growth to how Maths impacts the Law to number systems and optimisation, Yates provides interesting examples and explains maths concepts without having to rely on formulas. This makes The Maths of Life and Death accessible to readers of all mathematical abilities.
I thought this was a solid addition to the realm of popular maths books. I found the first half of the book to be a little slow but that may have been to do with the fact a lot of the topics covered are also covered by a lot of other similar maths books.
I thought this book really took off around the chapter about Law and Mathematics, with the chapters about number systems, optimisation and infectious diseases being my favourite ( and the infectious diseases section being particularly relevant in a COVID 19 world).
I thought overall the mathematical concepts were well explained but there were occasional times where the explanations could have been better. However explaining mathematical concepts without relying on formulas and for a general audience without a maths background is a tricky task that Yates did a good job of overall.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the way maths intersects with our everyday life.
I thought this was a solid addition to the realm of popular maths books. I found the first half of the book to be a little slow but that may have been to do with the fact a lot of the topics covered are also covered by a lot of other similar maths books.
I thought this book really took off around the chapter about Law and Mathematics, with the chapters about number systems, optimisation and infectious diseases being my favourite ( and the infectious diseases section being particularly relevant in a COVID 19 world).
I thought overall the mathematical concepts were well explained but there were occasional times where the explanations could have been better. However explaining mathematical concepts without relying on formulas and for a general audience without a maths background is a tricky task that Yates did a good job of overall.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the way maths intersects with our everyday life.