Stewart Ian. What's the Use?: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics

Joat Enterprises, 2021. — 336 p. — ISBN 9781781259412.Many people think mathematics is useless. They're wrong. In the UK, the 2.8 million people employed in mathematical science occupations contributed 1208 billion to the economy in a single year — that's 10 per cent of the workforce contributing 16 per cent of the economy.
What's the Use? asks why there is such a vast gulf between public perceptions of mathematics and reality. It shows how mathematics is vital, often in surprising ways, behind the scenes of daily life. How politicians pick their voters. How an absurd little puzzle solved 300 years ago leads to efficient methods for kidney transplants. How an Irish mathematician's obsession with a new number system improves special effects in movies and computer games. How SatNav relies on at least six mathematical techniques. And how a bizarre, infinitely wiggly curve, helps to optimise deliveries to your door.
Mathematics is a boundless, hugely creative system of ideas and methods. It lies just beneath the surface of the transformative technologies
that are making the twenty-first century totally different from any previous era – video games, international air travel, satellite communications,
computers, the Internet, mobile phones. Scratch an iPhone, and you’ll see the bright glint of mathematics.Unreasonable Effectiveness
How Politicians Pick Their Voters
Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
The Kidneys of Königsberg
Stay Safe in Cyberspace
The Number Plane
Papa, Can You Multiply Triplets?
Boing!
Trust Me, I’m a Transform
Smile, Please!
Are We Nearly There Yet?
De-Ising the Arctic
Call the Topologist
The Fox and the Hedgehog
Notes
Picture Credits