Weekly 5: Book Report/Review of The Joy of X

I chose to read the Joy of X by Steven Strogatz. The main reason I chose to read this book was because I actually know who Steven Strogatz is, and I had never heard of the other authors. I knew of him from his contributions to NPR's Radiolab. I would described Radiolab as a show geared toward educated people, who are looking to learn about something they are not already educated in. He is often called upon to contribute when the hosts are talking about a topic related to mathematics, and he does a great job of making the math understandable. Which is also why I thought his book would be an enjoyable read. Strogatz is also a professor of Applied Mathematics at Cornell University.
The Joy of X was split up into 30 very short chapters, which were divided between 6 different headings. The first section was Numbers. In the very first chapter Strogatz starts simply with an example from Sesame Street as to the value of numbers as a means of organization and simplification.  He goes on in the chapters under the Numbers heading to cover the relationship between odds, evens, squares, and their visual representation via rock diagrams, negative multiplication, commutativity, division, and different numbering systems in history. The next section of chapters is titled Relationships. In the Relationship Chapters he dives into specific algebra problems and their solutions, i and imaginary numbers, and the all important quadratic formula.  The third section was Shapes. In the shape chapters he works on breaking down the proof for the pythagorean theorem using squares on the edges of the triangle as we did earlier in our class. He also shows the proof for an equilateral triangle, discussed focusing and ellipses, the relationship between the conic sections, sin curves, and pi in relationship to a circle. The fourth section of the book is Change. In Change the different uses of calculus are discussed, as well as what the number e is and where it comes from, along with some fun differential equations that track Romeo and Juliet's love for one another. Of course math can be used to track fictional love. The fifth section was Data. Data dealt with the statistical arena of mathematics, with some interesting examples of doctors and lawyers who didn't know how to correctly interpret/solve statistical problem dealing with breast cancer, and the O.J. Simpson trail. Spoiler alert: Strogatz doesn't hid the fact he thinks Simpson was guilty.  In the final section titled Frontiers, he wraps up with a look at Group Theory, great circles, a mobius strip he brought into his daughters classroom on career day, and problems with infinity. If I were to rename these sections with more direct names I would change Numbers to Arithmetic, Relationships to Algebra, Shapes to Geometry, Change to Calculus, Data to Statistic, and Frontiers to To Infinity and Beyond.
Strogratz attempts to cover math from one to infinity as the subtitle of the book states and I think he does a great job of it with the approximately 250 pages he uses. It is really quite the large task to attempt to essentially cover all of math in a way the average person would be able to follow. He keeps the chapters short and his explanations clear yet concise. His personal antic dotes kept it interesting and helped the reading move along fairly fast especially when I would otherwise have been getting a little bored reading some sections where I felt like he wasn't saying anything new to me, as a current math major. But there were also times in beginning of the book where I would say to myself "I've never thought about it that way". I would recommend this book to anyone interested in math, whether they have formal education in math, or they are just curious about the subject. His style of writing can make and depth of grasp on the subject make this book very readable and relatable to anyone interested in math. I wouldn't go as so far to say that someone who doesn't like math will enjoy this book. Strogatz isn't working miracles, but he would be able to clear some things up for those who did struggle with the subject before.