Short Cuts: Maths

Chalkdust

19 March 2024

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Katie Steckles  is a mathematician, author, and general populariser of mathematics based in Manchester UK. Short Cuts: Maths  (Amazon UK, Waterstones ) is her book describing big mathematical ideas in easy to understand pieces. It has contributions from Sam Hartburn, Alison Kiddle, and Peter Rowlett, and illustrations by Robert Fiszer.

Style

This is a book with bitesize descriptions of mathematical concepts from the golden ratio to game theory. The book is split into chapters focussed on related concepts, such as functions or mathematical modelling. Each topic can be read independently of the rest of the book so if you want a book that you can dip into to and discover a mathematical concept, then this is the book for you.

Control

The ideas are explained fairly well, and there are some really nice examples of the concepts. I particularly liked the discussion of Bayes’ theorem using keys and an airport metal detector.

Damage

It is a nice book with a unique style. As it is aimed at `short cut’ introductions to topics it does not have the same level of detail as other popular maths books. Short Cuts: Maths provides a nice map of the big ideas and the further exploration section at the end has nice list of where you can go to get more detail.

Aggression

This is a good book if you want a birds eye view of mathematics. I would recommend it to school pupils, or anyone else, with an interest in discovering maths beyond what they have encountered at school.

You can vote for your favourite book on the Book of the Year shortlist below. The winning book will be crowned the Chalkdust Readers’ Choice. Voting closes at 1pm (BST) on Saturday 30 March.

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