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Humble Pi
Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors | Matt Parker
10 posts | 7 read | 1 reading | 8 to read
We would all be better off if everyone saw mathematics as a practical ally. Sadly, most of us fear maths and seek to avoid it. This is because mathematics doesn't have good 'people skills' - it never hesitates to bluntly point out when we are wrong. But it is only trying to help! Mathematics is a friend which can fill the gaps in what our brains can do naturally. Luckily, even though we don't like sharing our own mistakes, we love to read about what happens when maths errors make the everyday go horribly wrong. Matt Parker explores and explains near misses and mishaps with planes, bridges, the internet and big data as a way of showing us not only how important maths is, but how we can use it to our advantage. This comedy of errors is a brilliantly told series of disaster stories with a happy ending.
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janeycanuck
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Pickpick

The earlier chapters were more interesting to me than the later chapters but overall, this was cute and cheeky, just as I wanted it to be.

My March #BookSpin

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 4w
38 likes1 comment
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Mrs_B
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Pickpick

As a mathematician I found this fascinating, Matt Parker is very personable and this comes across well in his writing. He takes some very tricky mathematical, computing or engineering concepts and works hard to make them accessible and funny!

Mrs_B If anyone was wondering the ⚽️ emoji IS geometrically accurate. 2y
60 likes1 comment
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rwmg
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Mehso-so

Despite the title, the book is as much or more about engineering or programming as it is about maths. For me, a lot of the anecdotes didn't really strike the right balance between too much detail and enough detail so that the reader understood what should have happened and what went wrong. The main take away was that people are inevitably going to make mistakes so systems need to be better designed to catch them before they turn into disasters.

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rwmg
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swynn
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Pickpick

Anecdotes about mathematical errors, from the inconsequential to the horrifying. The less consequential bits are served with a generous dose of self-aware humor, while the grimmer stories are used to argue for building more failure-resistant systems. It's accessible, entertaining, and thought-provoking, and I'll read more Parker.

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nikirtehsuxlol
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Does anyone else work in Quality Control?! Sometimes your cheese holes line up. 🧀 🤷‍♀️

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nikirtehsuxlol
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My current read is very interesting and Matt Parker does a great job of taking the math out of the math talk. Every few pages are packed with real world examples of humans mistakenly applying math (or maybe math getting the last laugh?). Fun read. I‘ll pick it up later though because Teddy needs the lumbar support for right now. #catcuddles

michellelav So cute 😻 4y
3 likes1 comment
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TheEllieMo
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Taking Pi Day literally!

#Pies #MarchMadness @Eggs

Eggs Love it 😊 4y
33 likes1 comment
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RamsFan1963
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Panpan

I was on the fence between so-so and pan. This book wasn't what I expected at all. While there were some amusing anecdotes and tales of math (or maths as the narrator said) gone wrong, a lot of it is like listening to a math text book read out loud. Mathematics equations and computer coding that left my brain numb. 2 💥💥

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TheEllieMo
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A great title for a book, and it is on my TBR.

#Mathematics #RedRoseSeptember
@arlenefinnigan @Cinfhen

arlenefinnigan Great title! 5y
Hazel2019 I am going to have to check this one out! Love mathy books 😁 5y
Cinfhen Loving today‘s prompt 🤓 5y
38 likes2 stack adds3 comments