30-Second Maths: The 50 Most Mind-Expanding Theories in Mathematics, Each Explained in Half a Minute

by Richard J. Brown

From Rubik's cubes to Godel's incompleteness theorem, everything mathematical explained, with colour illustrations, in half a minute. Maths is enjoying a resurgence in popularity. So how can you avoid being the only dinner guest who has no idea who Fermat was, or what he proved? The more you know about Maths, the less of a science it becomes. 30 Second Maths takes the top 50 most engaging mathematical theories, and explains them to the general reader in half a minute, using nothing more than two pages, 200 words and one picture. Read at your own pace, and discover that maths can be more fascinating than you ever imagined.

Genres: Science, Mathematics, Nonfiction, Reference, School

267 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2012

Reviews

[Esraa Gibreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

الكتاب عبارة عن ٥٠ موضوع متنوع عن الرياضيات، كل موضوع مكتوب عنه مقال قصير نبذة صغيرة لا تتعدى الصفحة وملحق بصورة تخص الموضوع. لذيذ جدا ولو يُقرأ على عدة أيام، كل يوم كام مقال هيبقى عظيم ومسلي ومفيد.🤩

[Largo Vanderkelen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prachtige illustraties. Tof om nieuwe dingen te leren over onderzoeksvelden waar je minder in thuis bent.
Intellectueel uitdagend en een mooie opstap naar verder lezen.

[source · Rating 4 out of 5]

Livro interessante e breve que realmente reune os elementos fundamentais da matematica, sejam eles simples ou complexos. Tenciono voltar a abordar o livro para aprofundar conhecimentos. Nada mau de todo.

[Karltheplaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing wrong with how the book is written but it’s just hard to learn complex maths by written texts. And to understand math you kinda have to see it in arithmetics language. The explanations weren’t always the best either but it’s of course hard to learn abstract things in just 30 seconds.
I did like the biographies and the history behind the math and the mathematicians though!

[Jeff Yoak · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a silly book. Its inch-deep treatment of topics couldn't be of interest to anyone at any level of knowledge.

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mathematics is an intricate and far-flung field of inquiry. There is more to it than adding up figures. How do you open a book on a subject as lauded as mathematics? Well, you start with counting and move on from there. Children can count, but if you make it an abstraction, it can get fiendishly difficult. I'm not being too exact here, but this is only a review. After covering the basics of integers, fractions, rational numbers, and imaginary numbers, the book discusses ideas like Zero and negative numbers.

30 Second Math doesn't only talk about numbers; it also has mini-biographies on towering figures in mathematics. Blaise Pascal is the first one the book covers. Pascal was a true mathematician, but he turned religious and died young. The events I mentioned have nothing to do with each other, but it was a shame nonetheless. When I think of Pascal, the first thing that comes to mind is Pascal's Wager, even though it shouldn't be. Pascal did a lot of work in probability, and he built a calculating machine.

The book achieves what it sets out to do. Hardcore mathematicians aren't the intended audience for 30 Second Math. Someone who wants to raise some conversations at a party could look into this book and talk about counting to 10 in base 2. Maybe they could discuss the concept of zero as a number instead of a placeholder or non-entity.

Other than that, I have no problems with the book. It doesn't lie to you or misrepresent what it is. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

[Molino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Matematik i all ära men fysik tar priset :P

[falaq · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love maths sm guys 😔😔😔 also WDYM MY LECTURER IS AN AUTHOR FOR THIS BOOK ??? I PICKED IT UP RANDOMLY 5 DAYS AGO AND ITS HIS ??? i was genuinely so baffled when i read his name but richard u were so good and now i love u and this book even more XX

[Am Y · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abstract mathematical concepts deciphered in 30 seconds? No, not even close.
The first few chapters explained nothing at all - just gave dictionary-type definitions which you can easily look up on Google.
Why do rational numbers exist? What is the significance of Fibonacci numbers? Of what use are imaginary numbers? Why do we have exponentials and logarithms?
Sadly, I don't know - at least not from reading this book.

If you are looking for the hows and whys behind various maths concepts, you won't find them here.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I doubt I will ever really finish this book. It is a really neat reference that I intend to reread often.

[Om Pokharel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collecting secondary school mathematics books from class 1 to 10 and copying the introduction section of the main chapters, this book also falls somehow into the same category. This book will neither work for those who do not know anything about mathematics, nor will it work for those who are curious about mathematics.

For those who studied maths first and dropped out in the middle, this book seems to be fine for them.

For me, the 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES made me aware about mathematicians whose name I never ever heard before.

Although this book couldn't explain mobious strip, fractals, four colour mapping problem, and Poincaré conjecture; but made me curious about it.

[Thomas Gangert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ansprechend gestaltet und für Interessierte Mathe-Neulinge sicher verständlich. Anregend, wenn es darum geht, welche Themen sich mit weltfremd scheinenden mathematischen Problemen bearbeiten lassen.
Die mathematische Geschichte wird in unterschiedlichsten Kurzkapiteln von Babylon, Indien und den arabischen Raum bis heute beleuchtet. Ein kleines Manko: MathematikINNEN werden gar nicht beleuchtet - vielleicht eine Möglichkeit für einen Teil 2, in dem auch die Kryptographie, exponentielle Wachstums- bzw. Zerfallsprozesse, usw. behandelt werden könnten.

[Johnny Bilotta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was intended to be more of a reference book for me, since I am terrible at non-applied math. The whole thing was well written and made what would normally seem like complex mathmatical concepts very easy to understand.

As a software product designer and developer I am happy that I now have this in my collection. It is one I will certainly recommend to anyone doing any kind of programming.

[Synthetic Vox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Succinct. I don’t know how approachable this is for a total neophyte, as I have read several books on mathematics. It was a nice summary of points, but given that there was no narrative, it was fairly dry. The images were enormously helpful. Would have loved an image to visualize all the different types of numbers (I’m still really confused about what an algebraic number is). Not sure I could recommend this to many people.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book, however, unless you are a champion speed reader it is going to take you longer then 30 seconds to read each section. This book does not go into great depth of any single concept, but does cover a broad array of mathematical concepts. While this book does not provide much detail, it does attempt to link concepts as well as some practical applications for the math.

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

• lots of interesting theories but didn’t explain them particularly well
• opened my eyes to just how complex and unfolding the subject of math research is
• made me want to know more about a range of mathematical ideas

[Jeannette · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute coffee table book about the history and practices of math.

[Adi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good starting point for further exploration.

[Tommy Niittula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Det är nog lite för kort med 30 sekunder att gå igenom koncept i matematiken, men då har man i alla fall fått en liten översikt :)

[Björn Käll · Rating 3 out of 5]

The theory’s are too compressed, but for the prize and size a pleasant little book.

[Aida Saldana Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about mathematics theories, I thoroughly enjoyed it !

[Hebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ik deed er langer over dan 30 seconden om dit boek te lezen.

[Jeremy Schmitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesant mwn inget nytt, för kort för att lära sig något

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent survey of several mathematical topics (not all “mind-expanding” nor “theories”), though not really thirty-second explanations.

[Daniel Bleasby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick recap on mathematical ideas and interesting facts which you may not know.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I personally found reading this to be a tantalizing experience, one that raised my interest in number theory and encouraged me to find resources to study from. That said, I do not think I would really recommend it to anyone that already has even the smallest idea of something they wish to learn. I was simply fortunate that at the time, I was feeling more curious than I had been in the time preceding my reading, and had a lack of inspiration for how to direct my curiosity. Nevertheless, for its personal contribution to me, I think of this book fondly.

[Maurizio Codogno · Rating 2 out of 5]

"numeri trascendentali"?

Mah. Capisco l'idea di volere raccontare in poche parole molti concetti matematici. Però mi pare che questo libro abbia dei problemi di ipersemplificazione. Per dire, troviamo scritto che «A good way of identifying an irrational number is to check that its decimal expansion does not repeat.» Se uno dovesse davvero verificare la successione delle cifre decimali per vedere se un numero è irrazionale, saremmo messi piuttosto male. Altra frase: «Also known as a natural or counting number, a whole number is any positive integer on a number line or continuum. Opinion varies, however, on whether 0 is a whole number.» I numeri interi ("whole numbers") sono quelli positivi e negativi, oltre allo zero. Sono i naturali che possono o no avere lo zero a seconda di chi li definisce. Anche l'idea di indicare alcune "persone chiave" sui vari concetti non è ben definita. Che ha a che fare per esempio sir Roger Penrose col rapporto aureo? (ok, un'idea ce l'avrei, ma non la si può evincere dal testo). Anche la traduzione di Simone Monticelli non mi è piaciuta. Per esempio, "Another dimension" diventa "Oltre le due dimensioni" che non ha un grande senso visto il contesto di quella pagina; ma soprattutto come si fa a scrivere "numeri trascendentali" anziché trascendenti?

[Ivan Eskic]

Learning math can be very stressful, Some people even lose their sleep over it and others, well they just give up. 30 second math by Richard j brown is the solution to all of the problems in math that can be remedied, which is much like 30 second elements. One element the reader would enjoy is how the author makes everything in math easy to understand. For example, one page briefly describes imaginary numbers in a way that makes the reader understand it more easily. Another element is the author puts in small biographies of famous mathematicians. For example, one page briefly talks about who Fermat was. And finally, the last element the reader may find enjoyable is that the author explains one topic within two pages. In conclusion, this book is perfect for anybody who is struggling in math, or if they just want to learn more.

[Laurence Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Credit to the publisher, this is a beautiful book, old school stitched and bound, quality not seen much today. Tactile and lovely to hold - it begs to be read. That's without opening it. The content is as described - 30 seconds to explain one (sometimes complex) subject that other complete books are written about, that's a tall order and rather successfully done. This book will not answer all your questions or give greater detail than 30 seconds allow but it will start you off with a yearning to learn more and provide you with sources to do just that. If you are interested in math concepts and would like a place to start then this is the book - get it. If you are an expert and understand each subject in great depth, this single book will show you how you could explain it to a layman.

[Taija · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hienon näköinen kirja, jonka ostin Lontoon Science Museumista. Mutta moni kakku päältä kaunis... Kirjassa on hauska idea: joka aukeamalla esitellään joku matemaattinen juttu "30 sekunnissa". Lisäksi kustakin jutusta on lyhyt "3-second sum" ja "3-minute addition". Kaikki näyttää järjestelmälliseltä ja kauniilta. Mutta loppujen lopuksi kirjan läpikahlaaminen oli aika tylsää. Kuvitukset olivat jotain sinne päin, selitykset aika pintariipaisuja ja mukaan valikoituneet aiheet aika geometriapainoitteisia. Välissä olleet määritelmät auttoivat ymmärtämään tekstiä, kuuluisien matemaatikkojen henkilökuvat ihan hauskoja lukea.