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The Secret Life of Numbers: 50 Easy Pieces on How Mathematicians Work And Think
Most of us picture mathematicians laboring before a chalkboard, scribbling numbers and obscure symbols as they mutter unintelligibly. This lighthearted (but realistic) sneak-peak into the everyday world of mathematicians turns that stereotype on its head.Most people have little idea what mathematicians do or how they think. It's often difficult to see how their seemingly arcane and esoteric work applies to our own everyday lives. But mathematics also holds a special allure for many people. We are drawn to its inherent beauty and fascinated by its complexity?but often intimidated by its presumed difficulty. The Secret Life of Numbers opens our eyes to the joys of mathematics, introducing us to the charming, often whimsical side, of the discipline. Divided into several parts, the book looks at interesting and largely unknown historical tidbits, introduces the largerthan- life practitioners of mathematics through the ages, profiles some of the most significant unsolved conjectures, and describes problems and puzzles that have already been solved. Rounding out the table of contents is a host of mathematical miscellany?all of which add up to 50 fun, sometimes cheeky, shorttakes on the field. Chock full of stories, anecdotes, and entertaining vignettes, The Secret Life of Numbers shows us how mathematics really does affect almost every aspect of life?from the law to geography, elections to botany?and we come to appreciate the delight and gratification that mathematics holds for all of us.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2006
13 people are currently reading
285 people want to read
About the author
George G. Szpiro
26 books18 followersGeorge G. Szpiro is an Israeli-Swiss applied mathematician and journalist, who has emerged as a writer of popular science books.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 23, 2012
Qué lástima. Una idea buena, recopilar 50 artículos de divulgación de matemáticas publicados en un periódico suizo por un físico, matemático y periodista (o al menos eso pone en su CV), se convierte en una decepción mayúscula cuando uno finalmente tiene el libro entre manos.
Para empezar, una cuestión filosófica: Los libros de divulgación son una puerta para que los lectores interesados ahonden en el tema. No puede ser que en más de la mitad de los artículos se diga implemente que "unos matemáticos han descubierto que...". ¿Qué matemáticos? ¿Dónde lo han publicado? ¿Cómo puedo aprender más sobre el tema? Hombre, un poco de ayuda... Hay un caso sangrante en la p. 178 en la que se dice literalmente: "En 1992 tres físicos descubrieron horrorizados que las simulaciones producían predicciones incorrectas y que, por tanto, los resultados de su trabajo eran erróneos", hablando del redondeo en los chips pentium y de los números aleatorios y pseudoaleatorios. ¡Y no da más datos!
Luego está el asunto de la edición del libro. Letra minúscula, márgenes enanos, parece que han querido ahorrar en papel más allá de la comodidad del lector. También hay problemas de edición cuando el autor usa una notación complicada en exceso, como por ejemplo una fracción. Sí, es horrible cómo algunos autores de textos matemáticos usan complicadísimas expresiones como "1/3". Al intentar procesar tan complicados símbolos, obtenemos resultados como éste.
El autor también comete errores. Dice (pág. 143) que el Ariane 5, el cohete de la ESA, explotó en su primer lanzamiento por un error de redondeo, lo cual es falso. Explotó porque uno de los sistemas de recogida de datos en vuelo le mandaba números en 64 bits a otro sistema más antiguo que los esperaba en 16 bits, lo cual provocó un overflow y la activación de la autodestrucción automática. También confunde el número de partículas del Universo (unas 10^82) con la masa del universo (~10^54 kg) y dice que el Universo tiene 10^54 partículas. Un simple error de diez mil cuatrillones de veces, o 28 órdenes de magnitud.
Confunde el también el autor la definición de ecuación diofántica: no es aquella cuyas soluciones son números primos, sino números enteros. Y deletrea mal el apellido de Amos Tversky, llamándolo Trevsy.
Y falta la contribución final del traductor, que confunde autovalor o valor característico con valor singular (eigenvalue), mostrando que la terminología matemática le es ajena. También decide el traductor no traducir las tablas, de modo que nos las planta íntegras en inglés y luego en una nota al pie traduce toda la columna de títulos en línea recta. ¿Por qué?
En definitiva, un libro con buenas intenciones pero que tiene tantos fallos por falta de atención que se hace muy difícil de disfrutar. Muy mal el editor de la editorial Almuzara.
Para empezar, una cuestión filosófica: Los libros de divulgación son una puerta para que los lectores interesados ahonden en el tema. No puede ser que en más de la mitad de los artículos se diga implemente que "unos matemáticos han descubierto que...". ¿Qué matemáticos? ¿Dónde lo han publicado? ¿Cómo puedo aprender más sobre el tema? Hombre, un poco de ayuda... Hay un caso sangrante en la p. 178 en la que se dice literalmente: "En 1992 tres físicos descubrieron horrorizados que las simulaciones producían predicciones incorrectas y que, por tanto, los resultados de su trabajo eran erróneos", hablando del redondeo en los chips pentium y de los números aleatorios y pseudoaleatorios. ¡Y no da más datos!
Luego está el asunto de la edición del libro. Letra minúscula, márgenes enanos, parece que han querido ahorrar en papel más allá de la comodidad del lector. También hay problemas de edición cuando el autor usa una notación complicada en exceso, como por ejemplo una fracción. Sí, es horrible cómo algunos autores de textos matemáticos usan complicadísimas expresiones como "1/3". Al intentar procesar tan complicados símbolos, obtenemos resultados como éste.
El autor también comete errores. Dice (pág. 143) que el Ariane 5, el cohete de la ESA, explotó en su primer lanzamiento por un error de redondeo, lo cual es falso. Explotó porque uno de los sistemas de recogida de datos en vuelo le mandaba números en 64 bits a otro sistema más antiguo que los esperaba en 16 bits, lo cual provocó un overflow y la activación de la autodestrucción automática. También confunde el número de partículas del Universo (unas 10^82) con la masa del universo (~10^54 kg) y dice que el Universo tiene 10^54 partículas. Un simple error de diez mil cuatrillones de veces, o 28 órdenes de magnitud.
Confunde el también el autor la definición de ecuación diofántica: no es aquella cuyas soluciones son números primos, sino números enteros. Y deletrea mal el apellido de Amos Tversky, llamándolo Trevsy.
Y falta la contribución final del traductor, que confunde autovalor o valor característico con valor singular (eigenvalue), mostrando que la terminología matemática le es ajena. También decide el traductor no traducir las tablas, de modo que nos las planta íntegras en inglés y luego en una nota al pie traduce toda la columna de títulos en línea recta. ¿Por qué?
En definitiva, un libro con buenas intenciones pero que tiene tantos fallos por falta de atención que se hace muy difícil de disfrutar. Muy mal el editor de la editorial Almuzara.
December 24, 2011
If I could give this 3.5 stars, I would. The book is really hit or miss. If I were basing it only on the introduction, people section, and concluding sections, it would have a 5. If I were basing it only on the other sections, it would have a two. If you decide to read this book, and you get to a bunch of stories that bore the crap out of you ... DON'T GIVE UP! Just skip to the next section of the book. It's worth your time :)
This book is a collection of short (2-4 page) articles that were originally published in a German speaking newspaper. You know, those short little special articles where you learn something rather than reading about the news. It is broken up into small sections of somewhat related articles based loosely on topic -- though not mathematical topics, rather topics like "articles about people" or "articles about particularly difficult problems", etc.
The first section, which only contains 2-3 stories, is particularly great. So great, in fact, that after I read these stories, I then returned to them and read them to my husband. At that point, I assumed the entire book was equally as interesting and amusing and thought we would read it aloud together.
After the last story in that section, he said, "Yes, I like this math book, it's fun."
And then we got to the next section. This one is about particularly difficult problems and ... bored the crap out of us. The problems themselves are somewhat obtuse. The articles become a bit repetitive, which is understandable since they were originally newspaper articles and there is no guarantee that the reader of one article has read any of the previous ones, but when you put them in book form a little editing is in order, I think. And this section is quite thick, to boot. So it dragged on and on and on and on, and both of us lost interest.
But I persevered, and every now and then would pick up the book and read a story or two.
And THEN, I got to the "people" section, and it was fun again! Learning about the different mathematicians and their contributions to the field and their personal lives and diseases and etc was really fun and interesting! And then I got to some other section that bored me again. And then the end was fun again.
If you like math explained in ways you can understand it, and especially if you like the historical aspects of it, (some sections of) this book would probably be a fun read for you.
This book is a collection of short (2-4 page) articles that were originally published in a German speaking newspaper. You know, those short little special articles where you learn something rather than reading about the news. It is broken up into small sections of somewhat related articles based loosely on topic -- though not mathematical topics, rather topics like "articles about people" or "articles about particularly difficult problems", etc.
The first section, which only contains 2-3 stories, is particularly great. So great, in fact, that after I read these stories, I then returned to them and read them to my husband. At that point, I assumed the entire book was equally as interesting and amusing and thought we would read it aloud together.
After the last story in that section, he said, "Yes, I like this math book, it's fun."
And then we got to the next section. This one is about particularly difficult problems and ... bored the crap out of us. The problems themselves are somewhat obtuse. The articles become a bit repetitive, which is understandable since they were originally newspaper articles and there is no guarantee that the reader of one article has read any of the previous ones, but when you put them in book form a little editing is in order, I think. And this section is quite thick, to boot. So it dragged on and on and on and on, and both of us lost interest.
But I persevered, and every now and then would pick up the book and read a story or two.
And THEN, I got to the "people" section, and it was fun again! Learning about the different mathematicians and their contributions to the field and their personal lives and diseases and etc was really fun and interesting! And then I got to some other section that bored me again. And then the end was fun again.
If you like math explained in ways you can understand it, and especially if you like the historical aspects of it, (some sections of) this book would probably be a fun read for you.
October 10, 2023
Už jsem četla na podobné téma víc knih, takže tohle pro mě nebylo moc nové. Je to fajn, jestli nemáte načtené podobné knížky, ale i tak bych bych spíš doporučila například Hudbu prvočísel.
October 21, 2018
Tiny happy columns on false proofs, primacy wars, Newton as a gigantic loon, and the Swiss maths scene. He assumes no background - explaining primes even - but is concise and so not hand-holding. Lots of repetition because originally standalone columns, lots of bucolia because he likes mathematicians so much. Harsh words for Wolfram, though. The banality of eternal truth:
The next morning Mignotte informed him that he thought the proof [of the 500 hundred year old Catalan conjecture] was correct. They did not rejoice, but they were very happy.
October 25, 2020
متن کتاب از نظر محتوایی بسیار پراکنده و بریده بریده است و سرشار از مشکلات ترجمه و تایپ.
June 21, 2021
كتاب مجموعه اي است از مقالات يك روزنامه نگار كه حوزه تخصص كاريش مسائل مربوط به رياضيات هست! (اصلا نميتونم تصور كنم يه ستون از روزنامه يا مجله در مورد رياضي باشه)
مجموعه مقالات خوبي هست و چون براي عموم نوشته شده و حالت ژورناليستي داره خوندش راحت هست. نويسنده سويسي هست و دو مقالاتش خيلي در مورد همون دور و ورها و كلي اسم و آدرس صحبت كرده كه براي ما موضوعيت نداره و ارتباط رو نميفهميم. يا حداقل من نفهميدم.
مجموعه مقالات خوبي هست و چون براي عموم نوشته شده و حالت ژورناليستي داره خوندش راحت هست. نويسنده سويسي هست و دو مقالاتش خيلي در مورد همون دور و ورها و كلي اسم و آدرس صحبت كرده كه براي ما موضوعيت نداره و ارتباط رو نميفهميم. يا حداقل من نفهميدم.
February 23, 2018
I enjoyed the leap year, world ending, Bernoulli family, an insults stink pieces. Some of the others were a bit dry, but the author did a great job simplifying Topology
August 23, 2025
Audiobook
October 1, 2015
If one surveyed a group of adults and asked them how prevalent a role mathematics plays in their everyday life, most would likely shrug and claim, “Not much.” Many people see math as a required subject in school and that most of it won’t be important or helpful outside of a classroom. To many people math is perceived to be abstract lists of equations and formulas and they can’t see how any of it could be related to their lives. George G. Szpiro’s The Secret Life of Numbers: 50 Easy Pieces on How Mathematicians Work and Think is a delightful collection of 50 fun and engaging short stories (2-5 pages each) that offers a peek into the world of mathematics, providing a entertaining and witty assortment of anecdotes, vignettes, and stories that enlighten to just how interesting and relevant the world of math has been in the past and can be for the present and future.
The book is broken down into six parts: Historical Tidbits, Unsolved Conjectures, Solved Problems, Personalities, Concrete and Abstract Matters, and Interdisciplinary Potpourri.
The stories in Historical Tidbits are appealing and relatable to everyone, discussing things such as the mathematics behind why leap years exist, as well as the dysfunctional competitive family dynamics of the Bernoulli family (including the tale of a resentful father framing his son for plagiarism). This chapter makes relatively light use of actual mathematics, but still does a great job explaining the mathematical concepts that are discussed.
Unsolved Conjectures and Solved Problems profile some of the most famous problems that puzzled mathematicians for centuries as well as problems whose solutions are still unknown to this day. These chapters are considerably more math heavy, but Szpiro does such a great job explaining some complicated ideas of the problems that readers do not have to be aware of how the actual math works to at least have a vague understanding of the problems discussed.
Ask someone to describe a math professor, and they’ll likely describe a tedious old man in a tweed jacket dully giving a lecture in a monotone voice. Personalities challenges that view by offering a glimpse into the interesting personal lives of some quirky mathematicians.
Concrete and Abstract Matters and Interdisciplinary Potpourri offer many stories that illustrate just how much mathematics affects almost every aspect of daily life. Concepts involving mathematics are revealed in the fields of gambling, economics, chemistry, war, art, politics, botany, politics, geography and more. These chapters would be very beneficial to provide readers with the realization that no matter what field one works in, it is likely that mathematics will play a role, whether it be significant or comparatively minor.
A wonderful feature of this novel is that, although the stories are grouped, none of the stories are inherently connected, so the reader can pick and choose which stories they wish to read. Because some stories are “math-heavier” than others, although Szpiro does a great job attempting to simply explain many concepts, a certain amount of mathematical knowledge is often assumed, so the casual reader can skip any stories that may be a bit too confusing.
In a classroom setting this could be a great resource for educators in many different content areas. Any specific chapter could be pulled for use as a class reading to supplement concepts presented in the classroom and illustrate how concepts taught in school can have importance and relevance in the real world.
If you love math and are already aware of its many fun and practical uses, definitely read this book. But I would especially recommend this book to those who believes math has no real world purpose or that math is not relatable to anyone who isn’t a mathematician. This is a great book to elucidate readers to how exciting the world of math can really be!
The book is broken down into six parts: Historical Tidbits, Unsolved Conjectures, Solved Problems, Personalities, Concrete and Abstract Matters, and Interdisciplinary Potpourri.
The stories in Historical Tidbits are appealing and relatable to everyone, discussing things such as the mathematics behind why leap years exist, as well as the dysfunctional competitive family dynamics of the Bernoulli family (including the tale of a resentful father framing his son for plagiarism). This chapter makes relatively light use of actual mathematics, but still does a great job explaining the mathematical concepts that are discussed.
Unsolved Conjectures and Solved Problems profile some of the most famous problems that puzzled mathematicians for centuries as well as problems whose solutions are still unknown to this day. These chapters are considerably more math heavy, but Szpiro does such a great job explaining some complicated ideas of the problems that readers do not have to be aware of how the actual math works to at least have a vague understanding of the problems discussed.
Ask someone to describe a math professor, and they’ll likely describe a tedious old man in a tweed jacket dully giving a lecture in a monotone voice. Personalities challenges that view by offering a glimpse into the interesting personal lives of some quirky mathematicians.
Concrete and Abstract Matters and Interdisciplinary Potpourri offer many stories that illustrate just how much mathematics affects almost every aspect of daily life. Concepts involving mathematics are revealed in the fields of gambling, economics, chemistry, war, art, politics, botany, politics, geography and more. These chapters would be very beneficial to provide readers with the realization that no matter what field one works in, it is likely that mathematics will play a role, whether it be significant or comparatively minor.
A wonderful feature of this novel is that, although the stories are grouped, none of the stories are inherently connected, so the reader can pick and choose which stories they wish to read. Because some stories are “math-heavier” than others, although Szpiro does a great job attempting to simply explain many concepts, a certain amount of mathematical knowledge is often assumed, so the casual reader can skip any stories that may be a bit too confusing.
In a classroom setting this could be a great resource for educators in many different content areas. Any specific chapter could be pulled for use as a class reading to supplement concepts presented in the classroom and illustrate how concepts taught in school can have importance and relevance in the real world.
If you love math and are already aware of its many fun and practical uses, definitely read this book. But I would especially recommend this book to those who believes math has no real world purpose or that math is not relatable to anyone who isn’t a mathematician. This is a great book to elucidate readers to how exciting the world of math can really be!
July 4, 2017
Pronto la reseña, sólo puedo decir que es fabuloso.
February 13, 2014
Este libro es la antología de un columnista suizo que se dedicaba, entre muchas otras cosas, a la divulgación científica. Todo lo que aparece aquí fue escrito originalmente para un periódico en aquel país.
Es necesario tener esto en mente para saber qué tipo de artículos se encontrarán aquí: ensayos cortos, sin ecuaciones ni definiciones matemáticas formales, orientadas principalmente para el hombre a pie que busca la columna como una curiosidad, para satisfacer su curiosidad y aumentar su cultura general. No es un libro para especialistas, ni mucho menos un libro de texto. Son ensayos cortos que no apuntan a tener el rigor de un Journal científico moderno, sólo a cumplir con los requisitos editoriales de un diario.
Dicho ello, Szpiro ha hecho un gran trabajo en esta antología. A diferencia de otros dovulgadores, él posee el conocimiento y la práctica profesional de un científico respetable a la vez que cumple con la facilidad de palabra de todo buen reportero. El resultado son 51 pequeños relatos sobre matemáticas que el no-especialista conoce sólo superficialmente en el mejor de los casos.
Los artículos son cortos y concisos; los ejemplos son claros y las anécdotas históricas son interesantes. Aunque el libro está estructurado por tópicos, se puede abrir el libro en un artículo al azar y será igualmente agradable.
Mi única crítica es que el estilo fluido del autor hace de éste libro uno muy corto. En unas cuantas sesiones con café uno se ha acabado todo el libro (aprox. 250 páginas en la edición de bolsillo que poseo). Aún así, lo recomiendo para todos los interesados en conocer un poco más de matemáticas sin necesidad de regresar al aula. Excelente para leer de camino al trabajo y como tema de conversación.
Es necesario tener esto en mente para saber qué tipo de artículos se encontrarán aquí: ensayos cortos, sin ecuaciones ni definiciones matemáticas formales, orientadas principalmente para el hombre a pie que busca la columna como una curiosidad, para satisfacer su curiosidad y aumentar su cultura general. No es un libro para especialistas, ni mucho menos un libro de texto. Son ensayos cortos que no apuntan a tener el rigor de un Journal científico moderno, sólo a cumplir con los requisitos editoriales de un diario.
Dicho ello, Szpiro ha hecho un gran trabajo en esta antología. A diferencia de otros dovulgadores, él posee el conocimiento y la práctica profesional de un científico respetable a la vez que cumple con la facilidad de palabra de todo buen reportero. El resultado son 51 pequeños relatos sobre matemáticas que el no-especialista conoce sólo superficialmente en el mejor de los casos.
Los artículos son cortos y concisos; los ejemplos son claros y las anécdotas históricas son interesantes. Aunque el libro está estructurado por tópicos, se puede abrir el libro en un artículo al azar y será igualmente agradable.
Mi única crítica es que el estilo fluido del autor hace de éste libro uno muy corto. En unas cuantas sesiones con café uno se ha acabado todo el libro (aprox. 250 páginas en la edición de bolsillo que poseo). Aún así, lo recomiendo para todos los interesados en conocer un poco más de matemáticas sin necesidad de regresar al aula. Excelente para leer de camino al trabajo y como tema de conversación.
February 25, 2008
This is a collection of Sunday features for a popular Swiss daily, and Szpiro has a real gift for distilling complicated branches of mathematics into two or three sentences. Unlike many popularizers, he actually understands the math, and his condensations are excellent preparation for delving into the real thing (though not, alas, a substitute).
January 11, 2016
Es una colección de artículos de tema matemático publicados en un periódico suizo. Son muy interesantes, pero el libro se resiente del formato original (artículos limitados en espacio) y de su enfoque especialmente suizo, aunque ni una cosa ni otra son tan perjudiciales. Despierta la curiosidad sobre muchos matemáticos y sobre la belleza de esa ciencia.
August 21, 2012
Fun little book. As the title suggests, it is 50 short essays about some aspect of mathematics. I have a degree in mathematics, so perhaps I found it more interesting than many would...but I thought it very accessible.
August 25, 2013
En el libro se nos presentan un montón de anécdotas curiosas, en concreto 51, explican la vida de algunos matemáticos, e incluso dejan entrever alguna teoría o conjetura contada con pocas palabras.
Llega incluso a contar alguna historia sobre Wolfram (el autor de Mathematica) y John Von Neumann.
Llega incluso a contar alguna historia sobre Wolfram (el autor de Mathematica) y John Von Neumann.
August 28, 2015
it duplicates math. topics of Poincare's Prize: The Hundred-Year Quest to Solve One of Math's Greatest Puzzles .
You surely need not read the book.
But I have harvest of other math. topics ans they are useful.
You surely need not read the book.
But I have harvest of other math. topics ans they are useful.
November 16, 2008
Ok, I'm a geek.
But this really bring life to mathematics for the non mathematical.
But this really bring life to mathematics for the non mathematical.
June 27, 2012
Dá vontade de se aprofundar nos temas que o autor aborda.
Want to read
March 11, 2014gdfgssfgsdgsdgfsgdsdgsgsdgfsdg
Read
March 15, 2014mnmbmbj
Want to read
September 2, 2017is very coool book
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews