The Joy of X

A casual, fun to read abridged journey of mathematics written in a way so that a person without a mathematical background would be able to understand.

The various topics include the different types of numbers, their origins and their importance in modern-day mathematics. Then there’s the importance of the quadratic equation and its proof. I remember being pleasantly surprised in school the first time the teacher proved that the sum of all angles in a triangle is 180. In a similar manner, there were some proofs in the book that awoke a similar feeling, for e.g. Hilbert Hotel and the implications of Associative Law. The author’s writing style is engaging, he combines technical explanation and personification to produce an end result that’s not just comprehensible but also humorous.

I picked this up because I’m interested in learning more in-depth about STEM subjects, and even though I have a degree in computer science, I feel there are a lot of subjects I just studied for the sake of it, which I now plan to fix. This was one such read but it wasn’t as technical as I had hoped it would be, but a fun read nonetheless. The author argued that we could do better in terms of teaching mathematics to children, and that it doesn’t have to be daunting. I agree with that wholeheartedly, I don’t particularly recall enjoying mathematics till later when I was in high school because it was just one of the means to an end.