If You Want To Fall In Love With Mathematics, Read This Book

Summary

The article is a personal account of rekindling a passion for mathematics through the book "Infinite Powers" by Steven Strogatz, which explores the impact of calculus on understanding the world.

Abstract

The author shares a personal journey from childhood fascination with numbers to a waning interest in mathematics during a research-focused graduate program. Seeking to reignite their love for the subject, they discovered "Infinite Powers," a book that eloquently explains how calculus unravels the complexities of the universe. The book not only provides a historical perspective on calculus but also demonstrates its practical applications in technology, science, and everyday life, from designing real-life objects with curved shapes to enabling space exploration and medical advancements. The author enthusiastically recommends the book to anyone interested in mathematics, emphasizing calculus as a pivotal tool in human innovation.

Opinions

The author had a long-standing love for mathematics since childhood, finding joy in numerical puzzles and problems.
Despite excelling in mathematics through school and into engineering, the author found their passion waning in graduate school due to a focus on reading and writing over practical calculations.
"Infinite Powers" is highly recommended by the author as a book that can rekindle one's appreciation for mathematics, particularly calculus.
The author believes calculus is a powerful branch of mathematics that solves complex problems by breaking them down into more manageable parts.
Calculus is credited with enabling significant technological advancements, including the design of microwaves, the discovery of electromagnetic waves, the understanding of planetary motion, and the creation of various gadgets like phones and GPS systems.
The author suggests that calculus has played a crucial role in space exploration, medical treatments for diseases like HIV, and even in the artistic realm of animated movie creation.
The author quotes calculus as "probably the greatest invention by mankind," highlighting its profound impact on human progress.
The article concludes with a promotional recommendation for an AI

Mathematics reveals the mysteries of the world

Ever since I was a kid, I loved mathematics. I loved playing with numbers as a kid. I used to memorize tables, squares, and cubes of numbers for fun. I loved solving puzzles and doing problems.

For me, mathematics was just a fun thing to do. In middle school and high school, I excelled in mathematics and decided to pursue engineering. As an undergrad, I got to do a lot of math stuff.

After graduating, I went to grad school. Now I am in my 4th year of Ph.D. As a grad student, I don’t get much time to do mathematics. I only do reading and writing, and very few calculations.

Recently, I started feeling like my love for mathematics was diminishing. So I started searching for some cool math books. That’s when I stumbled upon the book called: Infinite powers by Steven Strogatz.

Screenshot by Author

It is such a fascinating book. I just finished reading it and it reignited my love for mathematics. I will highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to fell in love with mathematics.

In the book, Steven describes the power of calculus (one of the branches of mathematics) and how calculus reveals the mysteries of the world. In short, calculus solves a big problem by dividing it into many short problems and then puts the solution of short problems together to give solutions to big problems.

It’s great to read the history of calculus and how calculus has evolved over time. I will share some of the cool things about calculus. It might help you to pick up the book and give it a shot:

The curved thing like circles and spheres are hard to comprehend. The calculus provides a solution to find the area and volume of curved things which helps us design many things in real life.

Calculus helped us to combine electric and magnetic fields to detect electromagnetic waves. The microwave in your kitchen is based on electromagnetic waves.

Calculus revealed the motion and planets and detect us detecting far away planets.

Many gadgets and technologies like phones, TV, computer, GPS, etc. won’t be possible without calculus.

Calculus helped humans to reach the moon and space.

Calculus helped scientists to design better therapeutics to fight HIV.

Calculus helped artists to design animated movies.

I can go on and on and the list is endless. I hope that I have convinced you to read this book and fell in love with mathematics.

“Calculus is probably the greatest invention by mankind.”