Saturday, February 29, 2020
How not to be wrong summary
In Jordan Ellenberg’s, how not to be wrong, Ellenberg opens by discussing how math is a universal language upon which all things can be proven or disproven. He continues on and discusses how many people see life as a linear line, when in reality it is better seen as a bell curve or even an quadratic function. Furthermore, Ellenberg demonstrates that we do not know everything there is to know about math and that not all things line up such as 3/3=.9999...=1. Ellenberg also shows how proportions especially in relations to deaths is often just comparing apples to kittens. Lastly, Ellenberg also discusses how percentages are manipulated in the political realm in order to alter views on various subjects such as job gains and losses.
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The theory that all things can be proven or disproven with the application of mathematics is an intriguing idea. I would like to know more about how various proportions is "often just comparing apples to kittens." Is this indicating that many such proportions we use to analyze the world are based on false assumptions, or is there a more fundamental layer of math involved? I, for one, would like to hear more about how and why all things can be proven, or disproven, via mathematics, and how one might apply this in their own lives.
ReplyDeleteThe title wasn't intriguing enough for me to choose but your summary makes the book sound interesting. It's crazy to think how math can be applied to so many things in our world. I also agree with Ellenberg's point that we do not know everything there is to know about math. Well, we are the ones who created math, so humans are the ones who allow each other what there is to know about anything, like math. This may sound far fetched but these were my initial thoughts toward this summary. Thanks Jeremy. Very cool.
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ReplyDeleteBesides having some grammatical errors, your summary surrounding your book seem fairly interesting, but I am confused about the proportions in relationship to death. Maybe my misunderstanding it due to how I am reading it but I don't understand what you are trying to convey. Are you trying to say that numbers from CDRs, IMR, and CMrs shouldn't be used, seen, or even takened?
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to think about that no matter how advanced we are in concrete concepts like math there's still things that exist that as of now can't be "measured" or are just "intangible" such as abstract objects or metaphysical concepts.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that the man made concept, math, can be used to prove and disprove anything. In what ways is math able to determine truth and falsehoods. How can math be applied to everything logically, it does not seem that it would make any practical sense to apply it everywhere.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I wasn't drawn to the book itself due to me despising math with every inch of my body, but your summary makes this sound like something I'd actually pick up and read. Something I'm kind of confused about, but you mentioned is how Ellenberg compares the proportions of deaths to apples and kittens, which are very different things that don't have any correlation with each other. Although this is something that the person reading this book would know, I'd like for you to elaborate on that tomorrow. Overall, this is a very good summary.
ReplyDelete-Jasmine Sohal
I found the title very interesting since everyone in their life is proven to be wrong. I do believe in Ellenberg's theory to be somewhat true since out life can in into different math graphs. No ones life is going to be a linear graph since no one if perfect I think. I am pretty sure that if you ask everyone in my age, they would say that our life would be a curve. Overall, I think your book sounds very interesting and would like to read it eventually!
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