Cakes, Custard and Category Theory: Easy Recipes for Understanding Complex Maths | Hacker News Reader

Cakes, Custard and Category Theory: Easy Recipes for Understanding Complex Maths

timeshighereducation.co.uk

35 pointsphaet0n10 comments

In the US, the book's title has been changed to How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics

Perhaps the publisher thought that "category theory" might not work well for American audiences?

http://smile.amazon.com/How-Bake-Pi-Exploration-Mathematics/...

Thank you so much for pointing that out. I was having trouble finding the category theory book but finding the Pi one by the same author everywhere!

Interesting - thanks for posting. Will grab a copy of that.

I seem to collect mathematics books. However this is still my favourite book on mathematics and only because it was written by a surgeon rather than a mathematician: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/383087.Mathematics

Warning: Took me a couple of years to get through.

Oh and 1946 copy of Calculus for the Practical Man by J E Thompson.

If not in any particular rush, you can get a UK copy of 'How to Bake Pi' at http://www.bookdepository.com/ (best price, free shipping, and they take paypal). Plus it turns out that Eugenia Cheng just released another book in UK on June 4 called 'Cakes, Custard and Category Theory: Easy Recipes for Understanding Complex Maths' which seemed interesting so that was ordered as well. Shipping time to US is listed as 5 days.

Plus if you need a .pdf of Feynman's favorite math book (Calculus for the Practical Man - Thompson (1946)) currently there are copies at KAT and PB.

How to bake pi and cakes, custard, and category theory are the same book.

You're right. The new one looks like a US pb release of the original yet at UK book sites these are presented as separate entities in their summaries. Found that out by skimming Cheng's Twitter page. Thanks for the info.

This sounds like a lovely book. Can't say I'm a huge fan of the "maths for girls" angle, but anything that makes mathematics more accessible is great.

> Despite the fact that the number of students taking A-level maths has risen in recent years and that girls outperform boys at GCSE, the number of girls taking A-level mathematics is proportionally much lower.

Grab the nearest popcorn and watch the gender wars unfold.

Not if this is considered a particularly difficult UK Maths GCSE exam question, which over 90 percent couldn't answer:

Hannah has 6 orange sweets and some yellow sweets. Overall, she has n sweets. The probability of her taking 2 orange sweets is 1/3. Prove that: n^2-n-90=0.

If a HS student I would imagine you would

First: think of coins p(H1) = .5; p(H2) =.5; p(H1+H2) = .5 * .5 = .25

Second: OK, here (6/n) * (5/(n-1)) = 1/3

Third solve: 30/(n * (n-1)) = 1/3

                     90 = n^2 - n
                      0 = n^2 - n - 90

n=10 or -9; if -9 then Hannah only has one sweet and lifted 9 from somebody else just to demo her point.

(from London Telegraph today)

my instinct for approaching the problem:

    C(6,2) / C(n,2) = 1/3

(where C(n,k) is n choose k)

    15 / [n(n-1)/2] = 1/3
    30 / n(n-1) = 1/3
    n(n-1) = 90

I probably wouldn't have done that in high school, though.

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