The Joy Of X: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity Paperback – October 1, 2013

The joy of x is indeed what the author claims it to be in its subtitle: a tour through the enchanting and often intriguing world of mathematics by a wise and selective guide intent on passing over his enthusiasm for the subject regardless of former mathematical training.I must say I have been a fan of Strogatz since I first read his (more technical) Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos. His lucidity in explaining advanced mathematical concepts made me wish he wrote a book on the more introductory realms of mathematics, and intended for a much broader audience. Soon enough, I heard about his series in the NY times, which clearly indicated his expertise in this arena. And now that it is has been expanded and put out as a hardcover, I made sure I ordered a copy right away!Strogatz focuses not on those who were math wiz-kids in high school. His pace and clarity particularly are meant to encourage those who were even scared of areas of mathematics to try and read this book. As to those who can digest more advanced math, the book still is charming; offering a "snack", to quote Strogatz himself, in any chapter of his work. And this is not a complete book in any-sub area of math, but merely an attempt at revising and rediscovering elementary concepts of the subject.The book is divided into six parts, constructed more or less in a sequence that resembles the way we are (or at least, should be) introduced to elementary mathematics. The first two build up on what numbers mean, their properties, the need for larger number sets, their relationships, and a whirlwind primer to algebra. Strogatz constantly focuses on insight, often digressing into alternative methods to understand concepts, and with a generous supply of figures to support that. He then moves on to Geometry, followed up by a short but extremely illustrative companion to introductory calculus. His examples are interesting and often ingeniously pulled out of daily life. Particularly worth mentioning is the fact that proofs, when presented, are discovered as a child learning math should rather than merely presented, as unfortunately the case is in most introductory textbooks. The penultimate chapter focuses on why statistics and probability should be at the fingertips of anyone today (a point not justified in most education systems today), followed by the extremely interesting final section on the 'frontiers', where topics from prime numbers to differential geometry to the meaning of infinity are touched upon (arguably my favorite section).Who is this book intended for? In my opinion, this work is qualified to be supplementary reading at a high school level. No, this is not a stand alone book in number theory or algebra or calculus or any branch of introductory math, and the author clearly does not intend to make this one. This is a tour, a joyous ride, a display piece that swiftly (half a day in my case, un-put-down-able!) takes you through the intricacies and beauty of mathematics without the terrors of rigor or the banality of (most) textbooks. I would recommend even that every parent of math students attempt to read this, to try and learn (and hopefully enjoy) the beauty of the subject along with their kids. Advanced students of math (like myself) can read this for a tour back into the days when they first meddled with introductory concepts, and see how much easier and more elucidating this could have been. And instructors of math must try this for wonderful pedagogic tools and original ideas that could make passing the tricks on to the next generation so much easier and enjoyable to both parties.PS: For those interested and motivated in more, the 250 or so snippet-notes at the back of the book (sadly not cited systematically through the course of the book except in a handful of occasions) are a treasure trove of information. Keep a log of it along with the chapters you read, and you can unearth a ton of references, links and in many cases deeper insights into the point being conveyed.

This book is indeed a joy to read. There were many "aha" moments, some of which are :1) Google's Page rank explained using a simple Markov chain example. Demonstrates the power of linear algebra.2) Thinking about conditional probability in terms of frequencies is more intuitive and less confusing than the usual Bayes formula.3) Power Law is the new Normal Distribution of the world.They are everywhere.4) Log scale verbalized brilliantly :Markings on the axis differ by the same factor than same absolute number.5) Div, Grad and Curl in Maxwell's equations.6) Differential equation to understand a love affair. In the same context, Newton's three body problem has no closed form solution. May be that's the reason why love triangle movies always seem to work, for there is always some novelty that audience can expect.7) To explain Euler's constant, an example with some equation is usually the standard choice. But the author does it in style when he says "e arises when something changes through the cumulative effects of tiny events."8) Usage of Goldilocks Principle in many places in the book.9) Stair case analogy to explain Fundamental theorem of Calculus.10 Zero antiderivative property of slopes and peaks verbalized as : Things always change slow at the top or bottom.11) "Sine qua non" - word used to cutely explain the ubiquitous sine curve, the nature's building block .12) Cone's hidden role in the manifestation of parabola, ellipse and hyperbola .13) Solving a quadratic equation visually.14) Exploring Connections between "Using Newton Raphson to solve an equation with multiple roots" , Chaos theory and fractals. Truly amazing!15) Why Hindu Arabic system of numbering flourished while others fell astray? The unsung background hero of the story is the "Zero".16) Gibbs Phenomenon and the way it unpleasantly crops up in digital photographs and MRI scans.17) Connection between "How to effectively use Mattress" and group theory.18) Mention of Mobius Strip and its strange characteristicsThe book begins with natural numbers that made counting and tallying easy. It ends with with the subject of infinity where everything is on a slippery ground. In this journey from natural numbers to infinity, the book explores various subfields of mathematics.This book is a pleasure to read as the author connects some basic math stuff with everyday life.