Product Description

Why do weather forecasters get it wrong? What are the best tactics for playing "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and "The Weakest Link"? And what is the link between a tin of baked beans and a men's urinal? These and many other questions are answered in this book. It is for anyone wanting to remind themselves - or discover for the first time - that maths is relevant to almost everything we do. Dating, cooking, travelling by car, gambling and ranking sportsmen all have links with intriguing mathematical problems that are explained in this book. It reveals the secrets behind some of the best con tricks and the hidden workings of the taxi meter, and explains how epidemics start and stop.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17274 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

About the Author
Rob Eastaway is the author of the best-selling What is a Googly? (0860518000) and Why Do Buses Come in Threes? (1861052472) He is also responsible for running the Coopers and Lybrand world ratings for cricket, one of sport's best-known mathematical models. Jeremy Wyndham is the managing director of a leading market research company. They both live in London.

Customer Reviews

Excellent - stimulating examples of maths in everyday life
As a university maths teacher, I thoroughly enjoyed the authors' previous "Why do buses come in threes", not only as a stimulating read but as an excellent source of interesting examples for my classes in mathematical modelling. The successor is just as good - indeed, I think it's even better. Topics include how to write a hit song, tactics for quiz show contestants, detecting fraud and how to reduce lift waiting times, and even for a voracious reader of popular maths books like me there were plenty of new ideas. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on how spin doctors present information. Very strongly recommended!

Fascinating and funny!
I bought this book out of curiosity - I've never been all that interested in maths, but some of the chapters looked interesting - like how best to play TV quiz shows, why the days of the week are called what they are, and so on.

The authors say that the main reason for including something in this book was that it had to keep them entertained down the pub - and I'd agree entirely!

It's funny and covers a wide choice of subjects, includes some puzzles (don't worry they include the answers too!), and even discusses how best to meet the love of your life (statistically speaking).

You don't need a degree in maths to get your head round it, the chapters are nice and short, all in all it's a very entertaining book. You will find yourself quoting it all over the place after you've read it!!

Great Fun
It's amazing the amount of work that mathematicians have to do, to solve the problems of everyday life. This book explains the numbers behind the weather, bookmakers and dating agencies. Amongst all the calculations, it is comforting to know that often the lateral-thinking solutions are the best. For instance, lift-engineers have to know a lot of theory to keep their customers waiting for the least time, but the best solution was to put mirrors in front of the lifts, so that people didn't realise how long they were waiting as they were too busy preening themselves! Well worth buying for the clever inside information alone.