Six Math Essentials
By Terence TaoAbout the Book
In SIX MATH ESSENTIALS, the renowned mathematician and Fields Medalist Terence Tao introduces readers to six central concepts that have guided mathematicians from antiquity to the frontiers of what we know today and now help us make sense of our complex world. This slim, elegant volume explores numbers as the gateway to quantitative thinking; algebra as the gateway to abstraction; geometry as a way to calculate beyond what we can see; probability as a tool to navigate uncertainty with rigorous thinking; analysis as a means to tame the very large or the very small; and dynamics as the mathematics of change. SIX MATH ESSENTIALS—Tao’s first popular math book—provides a glimpse into the workings of Tao’s incomparable mind and how he thinks about the creativity and interconnectedness of the mathematical enterprise. Contrary to popular perception, math, he insists, isn’t magic—it’s a powerful way of thinking that anyone can learn.
Reviews
“Like seeing soccer through Messi’s eyes. Full of piercing insight and genial wisdom, this book made me feel like a kid riding on the shoulders of the world’s smartest grown-up.” —Ben Orlin, bestselling author of Math with Bad Drawings
“Terence Tao is one of the great mathematicians of our time—and also one of the most generous. In these pages, he invites us to spend time at his elbow, sharing what he sees across the mathematical landscape and guiding us on a tour of its central ideas.” —Steven Strogatz, New York Times bestselling author of Infinite Powers, and co-host of The Joy of Why podcast
About the Author
Terence Tao is a professor of mathematics at UCLA whose work focuses primarily on harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, combinatorics, and analytic number theory. The recipient of a Fields Medal, a MacArthur Genius Grant, and a Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, among many other accolades, he is one of the most decorated and prolific mathematicians working today. Tao is the author of several academic books, including Solving Mathematical Problems: A Personal Perspective and Additive Combinatorics. He lives in Los Angeles.