Cheng, Eugenia

"Where does math come from? From a textbook? From rules? From deduction? From logic? Not really, Eugenia Cheng writes in Is Math Real?: it comes from curiosity, from instinctive human curiosity, 'from people not being satisfied with answers and always wanting to understand more.' And most importantly, she says, 'it comes from questions:': not from answering them, but from posing them. Nothing could seem more at odds from the way most of us were taught math: a rigid and autocratic model which taught us to follow specific steps to reach specific answers. Instead of encouraging a child who asks why 1+1 is 2, our methods of education force them to accept it. Instead of exploring why we multiply before we add, a textbook says, just to get on with the order of operations"--Provided by publisher.

"Join Molly as she ventures into a curious land where nothing is quite as it seems ... A trail of clues leads from one mystery to another, but who is leaving them and where will they go?" -- Back cover.

"X and Y are desperate to bake infinite pie! With the help of quirky and uber-smart Aunt Z, X and Y will use math concepts to bake their way to success!"--Provided by publisher.

"Math professor Eugenia Cheng provides an ... introduction to the logic and beauty of mathematics, powered, unexpectedly, by insights from the kitchen: we learn, for example, how the b?chamel in a lasagna can be a lot like the number 5, and why making a good custard proves that math is easy but life is hard"--Provided by publisher.

"In How to Bake Pi, math professor Eugenia Cheng provides an accessible introduction to the logic and beauty of mathematics, powered, unexpectedly, by insights from the kitchen: we learn, for example, how the b?echamel in a lasagna can be a lot like the number 5, and why making a good custard proves that math is easy but life is hard"--From publisher description.