Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe

by Steven Strogatz

Overview

From preeminent math personality and author of The Joy of x, a brilliant and endlessly appealing explanation of calculus—how it works and why it makes our lives immeasurably better. 
 
Without calculus, we wouldn’t have cell phones, TV, GPS, or ultrasound. We wouldn’t have unraveled DNA or discovered Neptune or figured out how to put 5,000 songs in your pocket.

Though many of us were scared away from this essential, engrossing subject in high school and college, Steven Strogatz’s brilliantly creative, down-to-earth history shows that calculus is not about complexity; it’s about simplicity. It harnesses an unreal number—infinity—to tackle real-world problems, breaking them down into easier ones and then reassembling the answers into solutions that feel miraculous.

Infinite Powers recounts how calculus tantalized and thrilled its inventors, starting with its first glimmers in ancient Greece and bringing us right up to the discovery of gravitational waves (a phenomenon predicted by calculus). Strogatz reveals how this form of math rose to the challenges of each age: how to determine the area of a circle with only sand and a stick; how to explain why Mars goes “backwards” sometimes; how to make electricity with magnets; how to ensure your rocket doesn’t miss the moon; how to turn the tide in the fight against AIDS.

As Strogatz proves, calculus is truly the language of the universe. By unveiling the principles of that language, Infinite Powers makes us marvel at the world anew. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780358299288
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/14/2020
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	64,490
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

STEVEN STROGATZ is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics at Cornell University. A renowned teacher and one of the world’s most highly cited mathematicians, he has blogged about math for the New York Times and The New Yorker and has been a frequent guest on Radiolab and Science Friday. He is the author of Sync and The Joy of x. He lives in Ithaca, New York.
 

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

1 Infinity 1

2 The Man Who Harnessed Infinity 27

3 Discovering the Laws of Motion 59

4 The Dawn of Differential Calculus 89

5 The Crossroads 123

6 The Vocabulary of Change 141

7 The Secret Fountain 167

8 Fictions of the Mind 199

9 The Logical Universe 227

10 Making Waves 249

11 The Future of Calculus 271

Conclusion 295

Acknowledgments 303

Illustration Credits 307

Notes 309

Bibliography 333

Index 345

Editorial Reviews

A New York Times Bestseller Featured on NPR's Science Friday Shortlisted for the 2019 Royal Society Science Book Prize Named one of 10 Best Books to Read this Spring by Amazon's Chris Schluep “Marvelous . . . an array of witty and astonishing stories . . . to illuminate how calculus has helped bring into being our contemporary world and so many of the instruments whose role we now blithely assume.” —The Washington Post “Fortunately, we live in an era when a top mathematician can write a book about calculus that is accessible to the mathematically challenged...it is the historical detail in the book that not only allows me to follow the math by taking me through how it was discovered, but also sticks in my mind. [Strogatz] makes me want to get out a textbook and start studying calculus.” —Five Books “Wonderful . . . bringing the insights of calculus—among the most important of all developments in the history of mathematics—to everyone.” —Brian Greene, on Twitter “I've never read a clearer explanation of calculus or the significant powers we gained by harnessing infinity. Michael and I highly recommend it!” —Vsauce, on Twitter “Fascinating anecdotes abound in Infinite Powers . . . Strogatz uses the right amount of technical detail to convey complex concepts with clarity . . . evocatively conveys how calculus illuminates the patterns of the Universe, large and small.” —Nature “A brilliant, appealing explanation of how calculus works and why it makes our lives so much better.” —Amazon's Chris Schluep, for the Saturday Evening Post “Strogatz does a great job of explaining a difficult subject . . . he lays out the case that calculus is fundamental to the way we live today . . . a solid choice for readers who want to know what calculus is all about, and for teachers who wish to improve their presentation.”  —Library Journal “An energetic effort that successfully communicates the author’s love of mathematics.” —Kirkus Reviews “Far-ranging survey . . . clear and accessible . . . Strogatz successfully illuminates a notoriously complex topic and this work should enhance appreciation for the history behind its innovations." —Publishers Weekly “A tale of how mathematics has changed all of our lives… Strogatz is a terrific storyteller and patient teacher…. By bringing infinity down to earth… and coupling those stories with some periodic excursions back out to the stars, Infinite Powers does a marvelous job of bringing calculus to life.” —Dan Rockmore, LitHub “Are you one of those people who always said you’d someday learn calculus? Well, someday is here, thanks to Steven Strogatz’s wide-ranging, humane, thoroughly readable take on one of the greatest ideas our species has ever produced.” —Jordan Ellenberg, author of How Not to Be Wrong   “This is a glorious book. Steven Strogatz manages to unmask the true hidden wonder and delightful simplicity of calculus. Infinite Powers is a master class in accessible math writing and a perfect read for anyone who feels like they never quite understood what all the fuss was about. It had me leaping for joy.”  —

From the Publisher

01/14/2019

Strogatz (The Joy of X), a professor of applied mathematics at Cornell University, provides a reminder that calculus has practical applications and makes the field accessible to readers at all levels in this far-ranging survey. He begins with the ancient Greeks and their search for ways to calculate the areas of circles and curves by slicing them into smaller pieces. Centuries later, Galileo studied the relationship between the length and movement of pendulums. Strogatz introduces the characters behind the math, covering great partnerships (such as that of astronomers Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, whose work led to Kepler’s laws of planetary motion) and seething rivalries (such as that of Pierre de Fermat and René Descartes, who laid the groundwork for differential calculus, and the famous competition between calculus innovators Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz). Strogatz also gives plenty of real-world applications, from designing microwave ovens to plotting the course of spacecraft and fighting HIV. His discussion is clear and accessible, with plenty of diagrams, and mercifully few equations. Strogatz successfully illuminates a notoriously complex topic and this work should enhance appreciation for the history behind its innovations. Agent: Katinka Matson, Brockman Inc. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly