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Proofiness : the dark arts of mathematical deception / Charles Seife.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: New York : Viking, 2010.Description: 295 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 22 cmISBN:
  • 0670022160
  • 9780670022168
Other title:
  • Dark arts of mathematical deception
Subject(s):
Contents:
Proofiness -- Phony facts, phony figures -- Rorschach's demon -- Risky business -- Poll cats -- Electile dysfunction -- An unfair vote -- Alternate realities -- Propaganda by the numbers -- Appendix A. Statistical error -- Appendix B. Electronic voting -- Appendix C. The prosecutor's fallacy.
Summary: The bestselling author of "Zero" shows how mathematical misinformation pervades-- and shapes-- our daily lives
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 510 S459 Available 33111006458349
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The bestselling author of Zero shows how mathematical misinformation pervades-and shapes-our daily lives.

According to MSNBC, having a child makes you stupid. You actually lose IQ points. Good Morning America has announced that natural blondes will be extinct within two hundred years. Pundits estimated that there were more than a million demonstrators at a tea party rally in Washington, D.C., even though roughly sixty thousand were there. Numbers have peculiar powers-they can disarm skeptics, befuddle journalists, and hoodwink the public into believing almost anything.

"Proofiness," as Charles Seife explains in this eye-opening book, is the art of using pure mathematics for impure ends, and he reminds readers that bad mathematics has a dark side. It is used to bring down beloved government officials and to appoint undeserving ones (both Democratic and Republican), to convict the innocent and acquit the guilty, to ruin our economy, and to fix the outcomes of future elections. This penetrating look at the intersection of math and society will appeal to readers of Freakonomics and the books of Malcolm Gladwell.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Proofiness -- Phony facts, phony figures -- Rorschach's demon -- Risky business -- Poll cats -- Electile dysfunction -- An unfair vote -- Alternate realities -- Propaganda by the numbers -- Appendix A. Statistical error -- Appendix B. Electronic voting -- Appendix C. The prosecutor's fallacy.

The bestselling author of "Zero" shows how mathematical misinformation pervades-- and shapes-- our daily lives

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