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Talk, Butler University Woods Lecture Series

February 1, 2024

« Talk, University of Mississippi, Dalrymple Series

details to be confirmed

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Date:: February 1, 2024
Event Category:: Talks

« Talk, University of Mississippi, Dalrymple Series

Latest Books

The Joy of Abstraction:
An Exploration of Math, Category Theory, and Life

Mathematician and popular science author Eugenia Cheng is on a mission to show you that mathematics can be flexible, creative, and visual. This joyful journey through the world of abstract mathematics into category theory will demystify mathematical thought processes and help you develop your own thinking, with no formal mathematical background needed. The book brings abstract mathematical ideas down to earth using examples of social justice, current events, and everyday life – from privilege to COVID-19 to driving routes. The journey begins with the ideas and workings of abstract mathematics, after which you will gently climb toward more technical material, learning everything needed to understand category theory, and then key concepts in category theory like natural transformations, duality, and even a glimpse of ongoing research in higher-dimensional category theory. For fans of How to Bake Pi, this will help you dig deeper into mathematical concepts and build your mathematical background

x + y
A Mathematician’s Manifesto for Rethinking Gender

Why are men in charge? After years in the male-dominated field of mathematics and in the female-dominated field of art, Eugenia Cheng has heard the question many times. In x + y, Cheng argues that her mathematical specialty — category theory — reveals why. Category theory deals more with context, relationships, and nuanced versions of equality than with intrinsic characteristics. Category theory also emphasizes dimensionality: much as a cube can cast a square or diamond shadow, depending on your perspective, so too do gender politics appear to change with how we examine them. Because society often rewards traits that it associates with males, such as competitiveness, we treat the problems those traits can create as male. But putting competitive women in charge will leave many unjust relationships in place. If we want real change, we need to transform the contexts in which we all exist, and not simply who we think we are.

Also by Eugenia

How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics

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 how the béchamel in a lasagna can be a lot like the number five, and why making a good custard proves that math is easy but life is hard.

The Art of Logic:
How to Make Sense in a World that Doesn’t

Emotions are powerful. In newspaper headlines and on social media, they have become the primary way of understanding the world. But strong feelings make it more difficult to see the reality behind the rhetoric. In The Art of Logic, Eugenia Cheng shows how mathematical logic can help us see things more clearly – and know when politicians and companies are trying to mislead us.

First Cheng explains how to use black-and-white logic to illuminate the world around us, giving us new insight into thorny political questions like public healthcare, Black Lives Matter and Brexit. Then she explains how logic and emotions, used side-by-side, can help us not only to be more rational individuals, but also to live more thoughtfully.

Clear-sighted, revelatory and filled with useful real-life examples of logic and illogic at work, The Art of Logic is an essential guide to decoding modern life.

About Eugenia

Dr Eugenia Cheng is Scientist In Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Alongside her research in Category Theory and undergraduate teaching her aim is to rid the world of “math phobia”. Her first popular math book, How to Bake Pi, was published by Basic Books in 2015 to widespread acclaim. Her next book, Beyond Infinity, was published in 2017. Eugenia is also math columnist for the Wall Street Journal, a concert pianist and founder of the Liederstube.

Upcoming Talks

Talk, ETH Zürich, x + y
June 28 @ 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
International Category Theory Conference, Belgium
July 2 - July 8
Talk, University of Mississippi, Dalrymple Series
October 19
Talk, Butler University Woods Lecture Series
February 1, 2024

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