The mathematics of life and death

This book isn't about math. Nor is it for mathematicians. If you've ever felt discouraged because you think you can't apply it in real life, consider this book a cry for freedom.

In The Mathematics of Life and Death , Kit Yates invites us on a fascinating journey through everyday situations and large-scale applications of mathematical concepts, revealing their implications, for example, in controversies over DNA testing, medical test results, and historical events. He explores real-life narratives, with significant impact on people's lives, in which the application—correct or incorrect—of mathematics played a crucial role: patients harmed by imperfect genes; business owners bankrupted by faulty algorithms; innocent defendants punished due to probabilistic errors; and victims of software flaws.

For those who abandoned mathematics after finishing school, the numbers we encounter daily can seem confusing. However, in this illuminating and remarkably accessible book, Kit Yates sheds light on hidden principles that can help us understand and navigate the seemingly chaotic surfaces of our world, showing how mathematics is in (almost) everything: from birth rates to how we perceive the passage of time; from how we communicate to how we travel; from how we work to how we relax.

The mathematics of life and death gives us a different and enlightening perspective on news, law, medicine, and history, helping us make personal decisions and solve problems through the use of mathematics, whether choosing the shortest checkout line at the supermarket or stopping the spread of a serious disease.