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Beyond infinity

Eugenia Cheng

2017284 pagesabout 4–7 hours
2017
first published
  • 2017Basic Books · ENGISBN 9780465094820
  • 2017Basic Books · 284 pagesISBN 9780465094813
  • 2017Profile Books Ltd · 306 pages · ENG
  • 2018Profile Books Limited · ENGISBN 9781781252864
  • 2018Basic Books · 304 pages · ENGISBN 9781541644137

Even small children know there are infinitely many whole numbers - start counting and you'll never reach the end. But there are also infinitely many decimal numbers between zero and one. Are these two types of infinity the same? Are they larger or smaller than each other? Can we even talk about 'larger' and 'smaller' when we talk about infinity? In Beyond Infinity, international maths sensation Eugenia Cheng reveals the inner workings of infinity. What happens when a new guest arrives at your infinite hotel - but you already have an infinite number of guests? How does infinity give Zeno's tortoise the edge in a paradoxical foot-race with Achilles? And can we really make an infinite number of cookies from a finite amount of cookie dough? Wielding an armoury of inventive, intuitive metaphor, Cheng draws beginners and enthusiasts alike into the heart of this mysterious, powerful concept to reveal fundamental truths about mathematics, all the way from the infinitely large down to the infinitely small.

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