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

Author: Cheng, Eugenia (School of the Art Institute of Chicago)

Humanities

Published on 13 October 2022 by CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 438 pages, Worked examples or Exercises
160 x 236 x 30 | 754g

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.