Rating

★★★★☆

Category

non-fiction

Read

2015-12-22

Pages

210

Weird but enjoyable. Literature plus mathematics I guess?

“But, really, isn’t this how we all are, much impressed by things we do not understand and hoping that they represent something very wise and interesting?”

“To get the number from the fraction, it is necessary only to keep the fraction’s numerators while discarding its denominators, the decimal point serving to separate the integer from the fraction that follows. In place of 1314/1000—rather ungainly, let us be honest—there is 1.314, sleek as a seal, and as easy to train; all that is needed to use it is a willingness to keep track of the decimal point and the places that it commands.”

“Mud we might leave to the philosophers. They love the stuff.”