Mathletics: 100 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know about the World of Sports by John D. Barrow (PDF)

Description

An entertaining, eye-opening guide to what math and physics can reveal about sports. How can sprinter Usain Bolt break his world record without expending any additional effort? What dates of birth give rise to the best professional athletes? Is it better to have the inside or outside lane during a race? Drawing on vivid, real-life examples, mathematician John D. Barrow entertainingly explores the eye-opening, often counterintuitive, insights into the world of sports that math and physics can give us. For example, we learn that left-handed boxers have a statistical advantage over their right-handed opponents. Through clear, detailed, and fascinating mathematical explanations, Barrow reveals the best techniques and strategies for an incredible range of sports, from soccer and running to cycling, archery, gymnastics, and rowing. charts and graphs

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review ““[A] fast-paced, lighthearted book that revels in the brainier side of brawn.” ― Fangfei Shen, Discover”Barrow delivers the math and science goods for every sports fan who’s ever wondered how to ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ or what the best positions are to reduce air resistance while sky-diving…Accessible and entertaining, just the thing for mathematically minded sports fans.” ― Publishers Weekly”An illuminating mix for sports fans and math buffs looking to hone their skills.” ― Kirkus Reviews”Readers will marvel at how much mathematics can illuminate athletes’ most amazing feats. . . . Sports fans and nerds will fight over this book!” ― Bryce Christensen, Booklist About the Author John D. Barrow is professor of mathematical sciences and director of the Millennium Mathematics Project at Cambridge University, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is the best-selling author of many books on science and mathematics, including Mathletics: 100 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know about the World of Sports and 100 Essential Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know: Math Explains Your World.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book has some excellent chapters. I particularly enjoyed the part in which the author investigates the relationship between the size of a rowing crew and the speed at which it travels, and the probabilistic analysis of different scoring systems in squash and other sports.But other parts are disappointing. This is a collection of many short essays, and some of them stop before making an interesting point: an essay on the appearance of Simpson’s paradox in averages gets as far as observing an occurrence of it, and then it just ends. There is no exploration of the mathematics of Simpson’s paradox on even a superficial level. The chapter describing an algorithm for organizing a round-robin tournament is completely wrong: it’s very clear from the author’s examples that some teams will never play each other under his algorithm, while a correct algorithm is very widely known but not, apparently, to the author. Lots of typos throughout the book render some of the equations and expressions incorrect, so if readers are trying to follow along with the algebra, they may get very confused.The author can’t decide the level he’s pitching the book at. Some very elementary mathematical concepts are explained in detail, while other sections assume specialist knowledge that is not explained: for instance the calculation of power-vs-drag of a rowing crew uses concepts about scaling and dimensionality which would make an interesting chapter on their own, but instead are introduced very quickly in passing. It’s hard to imagine that a reader who hadn’t met these ideas before would be satisfied.It’s clear from the other reviews here that the author made a tactical error in not pandering to an American audience: American sports fans are resolutely unwilling, it appears, to make the effort to gain even a passing familiarity with sports played widely across the other 90% of the world. Nevertheless, the author could have done a better job of integrating examples from US sports in many places.It would be nice to read an updated edition that finished the essays that were left unfinished, corrected the typos, applied a little more organization to the order of the chapters and helped the American sports fans appreciate the ideas better.

⭐I am struggling with Bayes Theorem in another context so chapter 8 was of great interest. Such a brief description does not lead to much understanding. The sports example is relavant, but would have been likely better understood if the sensitivity and specificity had not been equal, and if the prior were a smaller figure. His example confuses understanding when the number of true positives and false positives turn out the same. The specialized notation used to describe conditional probability can be very confusing. The author could have offered a better explanation of where the given goes in the notation. At the top of page 19, he says “recorded drug-free” where I think he should say, “drug-user”. At the bottom of the same page he says, 57 out of 1200 drug-free athletes”. I believe it should be “1140 drug free athletes”. Let me finally admit I am still struggling with the entire concept, and my conclusions may aslo be suspect. Perhaps someone with more knowledge will challenge my points.

⭐The book has a large number of facts that are not ordinairily considered in the enjoyment of sports as a spectator, but might be useful when it comes to coaching. To comprehend many of the items requires more than elementary algebra. Also, the author is British, so there are a number of items, e.g., rugby and cricket, which may be of minor interest in the USA. I do not recommend the book for the casual sports enthusiast. I purchased the book via Amazon.R. Woodworth

⭐I discovered the book through an article in Scientific American. Being 1st a sports enthusiast and 2nd scientifically minded, I was very excited to buy the book. If you are a calculator-head and love everything math, you will probably enjoy this book greatly. I found it lopsided towards math and did not feed my sports cravings. It is written at an above average reading level.

⭐Some of the maths was a bit esoteric and could have been made simpler. More attention could have been applied to limits of swimming speeds.

⭐I’m a physicist and like to use sport to illustrate bits of physics. That said it is very difficult making something that is interesting and useful for a general audience – I know as I’ve tried. Mathletics does it. Interesting at all levels and many examples are launching grounds for deeper looks.We need more popular math and science books like this .. I hope there is a followup!

⭐This book was recommend to me by my math professor and didn’t disappoint. It’s a perfect book for those who are interested in math/stat and sports. It’s an easy read; thus you don ‘t need to be a mathematician.

⭐Sports stats

⭐It is for a Christmas present so I have been unable to get it out of the wrapping to have a peep!

Keywords

Free Download Mathletics: 100 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know about the World of Sports in PDF format
Mathletics: 100 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know about the World of Sports PDF Free Download
Download Mathletics: 100 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know about the World of Sports 2013 PDF Free
Mathletics: 100 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know about the World of Sports 2013 PDF Free Download
Download Mathletics: 100 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know about the World of Sports PDF
Free Download Ebook Mathletics: 100 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know about the World of Sports