Book dossier

We've got your number

by Mukul Patel

Numbers and maths are all around us. They can explain where electricity comes from, why we look like our parents, why moons revolve around planets, and why it’s so hard to win the lottery. We’ve Got Your Number investigates all aspects of mathematics and numbers and is arranged in a number of thematic chapters. Within each chapter is a series of self-contained spreads, each of which investigates all aspects of a specific subject, such as the different counting bases or the evolution of money. Each spread comprises concise and accessible running text with boxes, which belong to four main types: Good at Sums provides brief biographies of great mathematicians; Try This at Home is a series of entertaining number games and puzzles; What’s Your Problem? presents real-life challenges such as calculating the size of the Earth and shows how maths has solved them; while What’s In a Number? provides a fact-file ‘biography’ of iconic numbers, such as zero, 1, 3, ‘unlucky’ 13 and 1 million. Shortlisted for the Royal Society Young People's Book Prize 2014.