Ebook: Mathematics for Humanists

This book is for people who believe that those who study the world using formal mathematical models might have something to say to them, but for whom mathematical formalism is a foreign language that they do not understand. More generally it is for anyone who is curious about the nature of mathematical and logical thought and their relationship to society and to the universe. I say relationship to society because we will eventually use what we have learned to understand how probability and game theory can be used to gain insight into human behavior, to understand why we have been so successful as a species, and to assess how likely our success in spreading across the world with also be our undoing. I say relationship to the universe because you will see how a few simple equations have a stunning ability to explain the physical processes that have mystified our ancestors for ages.