Robin Hood Math
Take Control of the Algorithms That Run Your Life
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
How the rich and powerful use math to exploit you, and what you can do to beat them at their own game
Everything we do today is recorded as data that's sold to the highest bidder. Plugging our personal data into impersonal algorithms has made government agencies more efficient and tech companies more profitable. But all this comes at a price. It's easy to feel like an insignificant number in a world of number crunchers who care more about their bottom line than your humanity. It's time to flip the equation, turning math into an empowering tool for the rest of us.
Award-winning mathematician Noah Giansiracusa explains how the tech giants and financial institutions use formulas to get ahead—and how anyone can use these same formulas in their everyday life. You’ll learn how to handle risk rationally, make better investments, take control of your social media, and reclaim agency over the decisions you make each day.
In a society that all too often takes from the poor and gives to the rich, math can be a vital democratizing force. Robin Hood Math helps you to think for yourself, act in your own best interests, and thrive.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this cogent and breezy account, Giansiracusa (How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News), a math professor at Bentley University, sets out to take "the power of math from the rich and give it to the poor." He takes special aim at personal data usage, writing that it "turns us all into numerical grist," and he encourages individuals to fight back by better understanding the math used by both the public and private sector. For instance, he dissects the rankings of American colleges by U.S. News and World Report, noting that the factor with the biggest weight in the ranking calculation ("how a school is regarded by top administrators at other institutions") amounts to "a popularity contest," and detailing how readers can create their own rankings based on such factors as the weather and the student-faculty ratio. Elsewhere, Giansiracusa explains that while the algorithm used by Facebook shows a user similar content after any interaction, even an angry comment, the angry face emoji doesn't count as an interaction, making it "a convenient way to tell the poster how you feel without also telling the algorithm you want more." Throughout, Giansiracusa optimistically illustrates how math can help an individual regain autonomy and makes a solid case that it "can help you consider your options more clearly and make your decisions more thoughtfully." This successfully brings math to the people.
