Big Math: The Hidden Codes That Run Our World
Steven Strogatz · Alex Townsend
Nov 2026 · John Murray · Narrated by George Newbern
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infoThis book will become available on November 19, 2026. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this audiobook
It's in every photo you post to Instagram, every Google search you make and every prompt you give to ChatGPT . . .
Big Math - the branch of modern mathematics behind our digital revolution - operates under the hood of these everyday miracles, driving the biggest shifts in how we shop, communicate, live, and think.
Yet the arithmetic itself is not especially new or mysterious: rather, it is made up of humble concepts and processes such as matrices and vectors, networks and Markov Chains, optimization and linear algebra. These basic concepts are the cornerstone of computer science and quantum computing, and they're crucial for aspiring tech workers and ordinary citizens alike to understand if we're to comprehend the changes sweeping the world.
The story of how this little math grew so large, and how it became central to our modern lives, is also one of the great intellectual adventures of all time, with precursors in a bamboo puzzle book in an ancient Chinese tomb and inheritance law in ninth-century Baghdad.
But after a long history of working harmoniously with humans, today this reliable branch of mathematics has slipped the leash. As Big Math has expanded to contend with ever larger problems and ever vaster sets of data, it has also begun to operate in ways that we don't comprehend.
Celebrated mathematicians Steven Strogatz and Alex Townsend ask: what happens when Big Math outgrows us - when it becomes something we no longer understand, only something we witness? And what if it no longer needs us at all?
Big Math - the branch of modern mathematics behind our digital revolution - operates under the hood of these everyday miracles, driving the biggest shifts in how we shop, communicate, live, and think.
Yet the arithmetic itself is not especially new or mysterious: rather, it is made up of humble concepts and processes such as matrices and vectors, networks and Markov Chains, optimization and linear algebra. These basic concepts are the cornerstone of computer science and quantum computing, and they're crucial for aspiring tech workers and ordinary citizens alike to understand if we're to comprehend the changes sweeping the world.
The story of how this little math grew so large, and how it became central to our modern lives, is also one of the great intellectual adventures of all time, with precursors in a bamboo puzzle book in an ancient Chinese tomb and inheritance law in ninth-century Baghdad.
But after a long history of working harmoniously with humans, today this reliable branch of mathematics has slipped the leash. As Big Math has expanded to contend with ever larger problems and ever vaster sets of data, it has also begun to operate in ways that we don't comprehend.
Celebrated mathematicians Steven Strogatz and Alex Townsend ask: what happens when Big Math outgrows us - when it becomes something we no longer understand, only something we witness? And what if it no longer needs us at all?
It's in every photo you post to Instagram, every Google search you make and every prompt you give to ChatGPT . . .
Big Math - the branch of modern mathematics behind our digital revolution - operates under the hood of these everyday miracles, driving the biggest shifts in how we shop, communica...
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About the author
Steven Strogatz (Author)
STEVEN STROGATZ is the Winokur Distinguished Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Mathematics at Cornell University. He is the author of SYNC, THE JOY OF X, and the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller INFINITE POWERS. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is one of the world's most highly cited mathematicians, a frequent columnist in the NEW YORK TIMES and the NEW YORKER, a regular guest on Radiolab and Science Friday, and the winner of MIT's and Cornell's highest teaching prizes.
Alex Townsend (Author)
ALEX TOWNSEND is one of the world's top young researchers in numerical linear algebra, scientific computing, and scientific artificial intelligence. A 2022 Simons Fellow, he has been honoured with many international prizes in numerical analysis and linear algebra, including the Leslie Fox Prize (2015), the SIGEST award for best paper in Linear Algebra (2019), the SIAM Linear Algebra Early Career Prize (2018), and SIAM's best paper prize in Computational Science and Engineering (2023).
STEVEN STROGATZ is the Winokur Distinguished Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Mathematics at Cornell University. He is the author of SYNC, THE JOY OF X, and the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller INFINITE POWERS. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is one of the world's most highly cited mathematicians, a frequent columnist in the NEW YORK TIMES and the NEW YORKER, a regular guest on Radiolab and Science Friday, and the winner of MIT's and Cornell's highest teaching prizes.
Alex Townsend (Author)
ALEX TOWNSEND is one of the world's top young researchers in numerical linear algebra, scientific computing, and scientific artificial intelligence. A 2022 Simons Fellow, he has been honoured with many international prizes in numerical analysis and linear algebra, including the Leslie Fox Prize (2015), the SIGEST award for best paper in Linear Algebra (2019), the SIAM Linear Algebra Early Career Prize (2018), and SIAM's best paper prize in Computational Science and Engineering (2023).
Steven Strogatz (Author)
STEVEN STROGATZ is the Winokur Distinguished Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Mathematics at Cornell University. He is the author of SYNC, THE JOY OF X, and the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller INFINITE POWERS. A member of the American Academy of Arts and S...
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