Five Equations That Changed the World: The Power and Poetry of Mathematics…

Michael Guillen, Ph.D. is a great author and story teller.I enjoyed “Five Equations That Changed the World” as a story book; has a history book; as a collection of biographies. He explains, borrowing from the Old Testament, Genesis 11:7, how God humbled man by “confound(ing) their language, that they may not understand one anothers speech.” His book follows on his previous work “Bridges to Infinity” The Human Side of Mathematics” an attempt to give a sense of mathematical thinking without using equations. Now he introduces his readers to the beautiful stories, the poetry that mathematical equations may tell.

His style is as more biography than it is history; more history than it is a patient explanation of the beauty of mathematics. He explains, “In the language of mathematics, equations are like poetry: They state truths with a unique precision, convey volumes of information in rather brief terms, and often are difficult for the uninitiated to comprehend.”

In each example he explains the character, then the historical context of the enigma solved and finally how the solution continues to affect us today and in the future. The 5 equations and their protagonists that made the cut are:
1) F=G×M×m÷d^2 … The Universal Law of Gravity by sickly and socially insecure Isaac Newton,
2) P+?×1?2 v^2= CONSTANT …The Law of Hydrodynamic Pressure by son of a jealous father Daniel Bernoulli,
3) ?×E=?B??t … The Law of Electromagnetic Induction by humble book smith cum scientist Michael Faraday,
4) ??S?_(universe )>0 … The Second Law of Thermodynamics by modest and philosophical Rudolf Clausius,
5) E=m×c^2 … The Theory of Special Relativity by self-absorbed and imaginative Albert Einstein.

Guillen: “It is impossible to understand the true meaning of an equation, or to appreciate its beauty, unless it is read in the delightfully quirky language in which it was penned. That is precisely why I have written this book.”

I, for one, am glad he did. ( )