Contents

 

Why Equations?

1

The squaw on the hippopotamus

 

Pythagoras’s Theorem

2

Shortening the proceedings

 

Logarithms

3

Ghosts of departed quantities

 

Calculus

4

The system of the world

 

Newton’s Law of Gravity

5

Portent of the ideal world

 

The Square Root of Minus One

6

Much ado about knotting

 

Euler’s Formula for Polyhedra

7

Patterns of chance

 

Normal Distribution

8

Good vibrations

 

Wave Equation

9

Ripples and blips

 

Fourier Transform

10

The ascent of humanity

 

Navier–Stokes Equation

11

Waves in the ether

 

Maxwell’s Equations

12

Law and disorder

 

Second Law of Thermodynamics

13

One thing is absolute

 

Relativity

14

Quantum weirdness

 

Schrödinger’s Equation

15

Codes, Communications, and computers

 

Information Theory

16

The imbalance of nature

 

Chaos Theory

17

The Midas formula

 

Black-Scholes Equation

 

Where Next?

Notes

Illustration Credits

Index