Infinite Powers

Calculus is fundamental to modern life. It has enabled us to decode DNA, pinpoint Neptune, and make contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. Though many of us were scared away from this essential, engrossing subject in high school and college, Steven Strogatz’s brilliantly creative, down‑to‑earth history shows that calculus is not about complexity; it’s about simplicity. He uses infinity to tackle real‑world problems, breaking them down into easier ones and then reassembling the answers into solutions that feel miraculous. In Infinite Powers, Strogatz recounts how calculus tantalized and thrilled its inventors, starting with its first glimmers in ancient Greece and bringing us right up to the discovery of gravitational waves (a phenomenon predicted by calculus). He reveals how this form of math rose to the challenges of each age.