An Applied Mathematician's Apology

by Lloyd N. Trefethen

In 1940 G. H. Hardy published A Mathematician's Apology, a meditation on mathematics by a leading pure mathematician. Eighty-two years later, An Applied Mathematician's Apology is a meditation and also a personal memoir by a philosophically inclined numerical analyst, one who has found great joy in his work but is puzzled by its relationship to the rest of mathematics.

Genres: Mathematics, Nonfiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2022

Reviews

[Shyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some nice insights and reflections. Perhaps too much bragging on the author's part.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book. If I had known this type of mathematics existed when I was in school my career would likely have been quite different. Lots of interesting anecdotes about well known numerical analysts. Goes into enough mathematical depth that you can look up the stuff you're interested in to get into the technical details while remaining light enough to read casually.

One thing I appreciate is how Trefethen doesn't shy away from the human element of mathematics: concerns with prestige, whether work is important or just filling in details, etc. This is a perspective that mathematicians and scientists rarely write about despite virtually all of them being influenced by it.

[Emilio Minichiello · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3 stars) This book is supposed to be a kind of response to Hardys book A mathematicians apology, but for applied mathematicians. But I found the book lacking all of the qualities that made hardys book enjoyable and interesting. Trefethen gives a little bit of an autobiography, which was interesting, but only went up to his schooling days. I would have liked to know more about his rise to being an oxford professor, with some anecdotes and interesting details. Instead we get a flat and lengthy recounting of how the chebfun software that he worked on works. Hardys book is about how math is an art and how it should be regarded as such. Trefethens book is about himself and how annoyed he is that there is a gap between applied and pure mathematics, with hardly any deep analysis or suggestions on how to fix the situation.