Infinite Powers
by Steven H. Strogatz · first published 2019
62% recommend35% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Non-technical history of calculus that brings the subject to life through the people behind it and gives intuitive explanations of the basics. Suits readers who never took calculus or want to appreciate it.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
From preeminent math personality and author of The Joy of x, a brilliant and endlessly appealing explanation of calculus—how it works and why it makes our lives immeasurably better. Without calculus, we wouldn’t have cell phones, TV, GPS, or ultrasound. We wouldn’t have unraveled DNA or discovered Neptune or figured out how to put 5,000 songs in your pocket. 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.
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…Project not many like but it shows why understanding complex non obvious things take time) 2. Faraday and Maxwell by Nancy Forbes charts how long and why it took long to stumble upon EM field theories. 3. Infinite Powers by Steven Stogratz charts the history of calculus. Which shows why it took thousands of years to get to Newton's Laws. Textbooks present the math without showing people the journey. Psychology and Sociology…
on “The Tribal Network Effect” ↗- Math with Bad Drawings by Ben Orlin - Infinite Powers and The Joy of X by Steven Strogatz - Godel, Escher, Bach by Hofstadter (Avoiding text books as one's mileage might vary, and having fun depends on the readers' levels as well.)
on “Ask HN: Math books you recommend just for the way they are written?” ↗I liked Steven Strogatz's books Sync and Infinite Powers.
on “Ask HN: Are there books for mathematics like Feynman's lectures on physics?” ↗Steven Strogatz's Sync and Infinite Powers
on “Ask HN: Math books you recommend just for the way they are written?” ↗An amazing book I’ve been reading is https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Powers-Calculus-Reveals-Univ... The author explains the history of calculus leading up to Newton’s treatise on Calculus and how important calculus is to modern life. It’s behind everything you use from cell…
on “The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences (1960) [pdf]” ↗I’d taken calc and linear algebra in college but I retained little and had not used either in 15+ years. I took this class 3-4 years ago and got a lot out of it. I also highly recommend Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe by Strogatz
on “Stanford's free course on higher mathematical thinking is about to start soon” ↗I suggest Infinite Powers by Steven Strogatz. It doesn't matter if they already took a calculus course, I guarantee it's a much better way to make them appreciate the the subject than any textbook. And if they don't know calculus…
on “Ask HN: Recommend a maths book for a teenager?” ↗I can highly recommend the book Infinite Powers by Steven Strogatz to anyone who wants a non-technical introduction to calculus and its history. Great book.
on “Ask HN: How Was the Calculus Discovered?” ↗These past few months, I have been slowly working through the audiobook version of Steven Strogatz' Infinite Powers. The work is enjoyable exactly because there's a bit of effort made to breathe life into the names everyone remembers. For example, Strogatz describes Archimedes as being so "neglectful of his person"…
on “Good and Bad Procrastination (2005)” ↗There's a popular math book called Infinite Powers by Steven Strogatz which is about the story of calculus. It's really good and may help bring the subject to life as opposed to rote learning problems.
on “Ask HN: What Are You Learning?” ↗You might like Infinite Powers (Steven Strogatz) and Faraday, Maxwell, and The Electromagnetic Field (Nancy Forbes)
on “Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2024?” ↗…(https://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Wars-Jason-Socrates-Bardi/dp...). This also is a essentially book about the Newton and G W Leibneiz. But, it is pretty much a deep dive into life of these two men. Highly recommended. Another great book is "Infinite Powers" by Steven Strogatz (https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Powers-Calculus-Reveals-Univ...).
on “History of Maths for Beginners” ↗One of my favourite reads from this past year was Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe by Steven Strogatz. It's a wonderful review of the history of calculus, including intuitive explanations of the basics.
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗Infinite Powers by Steven Strogatz would be a much better option.
on “Calculus Made Easy (1910)” ↗I just stumbled upon Infinite Powers in B&N, and after reading a bit, decided to buy it. Loving it so far. I’ve been curious about calculus for a long time now, since I’ve never taken a formal class on it and am now in a graduate CS program,…
on “Calculus for the Curious” ↗