author : Matt Parker

This is an interesting collection of cases where mathematics has gone wrong, usually in an engineering context. Maybe a calculation was done incorrectly (an arithmetic error), or the wrong calculation was done (solving the wrong problem), or the calculation was used in the wrong context (maybe the problem changed, but the calculation wasn't updated). I have come across several of the example before, but even in those cases, the explanation here often adds more context. The mathematical basis is carefully and clearly explained, without getting over-technical. The style is light, sometimes laugh out loud funny, but it does still take care to point out the sometimes tragic consequences of getting the maths wrong.