Love Triangle: The Life–changing Magic of Trigonometry

Explore the life-changing magic of trigonometry with Matt Parker, stand-up mathematician and No. 1 bestselling author of Humble Pi

Why can no two people ever see the same rainbow? What happens when you pull a pop song apart into pure sine waves and play it back on a piano? Why does the wake behind a duck always form an angle of exactly 39 degrees? And what did mathematicians have to do with the great pig stampede of 2012? The answer to each of these questions can be found in the triangle.

In Love Triangle, stand-up comedian, ex-maths teacher and Sunday Times number one bestselling author Matt Parker is on a mission to prove why we should all show a lot more love for triangles, along with the useful trigonometry and geometry they enable. To make his point, he uses triangles to create his own digital avatar, survive a harrowing motorcycle ride, cut a sandwich into three equal parts, and measure tall buildings while wearing silly shoes. But soon these hare-brained experiments begin to reveal a genuinely important truth: triangles are the hidden pattern beneath the surface of the contemporary world, used in everything from GPS to CGI via Spotify streaming, the play button and your best mate’s triangle tattoo.

Join Matt Parker as he demonstrates why there’s more to triangles than Pythagoras and SOHCAHTOA. Triangles are everything and everything is triangles.

Review

This book is an attempt to rescue trigonometry from the bounds of boredom... Parker, who was born in Australia, is maths royalty... Parker is funny, likeable and aware enough of his audience to carry them along. And those who persevere will end up smarter than they were when they started it. You’ll use triangles to understand Einstein’s relativity, and end up at the stark realisation that, at the quantum level, matter ― you, I, this book ― is all just a set of triangles -- Tom Calver ― Sunday Times

Matt Parker is a real nerd’s nerd... but we’re in safe hands here as we range from those curvy walls of glass that architects seem to love, to why everyone sees a different rainbow. A funny and often surprising guide to the history of triangles ― and the applications (both practical and highly impractical) of trigonometry -- Tim Harford ― Financial Times

I felt well looked-after, and handled with saint-like patience... Parker has a fine old time with his material, and only a curmudgeon could fail to be charmed by his willingness to call the elongated pentagonal gyrocupolarotunda a “dumb shape”, or Heron’s 2,000-year-old formula for finding the area of a triangle “stupid”. Nor, in the latter case, is he wrong. Four stars -- Simon Ings ― Telegraph

Very funny... When it clicks, it is glorious -- Chris Stokel-Walker ― New Scientist

Despite dealing with what might be familiar concepts, Love Triangle shows that geometry and trigonometry can pop up in exciting and unexpected places. From cosmology to skateboarding, Parker argues that triangles underpin both the epic and the everyday. The book, which is funny and accessible, would also be suitable for keen teenage readers -- Katherine Skipper ― Physics World

About the Author

Originally a maths teacher from Australia, Matt Parker now lives in the overly quaint British town of Godalming. As well as talking about maths on TV and radio, Matt also performs sold-out live comedy shows and makes YouTube videos that have received tens of millions of views. The Public Engagement in Mathematics Fellow at Queen Mary University of London, Matt has a square named after him but he doesn't want to talk about it.