Proofiness : the dark arts of mathematical deception
/ Charles Seife
- New York : Viking , 2010.
- 295 p., [8] p. of plates : bill. ; c22 cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Proofiness -- Phony facts, phony figures -- Rorschach's demon -- Risky business -- Poll cats -- Electile dysfunction -- An unfair vote -- Alternate realities -- Propaganda by the numbers -- Appendix A. Statistical error -- Appendix B. Electronic voting -- Appendix C. The prosecutor's fallacy.
The bestselling author of "Zero" shows how mathematical misinformation pervades and shapes daily lives. "Proofiness," as Seife explains in this eye-opening book, is the art of using pure mathematics for impure ends, and he reminds readers that bad mathematics has a dark side. Science journalist Seife defines proofiness as "the art of using bogus mathematical arguments to prove something that you know in your heart is true-even when it's not." He presents a rogue's gallery of shady figures: Potemkin numbers, or fabricated statistics, such as that a million people attended a rally when the real number is much smaller; disestimation, which means taking estimated numbers too literally, such as census results; and fruit packing, and in particular cherry picking, in which people ignore data that doesn't support their point of view. A central chapter analyzes the 2008 Minnesota U.S. Senate race and how the candidates manipulated the vote recount in a complex game of one-upmanship. Seife skewers much of the polling that is conducted continuously nowadays as well as the media's use of the numbers polls spit out. In an important chapter he dissects the justice system's often cynical misuse of data to obtain convictions.