Love Triangle: How Trigonometry Shapes the World in Science and Inquiry

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Love Triangle: How Trigonometry Shapes the World

Matt Parker

Start date: February 1, 2025

Finish date: February 28, 2025

Discussion: Book Club 2025

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May 18, 2025 aPriL does feral sometimes rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, science, don-t-judge-me, math-horrors-involved, humor-hilarious-intentional-or-not

Once again I have attempted to read a science book that really is over my paygrade mathematically. But this time, it isn鈥檛 because I cannot even begin to be able to understand any of the usually esoteric math that is described or mentioned in passing on those science subjects which rely heavily on maths. This time it鈥檚 because much of my memories of math I studied in college has rusted over with decaying proteins, or worse, the brain cells I used to pass my math exams have utterly died. I am in Once again I have attempted to read a science book that really is over my paygrade mathematically. But this time, it isn鈥檛 because I cannot even begin to be able to understand any of the usually esoteric math that is described or mentioned in passing on those science subjects which rely heavily on maths. This time it鈥檚 because much of my memories of math I studied in college has rusted over with decaying proteins, or worse, the brain cells I used to pass my math exams have utterly died. I am in my seventh decade of life, and college was nearly half of a century ago in my past. There was a time when I did very well in Geometry and Algebra and Trigonometry, and even Calculus (shudder). However, it was truly a case of me following instructions without any understanding whatsoever.

Give me a break, people. I have difficulty remembering how to tie my shoes now.

Anyway.

鈥楲ove Triangle鈥� by Matt Parker is fun to read, and very informative. He includes stories of how triangle area/angles/ratio formulas were discovered, and how they have been used throughout history to build our roads and buildings, and in solving extremely essential and important engineering and physics and art perspective convergence problems, and in history was the key to determining how big the Earth was. I was amazed! And mortified. My knowledge of trigonometry and geometry floated up, slowly, oh my god, so slowly, from the depths where my rusted over memories of past studies reside. I was able to follow most of Matt Parker鈥檚 fascinating stories about the practical uses of triangles only generally. And the sine/cosine chapters were very enlightening because of all the maths I took it was those classes where I most of all stared blankly at the work while I solved problems correctly without ANY understanding of it. The last couple of chapters on Fourier transforms and analysis lost me entirely, except that I could grok Fourier maths allowed scientists and musicians to see the different frequencies inside a sound or a molecule. Something like that.

I have copied the book blurb:

鈥滱n ode to triangles, the shape that makes our lives possible 聽 Trigonometry is perhaps the most essential concept humans have ever devised. The simple yet versatile triangle allows us to record music, map the world, launch rockets into space, and be slightly less bad at pool. Triangles underpin our day-to-day lives and civilization as we know it. 聽

In Love Triangle, Matt Parker argues we should all show a lot more love for triangles, along with all the useful trigonometry and geometry they enable. To prove his point, he uses triangles to create his own digital avatar, survive a harrowing motorcycle ride, cut a sandwich, fall in love, measure tall buildings in a few awkward bounds, and make some unusual art. Along the way, he tells extraordinary and entertaining stories of the mathematicians, engineers, and philosophers鈥攕tarting with Pythagoras鈥攚ho dared to take triangles seriously. 聽

This is the guide you should have had in high school鈥攁 lively and definitive answer to 鈥淲hy do I need to learn about trigonometry?鈥� Parker reveals triangles as the hidden pattern beneath the surface of the contemporary world. Like love, triangles actually are all around. And in the air. And they鈥檙e all you need.鈥�

The above descriptions about trigonometry are not in the least hyperbolic. Math nerds have made civilization possible, not just space explorations. I don鈥檛 know how teachers teach maths today, but in my classes, it was all about memorizing formulas, not about how the formulas were discovered, or how architects, artists, scientists and engineers used them. This book fills in some of THOSE blanks, but unfortunately not the ones in my math education. My innate nerdiness begins and ends with the reading of books and seeing, no, feeling the atoms of meaning in the words. Maths for me are more a memorization exercise in which glimmers of light occasionally break through. I can tell the secrets of physical reality are there, somewhere, in those equations!

The book has lots and lots of pictures, most of which are very necessary. It also has a crazy index section to decipher. ...more

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Jun 13, 2025 David Rubenstein rated it really liked it

Shelves: mathematics

This is a fun book, written with a nice sense of humor. Some of the humor is self-deprecating. There are illustrations that are sometimes informative, sometimes humorous. The book goes rather far beyond just the subject of triangles. It goes into all sorts of two- and three-dimensional objects. It goes into trigonometry of course, but also into Fourier series, which is a fun tangent. The book ventures into engineering and architecture, and into the use of Fourier analysis used in audio recogniti ...more

9 likes · Like · see review