A truly interdisciplinary, concrete study of mathematics, this classroom-tested text shows how to employ simple mathematical tools, such as arithmetic, to uncover fundamental conflicts between the logic of human civilization and the logic of Nature. These tools can then be used to understand and effectively deal with economic, environmental, and social issues. Only requiring proficiency in high school-level mathematics, the text includes numerous applications, from population and economic models, epidemics, financial mathematics, and DNA computing to climate change, pollution, solar energy, and media literacy. It also offers many problem sets within each section.
