About this item
Why are men in charge? After years in the male-dominated field of mathematics and in the female-dominated field of art, Eugenia Cheng has heard the question many times. In x y, Cheng argues that her mathematical specialty -- category theory -- reveals why. Category theory deals more with context, relationships, and nuanced versions of equality than with intrinsic characteristics. Category theory also emphasizes dimensionality: much as a cube can cast a square or diamond shadow, depending on your perspective, so too do gender politics appear to change with how we examine them. Because society often rewards traits that it associates with males, such as competitiveness, we treat the problems those traits can create as male. But putting competitive women in charge will leave many unjust relationships in place.
About the Author
Dr Eugenia Cheng is a mathematician, educator, author, columnist, public speaker, pianist and artist.She is Scientist In Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She won tenure in Pure Mathematics at the University of Sheffield, UK and is now Honorary Visiting Fellow at City, University of London. She has previously taught at the Universities of Cambridge, Chicago and Nice and holds a PhD in pure mathematics from the University of Cambridge. Alongside her research in Category Theory and undergraduate teaching her aim is to rid the world of "math phobia". Her first popular math book, How to Bake Pi, was published by Profile (UK) and Basic Books (US) in 2015 to widespread acclaim including from the New York Times, National Geographic, Scientific American, and she was interviewed around the world including on the BBC, NPR and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Eugenia was an early pioneer of math on YouTube and her videos have been viewed around 15 million times to date. Her next popular math book, Beyond Infinity was published in 2017 and was shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2017 . Her newest book, The Art of Logic was published by Profile and Basic Books in July 2018. She also writes the Everyday Math column for the Wall Street Journal, and has completed mathematical art commissions for Hotel EMC2, 6018 North, the Lubeznik Center and the Cultural Center, Chicago. She is the founder of the Liederstube, an intimate oasis for art song based in Chicago. Her next book "x y : A Mathematician's Manifesto for Rethinking Gender" is due out in 2020.
