Math Cats

“Daniel M. Look–1 Ph.D., 4 cats, and 20 math-related tattoos–wants to demystify math, with feline help. Who hasn’t looked at their cat curled in a catnap and thought, oh, so perfectly shaped? Look sees the golden spiral, or a furry fractal… . With whimsical drawings by Johanna Breuch, and side notes like why Pythagoras died avoiding a field of fava beans, Daniel M. Look has written a delightful book for both math nerds and math-phobes–and, of course, ailurophiles”–Shelf Awareness“This enjoyable and fun volume makes abstract concepts easy to understand. Highly recommended for anyone who hates math and/or loves cats.”–Library Journal

Daniel Look received his PhD from Boston University studying Complex Dynamics and he currently serves as the Rutherford Professor of Mathematics at St. Lawrence University in frozen northern New York (known affectionally as the North Country). His current research includes the dynamics of rational functions, text mining/stylometry, popular culture uses of mathematics in early 20th century pulp fiction, and mathematics pedagogy. Among other work, he has performed stylometric analyses of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories and their various pastiches and written about H. P. Lovecraft’s use of non-Euclidean geometry for an invited paper in Lovecraft Annual. In his non-professional time, Dan enjoys adventuring with his amazing spouse and their four cats, playing Dungeons & Dragons, running, and running while thinking about playing Dungeons & Dragons. He also has 20 math-related tattoos.