We often think of math as the realm of absolutes, where one side of an equation must always match the other, but what if equality itself is more complicated than we imagine?
In her new book "Unequal: The Math of When Things Do and Don’t Add Up," Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner Eugenia Cheng challenges our assumptions about sameness and fairness.
She explores why 1 plus 1 does not always equal two, how identical twins may appear the same but reveal their differences in context, and why a circle and an ellipse can both count as equal depending on perspective.
Drawing on the abstract but human-centered field of category theory, Cheng shows how math offers a framework for navigating gray areas in the real world, from questions of qualifications and pay equity to how we define fairness itself.
Far from being just about numbers, mathematics becomes a way to think more deeply and more responsibly about the choices we make in society.
