"Knowing What's Going On" Author: Liu Xuefeng Publisher: Posts and Telecommunications Press

Introduction
As a popular mathematics book, it was honored to be selected into the list of "China's Good Books" in May 2022. "Knowing the Numbers: Mathematical Thinking in Life" is an interesting book about mathematical thinking. The book combines real-life cases with mathematical formulas, and is committed to teaching readers how to use rigorous science and engineering thinking to look at various phenomena in the current world, helping readers understand mathematical thinking, master mathematical thinking, and apply it to life.
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Do you think an unsolvable system of equations is really unsolvable?
Wittgenstein said: "Mathematics is a variety of techniques of proof."
How can we use mathematics to re-examine our lives?
From small things like why the bottom of the rice cooker doesn't get burnt, to what to do if chopsticks can't pick up peas, to big things like how to get along with others better, to how to choose your career. These seemingly unrelated questions actually contain profound mathematical thinking. By understanding these thoughts, you can find better solutions to problems in life.
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If you are a liberal arts student who has never been exposed to these mathematical formulas, after reading this book, you will no longer be "intimidated" by those seemingly "discouraging" mathematical formulas, but will directly understand the rational thinking behind them through these formulas.
If you are a science student who has only a vague understanding of these mathematical formulas, through this book, you can immediately understand these formulas. They are no longer just a passing mention in the book, but will become a way of thinking that is imprinted in your brain.
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The law of large numbers that can make up for one's shortcomings with hard work, the sparse concept of simplicity, the seemingly plausible conditional independence, the numerical solution that strives for perfection, the least squares method of the golden mean...
The wisdom behind mathematical formulas and algorithms helps us see the world better and provides you with a more scientific perspective when you encounter problems, helping you make better decisions and behaviors.
The final outcome of many things is unforeseeable, but the probability of this outcome occurring is something we can achieve through hard work.
"Know the Answer" teaches you to analyze the "pros and cons" of things quickly and deeply, just like a computer processor. On the premise of accepting imperfection, you can weigh the interests of multiple parties through mathematical thinking and find the best solution to the problem.
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Life is actually a process of constantly searching for the optimal solution. I hope you have a clear idea in mind and act accordingly.

About the Author
Liu Xuefeng is an associate professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Computer Science, Beihang University. He graduated from the University of Bristol, UK, with a Ph.D. in 2008. He is a popular computer teacher on Knowledge Planet. His main research directions include linear algebra, signal processing, and artificial intelligence. He has presided over a number of National Natural Science Foundation projects and participated in key projects of the National Science Foundation. He has published more than 70 academic papers in domestic and foreign journals and international conferences. In 2018, he won the second prize of the Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Award (Science and Technology) of Higher Education Institutions ("Distributed Computing Theory and Methods in Wireless Network Systems") and won the Best Paper Award at international conferences such as ISSNIP and WCNC. The course "Wavelet Signals and Systems" he taught won the first place in the college with a full score in the college's course evaluation.
Table of contents · · · · · ·
Preface Thinking Chapter Viewing the World with Rational Thinking Chapter 1 Accept Reality Calmly and Work Hard to Change Probability Chapter 2 Do Not Overestimate "Explanation" and Underestimate "Prediction"
Chapter 3 Three cobblers may not be better than Zhuge Liang Chapter 4 Frequent small happiness and occasional great happiness Chapter 5 In-depth analysis of "pros and cons"
Chapter 6 The world is sparse: the simple rules behind complex phenomena Chapter 7 Seemingly related, but actually independent: inspiration from conditional independence Chapter 8 Air purifier and Kalman filter Methodology: Strategies and techniques for solving difficult problems Chapter 9 Stability and transition: negative feedback and positive feedback Chapter 10 What is a good design: it is more important to find the bottom layer Chapter 11 Imitation: grasp the essence and get rid of limitations Chapter 12 When to stick to the status quo and when to take risks: look at the basic probability Chapter 13 The wisdom of "holding both and using the middle": the explanation given by the least squares estimation Chapter 14 Keep improving and take every step carefully Chapter 15 Transformative thinking: if the problem is difficult to solve, then change the form of things Chapter 16 Simulated annealing algorithm: why you should try more when you are young Learning: how to learn and express Chapter 17 How to read books and newspapers to make the fastest progress Chapter 18 Good learning methodology: inspiration from machine learning models Chapter 19 How to express one thing clearly: inspiration from the singular value decomposition of matrices