Beyond Infinity

How one powerful concept reveals the biggest (and smallest) mathematical truths

How big is the universe? How many numbers are there? And is infinity + 1 is the same as 1 + infinity? Such questions occur to young children and our greatest minds. And they are all the same question: What is infinity? In Beyond Infinity, Eugenia Cheng takes us on a staggering journey from elemental math to its loftiest abstractions. Along the way, she considers how to use a chessboard to plan a worldwide dinner party, how to make a chicken-sandwich sandwich, and how to create infinite cookies from a finite ball of dough. Beyond Infinity shows how one little symbol holds the biggest idea of all.

Eugenia Cheng is the scientist in residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an honorary fellow at the University of Sheffield. She is the author of How to Bake Pi, Beyond Infinity, and The Art of Logic in an Illogical World. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.