Unequal: The Maths of When Things Do and Don’t Add Up - Paperback

A playful, thought-provoking celebration of mathematics that explores how ideas of equality, difference and perspective can change the way we see the world.

What does an equals sign really mean?

At first glance, it seems simple: something on one side must be the same as something on the other. Solve the problem, balance the equation, and the answer is clear.

But as mathematician Eugenia Cheng reveals, there is far more happening between those two parallel lines.

In Unequal, Cheng invites readers into a fascinating mathematical playground where equality is not simply about finding one correct answer. It is about choices, relationships, abstraction and the different ways we can understand when things are the same—or meaningfully different.

By exploring these ideas, she uncovers the rich interplay between sameness and difference and shows how changing our mathematical perspective can lead to surprising new insights.

Clear, clever and engaging, Unequal makes big mathematical ideas accessible while encouraging readers to think more deeply about the choices and interpretations that shape both mathematics and everyday life.

A glorious exploration of how mathematics can expand the way we think—not just about numbers, but about the world itself.