CHENNAI: Mathematics, often viewed as a complex subject confined to textbooks, gets an exciting twist with The Mischief of Math: Short Stories of Clowns, Contortionists, and Court-Jesters. It was launched at the Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) on Wednesday. Co-authored by professor Bud Mishra, alongside CMI alumni Niveditha Ganesh and Inavamsi Enaganti, the book offers an innovative approach to mathematical concepts by blending stories, illustrations, and data-driven narratives to make the subject more engaging and accessible to a broader audience.
Niveditha Ganesh, a research fellow at IIT Madras Research Park, said, “I feel like the space I thrive in is at the intersection of maths and science with art, to make it a lot more accessible to people. During the pandemic, we joined a think tank with Professor Mishra and published papers on pandemic-related policymaking and clinical trials. We realised it was important to make data-driven narratives easier for the average person to consume.”
The book, which is now a prescribed textbook at New York University, uses a unique format where each chapter is a short story, poem, or comic strip. “We thought, why don’t we try a new form of textbook? The content is important, but we wanted to make it fun and accessible, rather than presenting everything in a dry, technical form,” Niveditha shared.
Inavamsi elaborated on the challenges faced while writing the book: “Some of the paradoxes and biases we explain are counterintuitive and tricky to understand. Wrapping our heads around these and translating them into fun, real-life examples while ensuring all the conditions of the paradoxes were met was tough. But we’ve made sure everything is sound — inset a textbook, after all.”
When asked about the writing process, Niveditha noted how the team worked rigorously: “We’ve been really on top of this. Every month we churned out a chapter, and we managed to finish the first draft in quite a short space of time. After that, it was about illustrating it, iterating over it — it’s been a fantastic experience.”
During the launch, Ashok Jhunjhunwala, one of the chief speakers, applauded the authors for their unique approach to making maths more engaging. “This book makes abstract and complex mathematical concepts feel almost like a creative black hole — challenging yet inviting, making it impossible not to get sucked into its depth. It’s the kind of effort we need to make subjects like mathematics accessible and less intimidating,” he said.
Madhavan Mukund, director of CMI, highlighted the importance of such books in shaping the future of education: “We have to move away from the idea that maths is a subject for only a chosen few. The Mischief of Math does just that — by drawing people in with stories and illustrations, it allows them to see that maths is not just numbers but a way of thinking and understanding the world. This blend of art and science is crucial for making mathematics relevant to everyone.”
The event also featured a workshop where participants engaged in interactive exercises based on concepts from the book. Niveditha gave insight into the workshop’s structure: “We introduce people to the book, and then we have an interactive session where we explain some concepts and ask questions. The challenges we pose may seem fun, but they are based on real-world situations. For instance, we show participants a graph and ask them to interpret it, which teaches them how causality is not correlation something people easily misunderstand when looking at data.”
The illustrations in the book, created by NYU alumnus Alexander Lu who isn’t a maths student, and read the book to create illustrations from his perspective play a key role in making the content digestible.
The Mischief of Math is an invitation to see the world through the lens of curiosity and creativity. With its blend of mathematics, art, and storytelling, the book aims to demystify complex concepts and make them relatable for readers across disciplines.