Is there a secret formula for improving your life? For making something a viral hit? For deciding how long to stick with your current Netflix series, job, or even relationship? In his eye-opening new book The Ten Equations That Rule The World And How You Can Use Them Too which he will talk about at this event, mathematician David Sumpter meets with tech entrepreneurs, professional gamblers and political researchers to reveal the ten equations that make our world go round.

Sumpter shows how a small set of formulas can provide the answers to questions ranging from the trivial to the profound – whether you’re choosing how long to stick with a Netflix series, building a successful company website, determining how much time your children should spend on social media or figuring out whether to stay in a relationship or job. With wit and clarity, Sumpter shows that it isn’t the technical details that make these formulas so successful: it is the way they allow mathematicians to view problems from a different angle – a way of seeing the world that anyone can learn. Empowering and enlightening, The Ten Equations reveals how maths really can change your life.

David Sumpter (@Soccermatics) is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Uppsala, Sweden. Originally from London, he grew up in Scotland, completed his doctorate in Mathematics at Manchester and held a Royal Society Fellowship at Oxford before heading to Sweden. Sumpter is the author of Soccermatics and Outnumbered, which have been translated into ten languages, and Collective Animal Behaviour' the leading text in the academic field he helped create. He has consulted in sports betting and worked with a number of world’s biggest football clubs and national teams, including Hammarby, Barcelona and England.

You can order the book, The Ten Equations That Rule The World And How You Can Use Them Too, (UK delivery only) from our official LSE Events independent book shop, Pages of Hackney. 

Jan van den Heuvel (@JanvadeHe) is Professor of Mathematics and Head of the Department of Mathematics at LSE.

The Department of Mathematics (@LSEMaths) is internationally recognised for its teaching and research in the fields of discrete mathematics, game theory, financial mathematics and operations research.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSESumpter

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from The Ten Equations That Rule The World And How You Can Use Them Too. 

A video of this event is available to watch at The Ten Equations That Rule The World And How You Can Use Them Too. 

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.