
The Ten Equations That Rule the World
And How You Can Use Them Too
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Sean Runnette
-
By:
-
David Sumpter
About this listen
Is there a secret formula for getting rich? For going viral? For deciding how long to stick with your current job, Netflix series, or even relationship?
This book is all about the equations that make our world go round. Ten of them, in fact. They are integral to everything from investment banking to betting companies and social media giants. And they can help you to increase your chance of success, guard against financial loss, live more healthfully, and see through scaremongering. They are known by only the privileged few - until now.
With wit and clarity, mathematician David 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 illuminating, The Ten Equations shows how math really can change your life.
©2021 David Sumpter (P)2021 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Coming Wave
- AI, Power, and Our Future
- By: Mustafa Suleyman, Michael Bhaskar - contributor
- Narrated by: Mustafa Suleyman
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are approaching a critical threshold in the history of our species. Everything is about to change. Soon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organize your life, operate your business, and run core government services. You will live in a world of DNA printers and quantum computers, engineered pathogens and autonomous weapons, robot assistants and abundant energy.
-
-
Click bait
- By Buyer on 09-11-23
By: Mustafa Suleyman, and others
-
Outnumbered
- Exploring the Algorithms That Control Our Lives
- By: David Sumpter
- Narrated by: David West
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our increasing reliance on technology and the Internet has opened a window for mathematicians and data researchers to gaze through into our lives. Using the data they are constantly collecting about where we travel, where we shop, what we buy, what interests us, they can begin to predict our daily habits, and increasingly we are relinquishing our decision making to algorithms - are we giving up this up too easily?
-
-
A good reality check for "Cambridge Hyperbolitica"
- By Haggai Elkayam on 08-06-18
By: David Sumpter
-
Bernoulli's Fallacy
- Statistical Illogic and the Crisis of Modern Science
- By: Aubrey Clayton
- Narrated by: Tim H. Dixon
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aubrey Clayton traces the history of how statistics went astray, beginning with the groundbreaking work of the 17th-century mathematician Jacob Bernoulli and winding through gambling, astronomy, and genetics. Clayton recounts the feuds among rival schools of statistics, exploring the surprisingly human problems that gave rise to the discipline and the all-too-human shortcomings that derailed it.
-
-
Rigorously Bayesian
- By Anonymous User on 01-25-22
By: Aubrey Clayton
-
Build
- An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
- By: Tony Fadell
- Narrated by: Tony Fadell, Roger Wayne
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tony Fadell led the teams that created the iPod, iPhone and Nest Learning Thermostat and learned enough in 30+ years in Silicon Valley about leadership, design, startups, Apple, Google, decision-making, mentorship, devastating failure and unbelievable success to fill an encyclopedia.
-
-
Best guide for start up founders, ever!!!
- By Curly Beard on 05-28-22
By: Tony Fadell
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
Imaginable
- How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything - Even Things That Seem Impossible Today
- By: Jane McGonigal
- Narrated by: Jane McGonigal
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The COVID-19 pandemic, increasingly frequent climate disasters, a new war—events we might have called “unimaginable” or “unthinkable” in the past are now reality. Today it feels more challenging than ever to feel unafraid, hopeful, and equipped to face the future with optimism. How do we map out our lives when it seems impossible to predict what the world will be like next week, let alone next year or next decade? What we need now are strategies to help us recover our confidence and creativity in facing uncertain futures.
-
-
Fabulous content, INSUFFERABLE narration!
- By Kelly on 05-24-22
By: Jane McGonigal
-
The Coming Wave
- AI, Power, and Our Future
- By: Mustafa Suleyman, Michael Bhaskar - contributor
- Narrated by: Mustafa Suleyman
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are approaching a critical threshold in the history of our species. Everything is about to change. Soon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organize your life, operate your business, and run core government services. You will live in a world of DNA printers and quantum computers, engineered pathogens and autonomous weapons, robot assistants and abundant energy.
-
-
Click bait
- By Buyer on 09-11-23
By: Mustafa Suleyman, and others
-
Outnumbered
- Exploring the Algorithms That Control Our Lives
- By: David Sumpter
- Narrated by: David West
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our increasing reliance on technology and the Internet has opened a window for mathematicians and data researchers to gaze through into our lives. Using the data they are constantly collecting about where we travel, where we shop, what we buy, what interests us, they can begin to predict our daily habits, and increasingly we are relinquishing our decision making to algorithms - are we giving up this up too easily?
-
-
A good reality check for "Cambridge Hyperbolitica"
- By Haggai Elkayam on 08-06-18
By: David Sumpter
-
Bernoulli's Fallacy
- Statistical Illogic and the Crisis of Modern Science
- By: Aubrey Clayton
- Narrated by: Tim H. Dixon
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aubrey Clayton traces the history of how statistics went astray, beginning with the groundbreaking work of the 17th-century mathematician Jacob Bernoulli and winding through gambling, astronomy, and genetics. Clayton recounts the feuds among rival schools of statistics, exploring the surprisingly human problems that gave rise to the discipline and the all-too-human shortcomings that derailed it.
-
-
Rigorously Bayesian
- By Anonymous User on 01-25-22
By: Aubrey Clayton
-
Build
- An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
- By: Tony Fadell
- Narrated by: Tony Fadell, Roger Wayne
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tony Fadell led the teams that created the iPod, iPhone and Nest Learning Thermostat and learned enough in 30+ years in Silicon Valley about leadership, design, startups, Apple, Google, decision-making, mentorship, devastating failure and unbelievable success to fill an encyclopedia.
-
-
Best guide for start up founders, ever!!!
- By Curly Beard on 05-28-22
By: Tony Fadell
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
Imaginable
- How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything - Even Things That Seem Impossible Today
- By: Jane McGonigal
- Narrated by: Jane McGonigal
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The COVID-19 pandemic, increasingly frequent climate disasters, a new war—events we might have called “unimaginable” or “unthinkable” in the past are now reality. Today it feels more challenging than ever to feel unafraid, hopeful, and equipped to face the future with optimism. How do we map out our lives when it seems impossible to predict what the world will be like next week, let alone next year or next decade? What we need now are strategies to help us recover our confidence and creativity in facing uncertain futures.
-
-
Fabulous content, INSUFFERABLE narration!
- By Kelly on 05-24-22
By: Jane McGonigal
-
The Model Thinker
- What You Need to Know to Make Data Work for You
- By: Scott E. Page
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Work with data like a pro using this guide that breaks down how to organize, apply, and most importantly, understand what you are analyzing in order to become a true data ninja.
-
-
It does not work on Audible
- By Hamilton Carvalho on 05-14-21
By: Scott E. Page
-
Learn Game Theory
- A Primer to Strategic Thinking and Advanced Decision-Making (Strategic Thinking Skills, Book 1)
- By: Albert Rutherford
- Narrated by: Russell Newton
- Length: 3 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life is full of uncertainty. You don't know what lies ahead. But you can learn to control the controllable by using logic and reason. With the help of this book, you'll discover new ways to think about - and solve - problems more efficiently than ever before. Discover how strategic games model real-life behavior.
-
-
Very poor narrating. Save your money/credit.
- By Brian on 06-24-24
-
The Idea Factory
- Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
- By: Jon Gertner
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Idea Factory, New York Times Magazine writer Jon Gertner reveals how Bell Labs served as an incubator for scientific innovation from the 1920s through the1980s. In its heyday, Bell Labs boasted nearly 15,000 employees, 1200 of whom held PhDs and 13 of whom won Nobel Prizes. Thriving in a work environment that embraced new ideas, Bell Labs scientists introduced concepts that still propel many of today’s most exciting technologies.
-
-
Great story -- horrible pauses
- By Rodney on 01-29-13
By: Jon Gertner
-
Wait
- The Art and Science of Delay
- By: Frank Partnoy
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A passionate polemic in favor of pausing to think, not blink. What do these scenarios have in common: a professional tennis player returning a serve, a woman evaluating a first date across the table, a naval officer assessing a threat to his ship, and a comedian about to reveal a punch line? In this counterintuitive and insightful work, author Frank Partnoy weaves together findings from hundreds of scientific studies and interviews with wide-ranging experts to craft a picture of effective decision making that runs contrary to our brutally fast-paced world.
-
-
Interesting
- By Ray on 08-04-12
By: Frank Partnoy
-
How the World Really Works
- The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
- By: Vaclav Smil
- Narrated by: Stephen Perring
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have never had so much information at our fingertips and yet most of us don’t know how the world really works. This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, through our material world and its globalization, to risks, our environment and its future, How the World Really Works offers a much-needed reality check—because before we can tackle problems effectively, we must understand the facts.
-
-
Let me save you a credit: progress is hard
- By Dalton on 06-06-22
By: Vaclav Smil
-
Thinking Better
- The Art of the Shortcut in Math and Life
- By: Marcus Du Sautoy
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are often told that hard work is the key to success. But success isn’t about hard work - it’s about shortcuts. Shortcuts allow us to solve one problem quickly so that we can tackle an even bigger one. They make us capable of doing great things. And according to Marcus du Sautoy, math is the very art of the shortcut. Thinking Better is a celebration of how math lets us do more with less.
-
-
Very difficult to flow without diagrams
- By Khaled on 11-03-21
By: Marcus Du Sautoy
-
Making Numbers Count
- The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers
- By: Chip Heath, Karla Starr
- Narrated by: Kathe Mazur
- Length: 4 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A clear, practical, first-of-its-kind guide to communicating and understanding numbers and data - from best-selling business author Chip Heath.
-
-
Not his best work, choose another title
- By Michael Harrison on 01-25-22
By: Chip Heath, and others
-
AI 2041
- Ten Visions for Our Future
- By: Kai-Fu Lee, Chen Qiufan
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin, Justin Chien, Soneela Nankani, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
AI will be the defining development of the 21st century. Within two decades, aspects of daily human life will be unrecognizable. AI will generate unprecedented wealth, revolutionize medicine and education through human-machine symbiosis, and create brand-new forms of communication and entertainment. In liberating us from routine work, however, AI will also challenge the organizing principles of our economic and social order.
-
-
Good concept, poor execution
- By Amazon Customer on 12-08-21
By: Kai-Fu Lee, and others
-
Flux
- 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change
- By: April Rinne
- Narrated by: April Rinne
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discover eight powerful mindset shifts that enable leaders and those they lead to adapt and thrive in a time of unprecedented change and uncertainty. Being adaptable and flexible have always been hallmarks of effective leadership, but recent events have seriously stress tested this idea. How do you find calm in the midst of all this chaos?
-
-
Flux-ized!
- By Cecilia Wessinger on 10-17-21
By: April Rinne
-
A Mind for Numbers
- How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)
- By: Barbara Oakley PhD
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In A Mind for Numbers, Dr. Oakley lets us in on the secrets to learning effectively - secrets that even dedicated and successful students wish they’d known earlier. Contrary to popular belief, math requires creative, as well as analytical, thinking. Most people think that there’s only one way to do a problem, when in actuality, there are often a number of different solutions - you just need the creativity to see them.
-
-
Not quite what you expect
- By Sean P Ruggier on 07-20-22
-
Fooled by Randomness
- The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
- By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook is about luck, or more precisely, how we perceive and deal with luck in life and business. It is already a landmark work, and its title has entered our vocabulary. In its second edition, Fooled by Randomness is now a cornerstone for anyone interested in random outcomes.
-
-
Pass on this one and read The Black Swan
- By Wade T. Brooks on 06-25-12
-
Noise
- A Flaw in Human Judgment
- By: Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, the co-author of Nudge, and the author of You Are About to Make a Terrible Mistake! comes Noise, a revolutionary exploration of why people make bad judgments, and how to control both noise and cognitive bias.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Z28 on 05-31-21
By: Daniel Kahneman, and others
What listeners say about The Ten Equations That Rule the World
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark Ingram
- 03-13-23
Should have left preachy SJW opinions out
Enjoyable listen. As other reviewers stated, the author veered off course in the middle of the book.
I’d be interested in a 2nd edition with discussion of the way some Covid modelling was tragically misaligned with reality and the horrendous real world implications of this.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 02-28-22
Disappointing and couldn’t finish.
Excellent narrator. He did a great job of keeping me engaged through all the numbers. The first few chapters were entertaining and enlightening. After that it devolved into a apologetics for leftist ideologies.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bob 3
- 11-18-21
important equations, spoiled by politics
I really wanted to like this book. Your credit would be better spent on Algorithms to Live By.
I'm very used to nutty professors sneaking their social agenda into math examples, and Sumpter is no exception. But the last chapter was just too preachy. I was hoping for a light-hearted math text. Although the equations are timeless, I predict this book will not age well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- matt green
- 01-07-25
Meh. Not for everyone but not a waste of time either.
If you don’t read a lot of these books and want a similar book, I suggest The Drunkards Walk by Leonard Mlodinow, or go with anything by Daniel Kahneman or Jordan Ellenberg.
The voice actor was not great. The content was worth it after filtering out so much bias. But also noticed many inconsistencies, e.g. correcting the research about social media and teenagers by stating other independent contributing factors such as lack of sleep, as if those two things are unrelated. Noticed little things like that.
The general smugness of some positions he posits is off-putting, which unlike Taleb, the content doesn’t make up for it. I think this is amplified by the voice actor though, and didn’t get that as much when reading physical copy.
If you don’t have a lot of time, skip this one. I’m glad I read it though.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Keep Triing
- 11-11-21
A poorly crafted attempt to leverage mathematics to justify a sociopolitical perspective
First off, I loved the narration. Unique voice and refreshingly different.
The book starts off with intriguing and compelling insights into novel mathematic application. Then it takes a truly bizarre abrupt turn into the authors personal opinions. An astute reader with even the most basic understanding of confirmation bias will see red flags all over this book. There are repeated personal attacks against public intellectuals and researchers which step completely outside the premise of the book and contain criticisms of people for actions he later admits to taking himself. As example, statements included about the state of free speech in academia were not only complete non sequitur, but are based on a single data point (his experience); this may be soothing to someone with a particular viewpoint prior to opening this book but present obvious problems when presented in the same text stating that appropriate decisions must be guided by the aggregation of as much data as possible. As an applied mathematics student with decades of professional experience in risk management, I found the reductionist errors in this book to be saddening. What could have amounted to a fun exploration of where mathematics is advancing positive and negative societal levers degraded into a poorly packaged and often contradictory rant.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful