Maths on Trial
Leila Schneps, Coralie Colmez

Book Reviews

• "[A]n entertaining tour of courtroom calculations gone wrong…. The cases they describe are independently interesting, and the mathematical overlay makes them doubly so…. [A]s the problems are unraveled and the correct analyses explained, readers will enjoy a satisfying sense of discovery.  Schneps and Colmez write with lucidity and an infectious enthusiasm, making this an engaging and unique blend of true crime and mathematics"
  Publishers Weekly
• "Schneps and Colmez are a mother-daughter pair sophisticated in the ways of probability…. The authors…fill out the volume with wonderful accounts of frauds and forgeries…. [T]he authors’ analysis of the recent Amanda Knox case [is] particularly chilling.  Required reading for aspiring lawyers, but also intrinsically fascinating in its depiction of the frailty of human judgments."
  Kirkus Reviews
• "The originator of sociology, Auguste Comte, said that applying probability to moral questions was the scandal of mathematics. Math On Trial charts the ambivalent—occasionally disastrous—role that math has played in several classic and some recent legal cases. It vividly shows how the desire for ‘scientific’ certainty can lead even well-meaning courts to commit grave injustice. There ought to be a copy in every jury room.  "
  Michael Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan, authors of Chances Are…: Adventures in Probability and Bozo Sapiens: Why to Err Is Human
• "  Taut and gripping, Math on Trial just might establish a new genre, in which true crime story meets the best of popular science. Utterly absorbing from start to finish."
  Steven Strogatz, Professor of Mathematics, Cornell University, and author of The Joy of x
• "  Schneps and Colmez mix good legal dramas with clear and concise mathematical explications."
  Slate, Future Tense blog
• "  [T]he authors shine, and the dramatic presentation [of the court cases] will grip many readers…. [Math on Trial] stimulates both thought and interest. As a result, this book needs to be on any teacher’s short list of possible outside readings…. [E]ngaging reading."
  MAA Reviews
• "    Taking a series of riveting cases, including murders, rapes and sex discrimination, Schneps and Colmez both chart the history of the use of math in court, and clearly reveal common fallacies in its use. And it is un-put-down-able stuff. Never have I been this enlivened by mathematics! I found myself tearing through the book, finishing within a few hours, and was particularly struck by several landmark cases that I had glimpsed in the news but not paid much attention to before.... one of the strengths of the book is how gripping and emotional it is, for a work of non-fiction."
  Huffington Post
• "...all the marks of a good mystery: tense conflicts, diverse characters and shock conclusions…Gripping and insightful, it successfully highlights the dangers of carelessly sprinkling mathematics over real-world problems."
  BBC Focus
• "... an easy and fun read. The cases, like so many criminal cases, are fascinating in their details. The older cases, in particular, are entertaining, and the mathematical hooks bring a different perspective to the Dreyfus affair (Ch. 10) and the story of Charles Ponzi (Ch. 8)....Math on Trial is an entertaining and informative read for those interested in true crime with a mathematical hook. Perhaps it will impress upon the general public the importance of numeracy and inspire them to look beyond and behind the numbers that are trumpeted around us. If so, that would be all to the good."
  Notices of the American Mathematical Society