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Publishers Weekly
“An entertaining tour of courtroom calculations gone wrong…. The cases they describe are independently interesting, and the mathematical overlay makes them doubly so…. As 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.”

Kirkus Reviews
“Fill[ed] with wonderful accounts of frauds and forgeries involving the likes of Charles Ponzi, Hetty Green and Alfred Dreyfus….the authors' analysis of the recent Amanda Knox case [is] particularly chilling…. [Math on Trial is] intrinsically fascinating in its depiction of the frailty of human judgments.”

Steven Strogatz, Professor of Mathematics, Cornell University, and author of The Joy of x
“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.”

BBC Focus (UK)
“[Math on Trial] has all the marks of a good mystery: tense conflicts, diverse characters and shock conclusions….Numerical errors are not unique to the courtroom: similar issues crop up elsewhere in life, which makes this book's message all the more important. Gripping and insightful, it successfully highlights the dangers of carelessly sprinkling mathematics over real-world problems.”

Washington Independent Review of Books
“Schneps and Colmez's clever use of headline-grabbing case studies and digestible explanations of mathematical problems combine to argue for the careful use of numbers by advocates and lay juries alike. Their warnings remain relevant today as courtrooms face greater use of DNA evidence and other sophisticated forensic technologies.”

MAA Reviews
“The authors shine, and the dramatic presentation [of the court cases] will grip many readers…. [Math on Trial] stimulates both thought and interest….Engaging reading.”

Introduction -- Math Error Number 1. Multiplying Non-Independent Probabilities -- The Case of Sally Clark: Motherhood Under Attack -- Math Error Number 2. Unjustified Estimates -- The Case of Janet Collins: Hairstyle Probability -- Math Error Number 3. Trying to Get Something From Nothing -- The Case of Joe Sneed: Absent from the Phone Book -- Math Error Number 4. Double Experiment -- The Case of Meredith Kercher: The Test That Wasn't Done -- Math Error Number 5. The Birthday Problem -- The Case of Diana Sylvester: Cold Hit Analysis -- Math Error Number 6. Simpson's Paradox -- The Berkeley Sex Bias Case: Discrimination Detection -- Math Error Number 7. The Incredible Coincidence -- The Case of Lucia de Berk: Carer or Killer? -- Math Error Number 8. Underestimation -- The Case of Charles Ponzi: American Dream, American Scheme -- Math Error Number 9. Choosing A Wrong Model -- The Case of Hetty Green: A Battle of Wills -- Math Error Number 10. Mathematical Madness -- The Dreyfus Affair: Spy or Scapegoat? -- Conclusion -- Sources -- Credits -- Index.

In the wrong hands, math can be deadly. Even the simplest numbers can become powerful forces when manipulated by politicians or the media, but in the case of the law, your liberty -- and your life -- can depend on the right calculation.

In Math on Trial, mathematicians Leila Schneps and Coralie Colmez describe ten trials spanning from the nineteenth century to today, in which mathematical arguments were used -- and disastrously misused -- as evidence. They tell the stories of Sally Clark, who was accused of murdering her children by a doctor with a faulty sense of calculation; of nineteenth-century tycoon Hetty Green, whose dispute over her aunt's will became a signal case in the forensic use of mathematics; and of the case of Amanda Knox, in which a judge's misunderstanding of probability led him to discount critical evidence -- which might have kept her in jail. Offering a fresh angle on cases from the nineteenth-century Dreyfus affair to the murder trial of Dutch nurse Lucia de Berk, Schneps and Colmez show how the improper application of mathematical concepts can mean the difference between walking free and life in prison.

A colorful narrative of mathematical abuse, Math on Trial blends courtroom drama, history, and math to show that legal expertise isn't't always enough to prove a person innocent.