Applied mathematics plays a major role in the sciences and in engineering, where it enhances our ability to use models and handle data. While pure mathematics mostly focuses on abstract structures, applied mathematics provides a tool for understanding and tackling a multitude of practical problems, such as medical imaging and neuroscience. Here, Alain Goriely explains the nature of applied mathematics, and discusses its early achievements in physics and engineering, and its development as a separate field after World War II. Using historical examples, and current applications and challenges, Goriely illustrates the role that mathematics plays in the modern sciences today, and its far-reaching potential.

What's so funny 'bout applied mathematics? Modelling, theory, and methods --Do you want to know a secret? Turkeys, giants, and atomic bombs -- Do you believe in models? Simplicity and complexity -- Do you know the way to solve equations? Spinning tops and chaotic rabbits -- What's the frequency, Kenneth? Waves, quakes, and solitons -- Can you picture that? X-rays, DNA, and photos -- Mathematics, what is it good for? Quaternions, knots and more DNA -- Where are we going? Networks and the brain.