“Fractal geometry has helped model the weather, study river flows, analyze brainwaves and seismic tremors, and understand the distribution of galaxies.

“I believe it has much to contribute to finance, too. Risk certainly does follow patterns that can be expressed mathematically and can be modelled on a computer. Thus, my research could help people avoid losing as much money as they do, through fool-hardy underestimation of the risk of ruin. Thinking about markets as a scientific system, we may eventually craft a stronger financial industry and a better system of regulation,” writes Benoît Mandelbrot.

Can mathematics come to the rescue of the financial crisis? In this book, one of the world's greatest and most creative mathematicians shows how by understanding risk we can invent a better system of regulation.

Benoît Mandelbrot is a professor of mathematics at Yale University and IBM Fellow Emeritus of the Thomas J. Watson Research Center.