Math is universal, but it’s also the least understood and most undervalued subject taught in school.

Two Trains Leave Paris: Number Problems for Word People seeks to offer readers an opportunity to experience math like never before. You must use the Pythagorean Theorem to figure out how far apart two ex-lovers are when they simultaneously realize that they cannot live without each other. You must use addition (and logic) to explore the ridiculous (and patriarchal!) wage gap.

Throughout six math-themed chapters, readers will follow a series of characters as they apply for jobs, fall in love, get abducted by aliens, and experience many of life’s other big and small moments, all of which are dictated by-you guessed it-math! With the help of humor, mathematical history, and how-to-solve sections, Two Trains Leave Paris asks readers to help its characters find growth in the most unexpected of places: word problems. And the answers are, of course, in the back.