Mathematics Minus Fear
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- £9.99
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
'If you follow this eloquently written book you will be equipped to cope with all manner of challenges, such as splitting a restaurant bill, filling in a tax return, or understanding the compound interest on your bank statement. You will also be able to calculate your chances of survival when playing Russian roulette, win at Perudo and pronounce '324' in Tibetan ('Gsum-bryga gnyis-bcu rtsa bzhi')... Plus there is a section on how the ancient Egyptians wrestled with equations; a 13-page appendix on how to solve Sudoku and a chapter on the Law of Large Numbers which offers useful tips on backing the right horses.' Daily Telegraph
In this irreverent guide to classroom horrors such as algebra, percentages and probability, maths teacher Lawrence Potter sheds light on the dark mysteries that have haunted you since your childhood. Full of fascinating examples and surprising puzzles, Mathematics Minus Fear demonstrates that maths is not an isolated realm of abstract thought but has fascinating connections with the world we encounter on a daily basis.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Anyone whose memories of math class leave "the bitterest taste" will find comfort as well as insight and plenty of laughs in this informal, irreverent look at math. The first thing readers need to know is that Potter is very serious about one thing: each topic here is based on a situation one could encounter in everyday life, from doing quick mental sums while figuring out a bar tab, to calculating bank interest rates or working out the odds of winning during a Vegas vacation. His brief vignettes star everyman-student Charlie, archetypically "tyrannical" math teacher Mr. Barton, and his star pupil, "know-it-all" Bernadette. Wacky word problems (the answers are in the back) keep the flood of information in context. Potter provides historical anecdotes that reveal the origins of fractions (thank the Egyptians) and how religious edicts have affected interest and banking rules. He even offers sympathy for those wounded by algebra, whose etymology stems from the Arabic word for both the process of setting a broken bone and the moving of a term from one side of an equation to the other. For anyone who has ever felt defeated by "the dark forces of mathematics," Potter's constructive guide offers enlightenment and hope.