I readily admit Math was NOT my strong suit in high school. I barely got pre-calculus and was HAPPY with a C grade! In college when I was given the option as Computer Science as a Math Criteria Class, I jumped at it with open arms! So I was very happy to review this book, as I know I'll need an aide when it comes time to helping Kiddo with ehr advanced math homework.
From third grade to senior year of high school, it went in one ear and out the other, didn't it?
But now you're staring at the new washer and dryer, trying to figure out the percentage of sales tax on the purchase price. You multiply something by something, right? Or you're scratching your head, wondering how to compute the odds that your football team will take next Sunday's game. You're pretty sure that involved ratios. The problem is, you can't quite remember.
Here you get an adult refresher and real-life context--with examples ranging from how to figure out how many shingles it takes to re-roof the garage to the formula for resizing Mom's tomato sauce recipe for your entire family.
Forget higher calculus--you just need an open mind. And with this practical guide, math can stop being scary and start being useful.
Check out the website too!
About the Author: Laura Laing graduated from James Madison University with a BS in Mathematics. After teaching high school math for four years, she became a staff writer for Inside Business. Her articles have appeared in Parade, The City Paper, Baltimore Sun, and The Advocate. Visit her blog too for some great, and funny, info on Laura!
Review: This book is NOT about calculus. Ok, well Laura does sneak some in, but really it's about the basics that we need everyday, whether we realize it or not. Like knowing percentages for paying a tip, or calculating interest on a new car loan. I was happy to see Laura suggest using estimates. Say an item is $499 and you need to calculate 40% dale price. She suggests round up to $500 (easier number to work with) and you know 10% of that number would be $50, so you could take the $50 times it by 4 and know it would be just under $200 off. AHA, must better working with even numbers and 10s!
What about couponing? You have to be able to comparison shop to determine if using that 60 cent coupon is better than a store sale item that has more contents at a similar price. In fact I've found myself doing this at the box stores. Comparing price PER item in box and price of box. Sometimes buying smaller boxes WITH a coupon really is MUCH cheaper than buying the big box. Course I have the handy dandy calculator on my smart phone at my disposal, but I need to know HOW to do the figuring to get the answer with it's help!
How about home remodeling? You're in the box lumber store and looking at a new stove. You need some math skills to know if it will FIT in your space at home, or whether you have to tear out a cabinet or two (thus increasing the cost of said stove!). Laying a new floor? You need to know how to measure square width to determine how many tiles you will need! What about cooking? You need fractions when you are increasing/decreasing a recipe! Same thing goes for sewing and altering a pattern. Even dieting and working out require basic math and fraction skills!
And yes, this book does talk about the ever present how long to get there word problems. But they are practical. For example: If Bob's flight leaves at 1:30 pm Boston, he has a 90 minute layover in Chicago, and the first part of his flight takes 45 minutes, the second part takes 5 hours, and he has to call Tom and let him know what time he should arrive in Cancun, which is 1 hour behind Boston. Is your brain spinning yet? This is a pretty real life situation, isn't it? Course Bob MAY have an eta on his ticket, or he may not because of delays when he arrives at Chicago! The basic way to compute this? Add the travel time (7 1/4 hours) and then minus an hour=7:45 pm. Sometimes we just make things more complicated than they need to be in Math!
The included appendix and glossary help to define terms in Math and this really is a great little resource! I would highly recommend it to all Math and Science teachers as a way to get real life examples to keep kids interested in their lessons! For parents, it's a way to brush up on math rules in a simple, uncomplicated way. Who knows, your kid might think you're a Math genius after all!
Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book, free of charge, from the FW Media, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.
I've been curious about this book. Since my nephew started school, I've been trying to play catch up in math -- especially since now I have to learn the "new" math! I've done workbooks right along side him, but still would have trouble with the examples you discussed above. Needless to say, this book is going on my shopping list. Now if I can just figure the cost after the member discount and sales tax . . .
ReplyDelete@Gwendolyn B. FUNNY! yup, this is a really good primer and I really think it's great for adults!
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