Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
A while ago I discovered an interesting web site, Berkeley Science Books, that publishes a set of very comprehensive Ebooks called "Calculus Without Tears." Author Will Flannery has a pretty detailed explanation on the home page of his web-site of why he thinks Calculus can be taught in elementary school. ...
Posted in Calculus, Reviews, Books | 13 Comments »
Friday, December 21st, 2007
I remember riding the subway to high school in the late 1970's. I rode from Manhattan to the Bronx five days a week for four years. When I wasn't chatting with one of the other kids I'd often be reading some "Mathy" thing or working out a Math problem. Yes, ...
Posted in Reviews, Books | 9 Comments »
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
I have to admit, history has never been one of my strong suits. That's because I don't have a memory for details that are not relevant to my life. However, I realize that some people like, even love, history. And, from my study of Gardner's multiple intelligences I also get ...
Posted in History, Reviews, Books | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 8th, 2007
Mathematics: A Human Endeavor, by Harold Jacobs, is a great book high school students will enjoy using to explore a number of concepts. Its subtitle is quite apt: "A Textbook for Those Who Think They Don't Like the Subject." I have the 1970 edition which is much less expensive than ...
Posted in Books | 3 Comments »
Monday, October 8th, 2007
How many of you remember doing geometry proofs in High School? How many of you enjoyed writing them? I don’t know about you but I’ve always preferred pictures to words when it comes to understanding how something works.
“Proofs Without Words: Exercises in Visual Thinking” by Roger B. Nelsen is a ...
Posted in Fun, Beauty, Geometry, Algebra, Books | No Comments »
Monday, October 8th, 2007
Purdue Professor of Computer Science Greg N. Fredrickson is an absolute master of geometric dissections, the art and science of cutting up one or more geometric shapes and rearranging the pieces to form other shapes.
One example from Fredrickson’s web-site for his first book, Dissections: Plane & Fancy, is ...
Posted in Geometry, Books | No Comments »
Monday, October 8th, 2007
I had never given much thought to how area codes were selected. I always assumed they were random three digit numbers that, once upon a time, always had 0 or 1 as their middle digit. This morning I was browsing The Universal Book of Mathematics: From Abracadabra to Zeno’s Paradoxes ...
Posted in Fun, Trivia, Books | 2 Comments »
