Everyday Math for Everyday Life: A Handbook for When It Just Doesn't Add Up

Description

For everyone who’s ever said, “I’m no good with numbers,” here’s a practical, user-friendly field guide to the math you really need. Your dinner bill came to $78.35, plus tip, divided amongst you and two friends. So how did you end Review: I wish - I wish I had this book when I was in 5th and 7th grade. I'm not good at math. In fact I have listed on my lifetime things to do list, be good at math. Mark Ryan's book Everyday Math for Everyday Life... is helping me in a big way to reach that goal. I like the approach that the author takes. He's not just telling you how to work a math problem, he's also explains why the process works and in some cases he addresses common mistakes made when trying to solve problems. I'd recommend this book for anyone who wants to use mathemathics to enhance their everyday life. Review: A well-explained all round exposition - This is a good all round book that looks at many different mathematical topics that we encounter in our everyday lives. It is very clearly explained and uses simple language minus the jargon. It looks at topics ranging from investments to geometry to finance but it is all explained in a thorough and structured way. It's worth noting that it's a book that does require a bit of patience - hey, it's a Maths book after all - but, it's patience well rewarded and your understanding of the topics will be greater having kept with it. It doesn't go too deeply into all component areas, but it's enough for the all round approach. So, why not five stars? Well, for me, there was a greater, disproportionate weighting to some topics, notably probability and gambling, which may be interesting for some, but not for all, and some chapters and anecdotes, for instance the ones that focused on concept understanding, could have gone into more detail. Overall though, it's a very accessible book and the author clearly worked hard to accomplish this task.