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The Maths Handbook: Everyday Maths Made Simple
This is the perfect introduction for those who have a lingering fear of math. If you think that math is difficult, confusing, dull or just plain scary, then "The Math Handbook" is your ideal companion." "
Covering all the basics including fractions, equations, primes, squares and square roots, geometry and fractals, Dr. Richard Elwes will lead you gently towards a greater understanding of this fascinating subject. Even apparently daunting concepts will be explained simply, with the assistance of useful diagrams, and with a refreshing lack of jargon. So whether you're an adult or a student, whether you're the sort of person who does Sudoku puzzles, crosswords, or has always been daunted by numbers at work, school or in everyday life, you won't find a better way of overcoming your nervousness about math and learning to enjoy this most amazing of human discoveries.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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292 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 22, 2018
A fun, concise high-school maths refresher. Really liked the proof of Pythagoras' Theorem, which I hadn't seen before. I reckon if you memorised the contents of this book and did a couple of past papers, you could probably pull out a B at maths GCSE.
December 14, 2011
I can't score this book more than 3 stars because it's not really popular maths, but it does what it sets out to do rather well, so it should be seen in this context. As Richard Elwes points out in his introduction 'I was never any good at maths,' is something you hear all the time. What he sets out to do - and succeeds in admirably - is taking the reader step by step through the basics of maths to be able to manage those slippery figures with ease.
The approach is not as heavy as a textbook, though occasionally I did get the feel of a slight older, fussy teacher at work. (It's notable that the precise expression we're told Elwes has heard from 'a thousand different people' is 'I was never any good at mathematics.' Hardly anyone would say 'mathematics' rather than 'maths'. Now it's possible he was trying to avoid the UK/US maths/math split - but it still fits that slightly fussy precision we meet on a regular basis through the text.)
I really can't fault the step-by-step progress, starting with basic arithmetic, taking us on to fractions and powers, roots and logs, percentages, algebra, geometry and even a brief intro to probability and statistics. Each of the sections is quite short, easily digested, well laid out and illustrated and finished off with a little quiz that's not too taxing but helps reinforce the message. I suppose the only question is whether it's best to arrange such an introduction by the structure of maths itself (as this book is) or by application, taking the reader through typical mathematical chores from checking a shopping bill to calculating odds at a bookies. That way you could cover the same ground but perhaps make it seem more real world. However, Elwes doesn't resort to an excess of mathematical jargon, keeping the focus simple - and at least by structuring the book on the maths itself it can have the most logical progression of experience.
As I mentioned at the start, this isn't popular maths. A popular maths book is not a tutorial in how to use it, with tests, but an exploration of some aspect of maths, the people involved, the history and its significance. This is much more a practical book. I would it see it being particularly useful to an adult learner who had trouble with maths at school and now wants to come back to it and take it on. It is a lot less condescending than most modern maths textbooks and would appeal more to a mature reader. So for this particular audience it is definitely an option well worth considering - and it's excellent value, priced like cheap paperback but actually a good size and well-made book. Just not really for someone wanting a voyage of discovery about the history or nature of mathematics.
Review originally published on www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission
The approach is not as heavy as a textbook, though occasionally I did get the feel of a slight older, fussy teacher at work. (It's notable that the precise expression we're told Elwes has heard from 'a thousand different people' is 'I was never any good at mathematics.' Hardly anyone would say 'mathematics' rather than 'maths'. Now it's possible he was trying to avoid the UK/US maths/math split - but it still fits that slightly fussy precision we meet on a regular basis through the text.)
I really can't fault the step-by-step progress, starting with basic arithmetic, taking us on to fractions and powers, roots and logs, percentages, algebra, geometry and even a brief intro to probability and statistics. Each of the sections is quite short, easily digested, well laid out and illustrated and finished off with a little quiz that's not too taxing but helps reinforce the message. I suppose the only question is whether it's best to arrange such an introduction by the structure of maths itself (as this book is) or by application, taking the reader through typical mathematical chores from checking a shopping bill to calculating odds at a bookies. That way you could cover the same ground but perhaps make it seem more real world. However, Elwes doesn't resort to an excess of mathematical jargon, keeping the focus simple - and at least by structuring the book on the maths itself it can have the most logical progression of experience.
As I mentioned at the start, this isn't popular maths. A popular maths book is not a tutorial in how to use it, with tests, but an exploration of some aspect of maths, the people involved, the history and its significance. This is much more a practical book. I would it see it being particularly useful to an adult learner who had trouble with maths at school and now wants to come back to it and take it on. It is a lot less condescending than most modern maths textbooks and would appeal more to a mature reader. So for this particular audience it is definitely an option well worth considering - and it's excellent value, priced like cheap paperback but actually a good size and well-made book. Just not really for someone wanting a voyage of discovery about the history or nature of mathematics.
Review originally published on www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission
July 22, 2017
more like 100 Key Reasons Why I don't have a Life.
November 10, 2013
I really want this one for my bookshelf. It is similiar to the The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Math, it is an excellent reference book, good for refreshing forgotten concepts, and brushing up on topics that you only vaguely understood in school.
This book is verbose, it is very much about explaining the concepts with a few examples (and I like the end-of-chapter quiz) rather than giving lots of repetitive questions.
I think the wordiness might be off-putting to someone afraid of maths (but maybe not).
At any rate I am buying a copy for my bookshelf.
This book is verbose, it is very much about explaining the concepts with a few examples (and I like the end-of-chapter quiz) rather than giving lots of repetitive questions.
I think the wordiness might be off-putting to someone afraid of maths (but maybe not).
At any rate I am buying a copy for my bookshelf.
August 20, 2016
A nice refresher on high-school mathematics. Actually, this was way better than some of my textbooks back in the day. The exercises at the end of each chapter reaffirm the knowledge and also develop a bit of algorithmic thinking. The "golden rules" in each chapter help you in memorizing the most important points and I only wish the "Sum up" sections were just as useful.
Can come in handy. :)
Can come in handy. :)
September 26, 2023
Some years ago, I started to read a four-volume history of mathematics. After half of volume one, I didn't continue for various reasons. This book provides many snapshots of the greatest developments in mathematics. Because of the advancing of civilizations, 1/5 or 1/4 of the topics are probably covered in certain details in the years including high school. But a majority of the rest are probably only covered only in textbooks for college students majoring in math. It goes without saying that those snapshots are concise and excellent (even though I might argue a few could be replaced, i.e., relativities are really physics). A lot of topics deserve their own books, and I happened to read a few:
Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem by Simon Sigh
The Music of the Primes by Marcus du Sautoy
Poincare's Prize: The Hundred-Year Quest to Solve One of Math's Greatest Puzzles by George G. Szpiro
All are outstanding.
The only complaint I have is that I'd like to see more formulae, which probably would make the book even thicker.
Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem by Simon Sigh
The Music of the Primes by Marcus du Sautoy
Poincare's Prize: The Hundred-Year Quest to Solve One of Math's Greatest Puzzles by George G. Szpiro
All are outstanding.
The only complaint I have is that I'd like to see more formulae, which probably would make the book even thicker.
September 9, 2024
For most, maths is a gateway drug - a trudge we endure in order to get into our preferred tertiary course. However, after we recover from the multiple horrors of commonplace maths teaching, the beauty and power of the discipline emerges. But what about its human story? Where did all these theorems come from, who concocted them and why? In this quick, chronological tour through the history of numeracy, geometry, algebra and beyond, British professor and author Richard Elwes walks us along the winding path of our shared fascination and struggles with mathematical understanding. This book won't teach you maths, per se, rather it places it in its broader human cultural context and it allows us to gain an insight into the manner in which we have developed the remarkably predictive (and sometimes counterintuitive) body of theory that fuels science and technology and drives our most profound and abstract cosmological musings. Here, at last, the maths primer you always wanted - the one that encourages you to look up the answers.
May 28, 2023
Helpful if you need a refresher on high school math, for a standardized test or whatever. For example, when is the last time you needed to calculate the volume of a cone? I'm sure I did it before, but it was maybe 26 years ago.
August 13, 2020
Wonderfully explained. Wish I had this book during high school.
August 23, 2023
I would have really appreciated a "Further Reading" section included.
September 30, 2024
Pedagogiskt välskriven och därtill riktigt rolig.
April 16, 2024
Hard to explain a lot of the Maths concepts in the alloted space.
July 22, 2014
Interesting and dry at the same time. The explanations are so succinct that I want to learn much more about some topics. I learned what pi actually represents though!
Finished: The author is covering so many disparate topics that he sticks to a very defined format: 1 page-size picture (usually very relevant, but occasionally random pictures of Delicate Arch with stars and a comment that the concept sort of has something to do with stars), 3 pages of text, 2 little pictures. I really enjoyed some of the sections and wished I could read a long chapter about those topics. For others, I felt the 3 pages was perfect.
And for more and more of the concepts as the book wore on, they were so involved and esoteric that a whole book wouldn't be enough to make them comprehensible and relevant without deep understanding of earlier concepts. I still cannot wrap my mind around multiple dimensions. Many of the concepts that seem pointless to worry about to me did have applications emerge in advanced computing, fiber optics, etc., but the authors basically admitted others were just conceptual puzzles for advanced mathematicians. The space spent on the "Erdos number," basically 7 Degrees of Kevin Bacon for mathematicians, was the weirdest example of this.
Despite the reputed concept of introducing others to math, much of the self-referential language makes this more of a book by a mathematician for mathematicians. "It obviously follows that..."; "One would naturally wonder"...some deep random theory that 99.9999% of the population would never conceive of; such-and-such theory or equation "is among the most beautiful and elegant in math." There were numerous "most beautiful" concepts and "greatest achievements in algebra/geometry/set theory/differential logic etc."
With all that said, I really enjoyed many sections. I felt like I understood the "Why" behind much of geometry and calculus like never before. I simultaneously thought it would have been nice to have know that in high school...and that I probably wouldn't have cared then anyway.
Finished: The author is covering so many disparate topics that he sticks to a very defined format: 1 page-size picture (usually very relevant, but occasionally random pictures of Delicate Arch with stars and a comment that the concept sort of has something to do with stars), 3 pages of text, 2 little pictures. I really enjoyed some of the sections and wished I could read a long chapter about those topics. For others, I felt the 3 pages was perfect.
And for more and more of the concepts as the book wore on, they were so involved and esoteric that a whole book wouldn't be enough to make them comprehensible and relevant without deep understanding of earlier concepts. I still cannot wrap my mind around multiple dimensions. Many of the concepts that seem pointless to worry about to me did have applications emerge in advanced computing, fiber optics, etc., but the authors basically admitted others were just conceptual puzzles for advanced mathematicians. The space spent on the "Erdos number," basically 7 Degrees of Kevin Bacon for mathematicians, was the weirdest example of this.
Despite the reputed concept of introducing others to math, much of the self-referential language makes this more of a book by a mathematician for mathematicians. "It obviously follows that..."; "One would naturally wonder"...some deep random theory that 99.9999% of the population would never conceive of; such-and-such theory or equation "is among the most beautiful and elegant in math." There were numerous "most beautiful" concepts and "greatest achievements in algebra/geometry/set theory/differential logic etc."
With all that said, I really enjoyed many sections. I felt like I understood the "Why" behind much of geometry and calculus like never before. I simultaneously thought it would have been nice to have know that in high school...and that I probably wouldn't have cared then anyway.
July 20, 2016
Di Richard Elwes avevo già letto (e recensito favorevolmente) Maths 1001, la matematica in pillole. Anche in questa sua nuova opera (Richard Elwes,
Maths in 100 Key Breakthroughs
, Quercus 2013, pag. 416, Lst 19.99, ISBN 9781780873220) Elwes mostra la sua abilità divulgativa: penso che al momento sia uno dei migliori in circolazione, in particolar modo nella matematica per così dire "standard" che è sempre più ostica delle varie ricreazioni e teoremini buffi.
Qua però forse si strizza un po' troppo l'occhio alla pop science. Il libro è di formato piuttosto grande e molto colorato, insomma non certo nato per gli e-reader. Le 100 conquiste matematiche occupano quattro pagine cadauna: ma la prima di esse contiene solamente un'immagine più o meno in tema - ci sono molte "rappresentazioni artistiche" che non sono mica riuscito a capire... - e qualche immagine è anche sparsa nelle altre tre pagine. L'encomiabile sforzo di parlare anche di temi contemporanei come la teoria delle categorie porta poi spesso a fermarsi praticamente a metà della spiegazione del tema, lasciando un po' a bocca asciutta il lettore. Non vorrei però sembrare inutilmente cattivo: il libro è indubbiamente ben fatto, e la specie di executive summary all'inizio di ogni sezione dove si spiega in poche parole cos'è la conquista, a chi la si deve attribuire e perché è così importante vale già da sola il prezzo del libro.
Diciamo che il target ideale per questo libro è lo studente liceale che apprezza la matematica e vuole avere qualche idea in più di quello che si può fare con la matematica... ma allora bisognerà attendere che qualcuno lo traduca in italiano :-)
Qua però forse si strizza un po' troppo l'occhio alla pop science. Il libro è di formato piuttosto grande e molto colorato, insomma non certo nato per gli e-reader. Le 100 conquiste matematiche occupano quattro pagine cadauna: ma la prima di esse contiene solamente un'immagine più o meno in tema - ci sono molte "rappresentazioni artistiche" che non sono mica riuscito a capire... - e qualche immagine è anche sparsa nelle altre tre pagine. L'encomiabile sforzo di parlare anche di temi contemporanei come la teoria delle categorie porta poi spesso a fermarsi praticamente a metà della spiegazione del tema, lasciando un po' a bocca asciutta il lettore. Non vorrei però sembrare inutilmente cattivo: il libro è indubbiamente ben fatto, e la specie di executive summary all'inizio di ogni sezione dove si spiega in poche parole cos'è la conquista, a chi la si deve attribuire e perché è così importante vale già da sola il prezzo del libro.
Diciamo che il target ideale per questo libro è lo studente liceale che apprezza la matematica e vuole avere qualche idea in più di quello che si può fare con la matematica... ma allora bisognerà attendere che qualcuno lo traduca in italiano :-)
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April 18, 2015Elwes, R. (2013). The Math Handbook. Quercus.
Type of Reference: Handbook e-book
Call Number: Ref 510
Content/Scope: Contents include a breakdown of chapters in fractions, equations, and square roots; quizzes in each chapter, diagrams, and graphs.
Currency: The print book version was last updated in 2012 and e-book version in September 2013.
Accuracy/Authority/Bias: Quercus is a young publishing company, but has made a name for itself in a very short amount of time. It was named Publisher of the Year in 2011 (Quercus, n.d.).
Format: The book is arranged in typical mathematical style- building from one concept to another.
Cost: $36
Professional Review: 'Elwes takes the key concepts, perfectly illustrates them with practical examples and easy-to-follow explanations, tests us with quizzes, and applies the principles to everyday situations. The effect is strangely liberating, and you might soon find yourself acquiring a love of logarithms and a respect for reflex quadrilaterals' Good Book Guide.
Quercus. Retrieved from http://www.quercus.com/about/
Type of Reference: Handbook e-book
Call Number: Ref 510
Content/Scope: Contents include a breakdown of chapters in fractions, equations, and square roots; quizzes in each chapter, diagrams, and graphs.
Currency: The print book version was last updated in 2012 and e-book version in September 2013.
Accuracy/Authority/Bias: Quercus is a young publishing company, but has made a name for itself in a very short amount of time. It was named Publisher of the Year in 2011 (Quercus, n.d.).
Format: The book is arranged in typical mathematical style- building from one concept to another.
Cost: $36
Professional Review: 'Elwes takes the key concepts, perfectly illustrates them with practical examples and easy-to-follow explanations, tests us with quizzes, and applies the principles to everyday situations. The effect is strangely liberating, and you might soon find yourself acquiring a love of logarithms and a respect for reflex quadrilaterals' Good Book Guide.
Quercus. Retrieved from http://www.quercus.com/about/
April 21, 2023
Decent book about mathematics. Although it feels a bit like a elementary-school book worse.
Currently reading
February 1, 2017I have read it only a few pages as of now.
If we really understand the time, tools available at that time, we would find these mathematical discoveries truly thrilling. I am still wondering why would anyone want to find out 4th Perfect Number; It is understandable that humans took great interest in geometry from ancient times considering its need in construction and astronomy. But, going behind Prefer Numbers...?
So far, this book is totally engaging.
If we really understand the time, tools available at that time, we would find these mathematical discoveries truly thrilling. I am still wondering why would anyone want to find out 4th Perfect Number; It is understandable that humans took great interest in geometry from ancient times considering its need in construction and astronomy. But, going behind Prefer Numbers...?
So far, this book is totally engaging.
February 6, 2017
Wonderful book which looks at the history of mathematics in terms of breakthroughs - key points where the insights were so powerful they illuminated new directions forward and enabled new applications and lines of attack. Math in the second half of the 20th century becomes a bit weak.
November 20, 2014
A fascinating read!
October 8, 2015
Where were all these books when we were studying?
May 10, 2017
I enjoyed the book. It Gives a nice overview, with historical background of important math concepts, which even my 14 year old daughter found accessible.
January 24, 2021
Informative read learnt a lot of new things and it was interesting to see how mathematical things that are apart of everyday life were worked out
May 23, 2021
Doesn't need actual maths expertise but an appreciation of maths and some fluency in terms.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews