Proste jak pi. Matematyka to bułka z masłem

by Liz Strachan

Gdy po raz pierwszy zobaczyliście tytuł tej książki, być może pomyśleliście, że jest w nim jakiś błąd. Ale tak właśnie ma być – "Proste jak pi". Ale cóż to jest owo pi?
Weźmy taśmę mierniczą i jakiekolwiek okrągłe naczynie – wazon na kwiaty jest idealny. Dokonajmy pomiaru wzdłuż jego brzegu (matematycy nazywają to obwodem i oznaczają literą C), a następnie w poprzek w najszerszym miejscu wazonu – będzie to średnica, oznaczana jako D. Za pomocą kalkulatora w komórce podzielcie C przez D. Otrzymacie trójkę z mnóstwem miejsc dziesiętnych. Jeśli pierwszym miejscem dziesiętnym jest 1 lub 2, zmierzyliście dobrze. W ten sposób zetknęliście się ze szczególną liczbą, którą matematycy nazywają pi i oznaczają grecką literą π, aby uczynić ją nieco bardziej tajemniczą.
W tej książce spotkacie się nie tylko z pi, ale i wieloma innymi liczbami. I przekonacie się, że matematyka to naprawdę dobra zabawa.

Liz Strachan przez większość swej nauczycielskiej kariery uczyła matematyki w szkole w Montrose w południowo wschodniej Szkocji. Uwielbia pracę pisarską i ma w swoim dorobku ponad dwieście opublikowanych artykułów i opowiadań. Zdobyła również kilka nagród Scottish Association of Writers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mathematics, Science, Education, Reference, Humor, History

145 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[SaraLaLa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me push my glasses up the bridge of my nose and say it loud and proud: I loved this book. It's everything you could want in a just-for-fun Math book. Interesting stories, cool tricks, and super short chapter so you never felt like it was ever much work. It was the perfect book to carry around in case you had a free minute or two (cause that's all it took to finish most chapters).

I'd say it's worthy of rereading so I could better retain some of the knowledge.

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually quite interesting; it's full of math 'tricks,' that I shall use to impress my smallish brothers with great success. It also had a chapter on Fibonacci numbers, which makes it one of my favorite things. The chapter where she shows how to find out what day of the week a certain date fell on was particularly enlightening. I tried it out in the end pages and it works like a charm.

[Sherry Sharpnack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun book by a math teacher passionate about her subject. It’s full of math history and basic concepts told in a fun way. There are several fun tricks w/ numbers to amuse your friends.

It was a short, easily read book to start my 2020 reading life.

[Lizzy]

This review was written by Lee Sorensen and posted by Lizzy Mottern

My father, a math enthusiast who knew how to make any algebra homework take twice as long, ended every explanation to his decidedly non-mathematical son with the summation, “numbers are magic.” More like alchemy to my mind, but regardless, numbers are the only mysticism I trust. If you’re a mathematic pedestrian like myself—but still enjoy the walk—I recommend A Slice of Pi. It’s a stroll to the spooky side of numbers that the sorcerer successfully sees you through. Three hundred years ago a Russian version of my dad concluded that every even number has to be sum of two prime numbers: 3 + 19 = 22; 213 + 197 = 400, etc. But since numbers are infinite, that’s hard to prove. Might there be some google number out there so big—and so even—that no two primes go into it? Goldbach (the conjecturer) couldn’t prove in the eighteenth century and modern computers haven’t gotten any closer. A Slice of Pi is full of these, no discussion more than two and a half pages, every one guaranteed to restore your faith in magic.

[Brett Feinstein · Rating 2 out of 5]

A weak trivia book of math facts. Almost a bathroom book with short 1-2 page chapters. Lots of math coincidences and semi-useless math tricks interspersed with very short biographies of a few great mathematicians of history.

I suspect the author is very engaging in the classroom, but in this format, the information is too short to be useful or even to demonstrate that it has a point.

The only reason I am giving it two stars is because the writer demonstrates a keen sense of humor from time to time and the handful of biographical sketches scattered throughout the book are often entertaining, if too short.

The good news is, if you sit down and plow through this book, you can be through it in two hours. If only math (or maths as the author refers to it in the British style) was that easy.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of fun if you like math.

[MD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liz Strachan was a middle school & high school math teacher. The book is written as though it may have been a series of blog posts - typically 1 or 2 short pages per topic. Topics do include math you may have forgotten from school and want to revisit in an accessible way. They also include math tricks, anecdotes and capsule bios of people who made significant contributions to/using mathematics (including Florence Nightingale!), and classroom anecdotes. I didn’t get quite as much of a math refresher as I’d hoped for, but found the book very readable.

[Rod Innis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very pleasant little book about Math. It gives interesting facts about some famous mathematicians ( from Euclid from about 300BC to Einstein in the 20th century) as well as some simple (and some not so simple) math problems and solutions. If you like Math, you will like this book. Even if you are not a great fan of Math, you may enjoy this book.
The author was a Math teacher whose goal was to help her young students love Math. She seems to have had some success. Perhaps this book will change your attitude as well!

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Impulse at library. Delightful. I'm passing it to my son, who has a BS in math and is a substitute teacher in a high school.

But unsatisfying. Too many 'tricks' that I want to know 'how/why does that work?' I think other readers can enjoy it more, esp. if they didn't love math as a student.

I don't know how much 'takeaway' there is, but I will remember that degrees F and C are not only identical at -40, but that 16C=61F and 28C=82F. Nice convenient estimate for when communicating online with friends not in the US.

[Tiffany Jia Wai Yin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book introduced me to a lot of new and fun methods to calculate and also taught me a lot of extra Math knowledge that we may not have chance to learn in class! I had a lot of fun reading this book and I strongly recommend it everyone no matter if you like or dislike Maths. For example, what a googol is. There’s actually some relationships with Google the web browser! Read this book to discover more interesting facts about Maths.

[Mike Glaser · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and enjoyable read, reminding me of a number of math concepts that had dropped off of my radar screen.

[Asiuol K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had a math teacher like Liz Strachan.

[Emerson Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

nice light read that got my mind ready to math again! great for former math nerds that have lost touch!

[Megustabooks1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was ok, quirky book. a bit of history, a bit of math tips

[Crystal]

Cool Math Tricks

[Treyton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a few great reminders of math topics and a good deal of history, mainly focused on individuals ("celebrities") of math.

[Thaizi Ono · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most enjoyable Math book I read.

It is educative, funny, easy to understand and informative.

Page 82:

Woman: "I hate you, times infinity!"
Man: "I can't comprehend that insult."

🤣😂🤣

[Kerry Berger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenging and a lot of fun too!

[Mary Kamrath · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fun and educational book.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written by a Scottish math teacher, this book contain 50 or so little two to three page "anecdotes" that highlight a different math concept that you probably learned in school. Actually the best sections were the ones on famous mathematicians or the problems they developed/solved. The book was a little hokey at times and definitely qualifies as British humor at times. Probably better "math refresher" books out there, but this was a very quick read.

[Meagen Partin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute and light refresher on some interesting math facts. There was history and formula, and some cute cartoons to help you remember. I will not remember, but this book is very easy to back to and refresh yourself on the various anecdotes and puzzles.

[Mark Kloha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw this book at Barnes and Nobles on their discount shelf. This book is a series of many very short stories/anecdotes. These stories range from fun math tricks to extremely short biographies of famous mathematicians along with some unsolved math theories. She also includes some amusing happenings from when she taught math. Most of these stories and math tricks I already knew. This book isn't meant to be a textbook. It's not even meant to be Cliff's note summary of math. It is a series of amusing, short, simple stories that you might find somewhere between interesting and amusing. If you enjoy math, then you probably know most of the information in this book. If you don't like math, then you won't like this book. If you just want to jog your memory a little on math that you learned once upon a time, then this book will do just that.

[My Pseudonym · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should help to revitalize your interest in maths, as I'm sure many people (like myself) were somewhat put off by it in school. Schools don't give any background or history on the mathematicians that laid the stepping stones for our understanding and curriculum in schools today. Perhaps if they did so, students would have a greater appreciation and understanding for the skills they are being in taught in the classroom.

Maths is one of the purest subjects out there with many mysteries to be unravelled through numbers and geometry. This book has mini-chapters that can be delved in to and absorbed at your own leisure. If you're lucky, you can steal this book for only one coupon of exchange in the many retail outlets that provide goods and services.

[Ensiform · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found in the bargain bin of the local bookshop, where it belongs. A collection of very short blurbs about mathematicians, anecdotes about math, and some number tricks. Not enough information on any of them to be useful or interesting, and loaded with what can charitably be called British humour.

Not at all a primer of useful basic math and not quite a collection of math party tricks, this book doesn't really seem to have a purpose. The author, a math teacher, is pleasant enough and I'm sure she is well-liked by her students. But this is the sort of thing that should have enjoyed life as a series of blog entries.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice book that can be used as reference for teachers who want to share a quick story or math trick with their students. That being said I had heard many of the stories before as well as seen many of the math tricks. I still think the book serves a great purpose of being a quick source at a spur of the moment when you need to fill time in the classroom with something attention grabbing. The author clearly expressed her enthusiasm for math and from her stories it seems her students enjoyed having her as a teacher. Overall this was an enjoyable reminder of some great math topics.

[Pablo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read a slice of pi. It was a very interesting. I learned about math, an who discovered It. Did you know the person who discover geometry was the kings servent. The person was named Eucluid. The king told him to make him a new crown. Ecluid said he did'nt know how to do that. So he thought about it and he finally came up with geometry. In fact geometry is my favorite mathmatic to do. I'd tell you more storys but times up for me. Thats all about a slice of pi.

[Lizzytish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a math person. The sight of numbers brings anxiety and nausea. But I thought it would be great to stretch myself. This book is full of very short chapters covering famous mathmaticians, quirky math facts and fun puzzles. I will not forget that Pythagorean did not like beans. I was fascinated and challenged. I experienced vulgar fractions and enjoyed Fibonacci rabbits. It's a great book to pick up and read a bit and put down to pick up again.

[Delaney Root · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved A Slice of Pi! It's very informative, and the author has a great voice in her writing. I learned many new mathematical tricks from this book, which I will certainly use often. Some chapters were a bit dull and I only skimmed through them, but most were entertaining to read. I would only recommend this book if you like reading about math, because otherwise, it would probably be quite boring.

[Denisse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basic math we use everyday. It will help you understand the concepts of mathematics and apply it to your daily life. Lots of simple and fundamental explanation but is worth the time.
It is only a very thin book with many useful details.
it is the type of book which will help you calculate mentally. No more calculators for simple algebra and arithmetic.

[William Schram · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and easy read, this book talks of a number of mathematical curiosities that the author encountered during her time as a math teacher. Not really challenging, but it does cover some interesting things. It talks about the Pythagoreans, Eratosthenes, and other subjects.

Not really worth a buy, but entertaining nonetheless.