Using And Understanding Mathematics Answers

997 reviews

Edited December 24, 2013

I read this to decide whether it would be useful in teaching math to classes of home school high school students and to prepare them to take the CLEP in general math to get college credit. To my astonishment, I loved it! Most of the math books I have used or taught from are so dull but this is actually exciting. I didn't actually begin it today as Goodreads insists. I just posted today so to write the review.

This is THE book to use with students who are math phobic but who still need arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and statistics/probability at the college freshman level. It is written very clearly with interesting examples that explain concepts well and there is a lot of practice with interesting problems that often are thought provoking.

I love, love, love the first two chapters because they are an introduction to formal logic which I think everyone should study. All of the chapters relate the math in them to real life applications and uses. For example, chapter 3 has the student studies the use and abuse of percentages and how numbers can deceive in polygraphs, mammograms and more. Chapter 4 heads into managing money, taxes, loan payments, credit card use and abuse, student loans, and more while studying some algebra. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 cover statistics and probability including the use of Excel and covering how statistics can be deceiving, the probability of winning the lottery, and how the auto companies have gone bankrupt. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 cover linear versus exponential growth, doubling, graphing functions, algebra with logarithms, and geometry while studying the towers of Hanoi, spy satellites, and bald eagle recovery. Chapter 11 teaches math through music and the final chapter, chapter 12, includes math through politics and whether the majority rules, the theory of voting, apportionment of the House of Representatives, and dividing the political pie.

As you can see, by studying math as it applies to everything from determining the magnitude of spending on ice cream in the USA to determining the likelihood that flood will strike a city in two consecutive years by studying its 100 year flood record, this is math made interesting.

academic

nonfiction

145 reviews 8 followers

Edited September 1, 2009

textbook

1 review 1 follower

Read

Edited August 24, 2012

I hate math - I am a developmental psychology major - why am I being subjected to this? I had enough math for a tech degree, but for psych I need more?

60 reviews 4 followers

Read

December 6, 2016

Author 2 books 8 followers

January 31, 2018

Used for class, this is a great overview of many difficult concepts, with real-world examples that make the math useful and relevant. With plenty of exercises and several forms of explanation for each problem, this is the best math textbook I've ever come across.

philosophy

147 reviews 55 followers

December 13, 2019

Some of the problems were very difficult for people who aren't math majors and it was also worded very poorly

didn-t-like-it

Author 3 books 1 follower

May 2, 2020

Need to know information but boring.

school

649 reviews 19 followers

May 9, 2021

I. Hate. Math. So. Much. Why. Is. It. Required. For. Psychology. Students?!?!?!?!?!

non-fiction

195 reviews 2 followers

Edited November 22, 2014

I wouldn't exactly say this. Textbooks are hard to criticize, especially one dedicated to math. It's not that I like math- quite frankly I hate it and am glad this is the only math class I have to take in college. However, I can't entirely bash this. In all the time I've had this book, I've only cracked it open twice. Twice guys. Once to figure out how to convert figures (i.e. money, measurements, and so on) and the other for tax purposes.

I suppose I'm not an accurate judge of the book; my professor just doesn't use it and, quite frankly, I'm fine with that. Learning math from textbooks never has been my strong suit.

I digress, the book was fine. It can be confusing at times, though. The table to convert money like pesos to the US dollar? Well, I looked at that chart so many times and still couldn't grasp what it said. Google, sadly, was my friend during that unit.

Based on the taxes unit, well, it is factual. I'll give it that. So my rating would be a 3.5/5.

college-reads

April 12, 2012

(Note: Reviewing "Mathematical Tools for the Real World: Using and Understanding Mathematics", a custom edition of this book used by Brigham Young University-Idaho)

This is a very basic math text used for a terminal math class. It is exactly what it sounds like, and it does a good job of it. It gets tedious at times, but what math textbook doesn't? I took this class right after completing precalculus, which is probably an influence on my opinion. The online portion is overrated and overpriced, but there's nothing you can do as a student to change that. You're just going to have to grit your teeth and throw your money down the drain on that part.

mathematics

nonfiction

textbook

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