Math for Life: Crucial Ideas You Didn't Learn in School

by Jeffrey Bennett

Overview

How can we solve the national debt crisis? Should you or your child take on a student loan? Is it safe to talk on a cell phone while driving? Are there viable energy alternatives to fossil fuels? Could simple policy changes reduce political polarization? These questions may all seem very different, but they share two things in common. First, they are all questions with important implications for either personal success or our success as a nation. Second, they all concern topics that we can fully understand only with the aid of clear quantitative or mathematical thinking. In other words, they are topics for which we need math for life--a kind of math that looks quite different from most of the math that we learn in school, but that is just as (and often more) important. In Math for Life, award-winning author Jeffrey Bennett simply and clearly explains the key ideas of quantitative reasoning and applies them to all the above questions and many more. He also uses these questions to analyze our current education system, identifying both shortfalls in the teaching of mathematics and solutions for our educational future. No matter what your own level of mathematical ability, and no matter whether you approach the book as an educator, student, or interested adult, you are sure to find something new and thought-provoking in Math for Life.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940013861978
Publisher:	Roberts and Company Publishers
Publication date:	12/01/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	216
File size:	895 KB

About the Author

Jeffrey Bennett holds a B.A. in Biophysics from the University of California, San Diego, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Colorado, Boulder. His extensive experience in research and education includes serving two years as a Visiting Senior Scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC; creating research and education projects for the Hubble Space Telescope and other NASA missions; proposing and helping to develop the Voyage Scale Model Solar System on the National Mall in Washington, DC; and teaching at every level from preschool through graduate school. He is the author of best-selling college textbooks in astronomy, astrobiology, mathematics, and statistics, as well as author of two books for the general public (On the Cosmic Horizon and Beyond UFOs) and of the award-winning children's books Max Goes to the Moon, Max Goes to Mars, Max Goes to Jupiter, and The Wizard Who Saved the World. For more information, visit www.jeffreybennett.com.

Editorial Reviews

Math for Life does an excellent job portraying the increasingly critical role of quantitative literacy in today’s rapidly changing global economy, and the new directions our math education system must face in order to produce quantitatively literate citizens. A perfect book for every high school student, college student, parent, and teacher. — Eric Gaze, Director of the Quantitative Reasoning Program, Bowdoin College

Eric Gaze

This book should be required reading for all math teachers and high school students. I loved everything about the book inculding the format, sequence, quotes, diagrams, charts, tables, and questions to begin each chapter. — Brad Shonk, Mississippi Teacher of the Year, 2011

Brad Shonk

Should be required reading for every American. There’s no more powerful way to equip yourself for our increasingly complex and quantitative world than to read Math for Life. Every concept is presented in a clear and engaging way. — K. Shane Goodwin, Professor of Mathematics, Brigham Young University–Idaho

Shane Goodwin

Full marks to Jeffrey Bennett for delivering exactly what his title promises. This is not the math your teacher (probably) said you would need in adult life but never did; it’s the math you know you need — but likely don’t have. It’s not a traditional textbook; it’s a how-to manual for clear thinking about the quantitative aspects of everyday life, bursting with intriguing, practical, real-life examples. I recommend it. —Keith Devlin, Stanford University

Keith Devlin

Sprinkled with illuminating examples, Math for Life presents issues critical to personal and national security—even survival—in clear and forthright terms. Underlying this important message is the obvious failure of U.S. mathematics education to meet the enormous quantitative reasoning demands of U.S. society. Jeffrey Bennett makes plain how current political and economic crises stem from this failure. — Bernard L. Madison, Professor of Mathematics, University of Arkansas

Bernard Madison