This easy-to-understand handbook teaches essential math concepts using real-life examples so you can confidently apply math skills in everyday situations such as personal finance, cooking, home repair, and shopping.
For many of us, math can conjure memories of frustration and embarrassment, yet math and its application are all around us every day-in the workplace, supermarket, mall, and the gas station, where a basic math solution can easily and quickly solve a problem. However, some of us have either blocked out, forgotten, or simply did not learn the basics of math. With Everyday Mathematics Made Easy, author Thomas Begnal brings math back to the forefront of our brains and re-teaches (or teaches) all the basic math concepts.
Using an encouraging voice throughout, each chapter is devoted to a specific math topic and explains the underlying basic math function in a simple and easy-to-understand way. Step-by-step instructions on topics such as the traditional operations of arithmetic, fractions and decimals, averages, ratios and percentages, geometry, and more are enforced with sidebars on how to solve math problems quickly and correctly in common situations, including:
Cooking: How to double or half recipes; how long to thaw food items based on ratios; how to convert measurements from imperial to metric; and how to work with ingredient ratios in food recipes.
Shopping: How to determine a better deal between two sale items; what is the real cost of an item after the sale percentage is taken off; how much is the sales tax; and how much to tip at a restaurant.
Finances: How to figure out interest rates on credit cards, loans, and mortgages; how to determine the value of a car; how much will it cost to use gasoline on a road trip; how to determine the cost of gas per gallon; how to balance a checkbook; and how to determine currency exchanges.
Home: How to determine how much a home-improvement project will increase the value of a home; how to take accurate room measurements; how to determine the correct size of furniture to fit in a space; how determine the ratio of a solution when mixed with water; how much does it cost to run appliances; how much fertilizer do you need for a yard; and how to determine if a rotting tree may hit your house.
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Other titles in this series include: Everyday Economics Made Easy, Everyday Grammar Made Easy, Everyday Philosophy Made Easy, and Everyday Spanish Made Easy.
Everyday Mathematics Made Easy is an accessible, encouraging, and simple mathematics primer by Thomas Begnal. Due out 22nd June 2021 from Quarto on their Chartwell imprint, it's 272 pages and will be available in hardcover format.
For most people, their educational arc includes some mathematics up to (and generally including) algebra, geometry, and either calculus or practical math such as statistics and data science; three to four years. For many who don't go on to pursue education in STEM subjects, that knowledge eventually fades unless actively pursued again. That's this book's purpose.
The author has a very supportive and encouraging voice, especially comforting to the readers who have had some previous math related trauma during their school days. The book starts very simply (numeracy, counting, positive and negative integers) and proceeds to somewhat more complex concepts: arithmetic, fractions, decimals, order of operations, ratios, and interest and rates. The book does a good job of presenting problems and breaking them down into step by step solutions. Everything is specified in each step and solutions are easy to follow and understand. There are "quick tips" scattered throughout the text in highlighted sidebars with concise small bits of information which are easy to understand and utilize.
This is a very basic book with practical arithmetic instruction. It would be a good choice for public or school library acquisition, for readers who need a brush-up on math problems which crop up in daily life such as household bills or figuring how much paint to buy for a project, or for helping your kid with arithmetic homework.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
