Math is FUN-damental
Aug. 5th, 2011 06:50 am
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Disclaimer: I received this book as a Firstreads giveaway, and it is reviewed on that basis.
Math was never my strongest suit in school, so when I saw this book on the giveaway list, I chose it to give me a refresher on the subject. And it did a very good job of that.
The language is clear and simple (save for the mathematics terms themselves), and there are plenty of illustrations. The terms are grouped by subject, roughly in the order most schools would teach them. In addition, there are helpful charts and diagrams, and a listing of useful formulae. However, it's not a substitute for regular math textbooks--if you're lost, it can be difficult to trace your way back to where the confusion lies.
This book would be an excellent resource for parents of elementary school kids in the US and Canada (the weights and measures chapter is kind of provincial) and for the kids themselves once their reading skills are good enough. The one thing I disapproved of was some product placement in the appendixes, recommending only specific brands of mathematics tools.
I'll be passing this along to my appropriately-aged nieces.
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