Are service contracts for electronics just a scam?
Should your lottery ticket contain numbers greater than 31?
How do you know when he or she is "the one"?
"How Math Can Save Your Life" shows you how to use basic arithmetic to answer these and many other questions that come up in everyday life. You'll discover how simple math can make you lots of money, keep you safe, and even save the world. Not bad for something you learned back in grade school.
Filled with practical, indispensable guidance you can put to work every day, this book will safeguard your wallet and enrich every aspect of your life.
"Even if you hated math in school, you'll like this book. Jim Stein presents math the way I wish my teachers had: as a practical tool that can be used to solve everyday problems in the real world. Using down-to-earth langauge and real-life examples, Stein shows how even quick, back-of-the-envelope math can help us avoid costly errors."
--Joseph T. Hallinan, author of Why We Make Mistakes
"Stein pulls off a literary hat trick by writing a book about mathematics that is fun, friendly and factual. It's the definitive answer to the student's question, 'When will I ever need this stuff?'"
--Leonard Wapner, author of The Pea and the Sun: A Mathematical Paradox
Learn how a little math can help:
Avert disasters
Beat the bookies
Boost your grades
Extend your life expectancy
Fix the economy
Improve your love life
Make you rich
Win arguments
And much more!
Language
Place of publication
Publishing group
Turner Publishing Company
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paper over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 168 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
ISBN-13
978-0-470-43775-9 (9780470437759)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
James D. Stein is the author of "How Math Explains the World: A Guide to the Power of Numbers, From Car Repair to Modern Physics" and is a professor of mathematics at California State University, Long Beach. A graduate of Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley, he has taught college math for more than forty years.
Preface. Introduction: What Math Can Do for You. 1 The Most Valuable Chapter You Will Ever Read. Are service contracts for electronics and appliances just a scam? How likely are you to win at roulette? Is it worth going to college? 2 How Math Can Help You Understand Sports Strategy. Why could Bart Simpson probably beat you at rock, paper, scissors? What are "pure" and "mixed" strategies? Is a pass play or a run play more likely to make a first down? 3 How Math Can Help Your Love Life. How do you know when he or she is "the one"? Whom should you ask to the senior prom? Why are women reputed to be fickle while men are steadfast? 4 How Math Can Help You Beat the Bookies. Why should your lottery ticket contain numbers greater than 31? Can you overcome a negative expectation? When should you bluff and when should you fold? 5 How Math Can Improve Your Grades. Will guessing on a multiple-choice test get you a better score? What test subject should you spend the most time studying for? What subject should you major in? 6 How Math Can Extend Your Life Expectancy. How dangerous is it to speed? Why might your prescription show the wrong dosage? Should you have a risky surgery or not? 7 How Math Can Help You Win Arguments. Was the bailout the only way to save the banks? Do you really have logic on your side? What are the first arithmetic tables learned by children on Spock's home planet? 8 How Math Can Make You Rich. How can you actually make money off credit card companies? Will refinancing your house actually save money? Is a hybrid car a better value? 9 How Math Can Help You Crunch the Numbers. How did statistics help prevent cholera in nineteenth-century London? Why won't Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf's son be a tennis prodigy? Are you more likely to meet someone over 7 feet tall or someone more than 100 years old? 10 How Math Can Fix the Economy. What is the "Tulip Index"? What doesn't the mortgage banking industry understand about negative numbers? What caused the stock market crash of 1929? 11 Arithmetic for the Next Generation. How can you get your kids interested in math? What is the purpose of arithmetic? How does Monopoly money make learning division easier? 12 How Math Can Help Avert Disasters. What caused the Challenger space shuttle crash? How could we have prevented much of the damage from Hurricane Katrina? How can you determine the possible cost of a disaster? 13 How Math Can Improve Society. How much is a human life worth in dollars? When should legal cases be settled out of court? At what point does military spending become unnecessary? 14 How Math Can Save the World. Do extraterrestrial aliens exist? How can we prevent nuclear war and a major asteroid impact? When is the world going to end? Notes. Index.
