Math-A-Day: A Book of Days for Your Mathematical Year [Paperback]

Theoni Pappas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1999 | ISBN-10: 1884550207 | ISBN-13: 978-1884550201

This entertaining book of mathematical days exercises the brain with confounding puzzles, intriguing math problems, and, of course, detailed solutions to all the conundrums. Readers will enjoy 366 days' worth of stimulating math.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wide World Publishing, Tetra (November 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884550207
• ISBN-13: 978-1884550201
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #536,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great collection of puzzles and historical facts, January 2, 2001

By 

pete "pete" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Math-A-Day: A Book of Days for Your Mathematical Year (Paperback)

I'm generally very critical about current math and puzzle books. I don't want to brag, but at last count, I owned some 150 math/puzzle books. In other words, I think can say that I've pretty much seen them all...

Well, this book is one of my favorites! Yes this book has some old chestnuts, but the majority of the problems are quite original and only difficult enough to be entertaining. It's also full of interesting historical facts, all related to math of course.

Up until now, I've generally stayed away from Pappas books. I find them a bit too elementary, but this one, I'll keep.

Thanks Theoni for a fine book.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read for math enthusiats, March 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Math-A-Day: A Book of Days for Your Mathematical Year (Paperback)

For every day of the year there are three items; 1) a math problem (usually requires no more than high school algebra to understand) 2)an anecdote, and 3)a quote. I paticularly liked the quotes and am glad to have a reference for when I forget exactly how one goes. I think the book would be appropriate for any math fan who doesn't want something overly demanding.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Clearly Theoni Pappas' best book / Good book regardless, August 24, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Math-A-Day: A Book of Days for Your Mathematical Year (Paperback)

Theoni Pappas seems to have a mixed reputation (at least, if we go by Amazon reviews). Some people like her art deco approach to popularizing math and like the fact that it is aimed toward kids, parents, and self-learner adults who only have a vague recollection of high school math. Others diss her books as being too simplistic, too easy, too derivative, etc.

Whichever side of that argument you fall into, I think any reasonable person that is interested in math should agree (after perusing *Math-A-Day*) that this is clearly her best book and a good popular math book by any standard.

As others have pointed out, this book is organized as mathematical vignettes for 366 days of the year (which includes leap years). Each of these math capsules includes a brainteaser-type question that requires at most high school level math knowledge, some math trivia, and a math-related quote. From what I can tell skimming through it, the problems seem to be a nice mix of relatively accessible questions that aren't too hard all the way up to fairly challenging problems requiring a lot of sophistication (although, like I said, not much knowledge).

The problems and their solutions (included in the end of the book), as well as the math trivia, should be of interest to all ages and of particular interest to those with an interest in learning as much about math as possible. This is a great book and is definitely not for juvenile primates or for drunken neighbors as suggested elsewhere. Learning about interesting mathematical trivia -- like Mayan mathematics -- should be of great interest to any genuine math lover and other clever, intelligent people.

In short, whether you like Pappas' other books or you'd like to lump them, THIS book, *Math-A-Day*, is definitely an interesting book and worthy of the attention of math lovers.