Math Trek: Adventures in the Math Zone [Paperback]

Ivars Peterson (Author), Nancy Henderson (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

There s a new amusement park in town. Come on in and find out all the exciting ways you can have fun with math in everyday life. Wander through the fractal forest, take a ride on the M?obius-strip roller coaster, and get dizzy learning about how math makes the Tilt-A-Whirl possible. The more activities you try, the more you ll learn how cool it can be to see the world through the eyes of a mathematician.

Once you ve sampled some of the interesting and unique projects in Math Trek, from untangling unknots to winning games with weird dice to figuring out secret codes, you ll see that every trip to the MathZone is an exciting adventure!

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Grade 5-9-This is not your typical math puzzle book. Instead of calculator puzzles or multiplication tricks, it is filled with sections on knots and unknots, maps, M?bius roller coasters, secret binary codes, billiards, chaos theory, and more. The layout is clear and precise, though some of the explanations are a bit complicated. Most of the black-and-white cartoons and diagrams complement the text nicely, although some of the drawings are a little rough. Each chapter visits a different site at an amusement park called the MathZone. For each trek, readers are asked to solve problems and try out puzzles on their own. Solutions are provided at the end. This is a fun book that goes beyond sharpening skills, allowing readers to apply mathematics to everyday life. Although it covers similar ground, it would work well with Christy Maganzini's Cool Math (Price Stern Sloan, 1997). While Math Trek is perfect for youngsters who want to experiment and learn more on their own, teachers may want to use some of the activities to supplement their curriculum.
Maren Ostergard, Bellevue Regional Library, WA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Chapters such as "Tilt-A-Whirl Madness" and "The Fractal Pond Race" take readers on an amusing and enlightening amusement park adventure through advanced concepts such as mathematical chaos, fractals and topology. The language, problems and examples are all accessible and age appropriate, and the glossary, recommended reading and web site link enhance this lively learning experience. A 2000 Parents' Choice® Recommended winner.

Reviewed by Parents' Choice® 2000 -- From Parents' Choice®

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass (October 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471315702
• ISBN-13: 978-0471315704
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 10 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #958,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Math Fun, May 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Math Trek: Adventures in the Math Zone (Paperback)

Our family has really enjoyed this book. We homeschool our two children, ages 10 and 13, and have been reading this book to them chapter by chapter. The narrative appealed to our precocious but math-phobic ten-year-old, so that she wasn't even aware she was doing math. The topics and exercises appealed to our math nerd thirteen-year-old, who has taken on the task of disproving the four-color map proof. The exercises in the book are well-explained, and require only simple materials such as paper, pencil and dice. I provided the children with just a bit of background information. For example, we hadn't done much work in probability, and needed a little background before we played with weird dice. However, most topics (fractals, chaos theory, topology, etc.,)were so well explained, no further information was necessary. I recommend this book for all those who wish to interest their children in mathematics beyond the humdrum rote of math facts.