Mathsemantics: Making Numbers Talk Sense [Paperback]

Edward MacNeal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1995

Entertaining, anecdotal, and immensely practical, this book demonstrates that math can't be divorced from meaning, that numbers have inherent semantic content that makes them much easier to handle. A sensible and novel solution to the math block that afflicts our society today.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What is the sum of two apples and three oranges? (Answer: five fruit). Round off .098 to the nearest whole number. (Answer: zero). These math problems, and the inability of many people to solve them, reflect semantic presumptions embedded in our language, according to MacNeal, a business consultant to the airline industry. In this anecdotal, sporadically illuminating book, he deflates dubious statistics, exposes pitfalls in surveys, punches holes in accountants' reports and offers advice to math teachers. MacNeal pinpoints mathematical or logical errors commonly made by travelers, market analysts, students and others--errors that he believes may be due to the adult's retention of the child's tendency to confuse words with the things that words represent. Appendices include problems as well as recruitment quizzes for secretaries, clerical workers and lawyers.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Books like John Paulos's Innumeracy ( LJ 5/1/89) have demonstrated that many people don't understand numbers. MacNeal asks "why not?" and comes up with fascinating and helpful insights. He believes the problem is not so much an inability to do calculations as a semantic problem of naming the things you count. Thus, adding two apples and five oranges you get seven pieces of fruit, refuting the claim that "you can't add apples and oranges." Evidence from Jean Piaget's studies of children's language and from a math quiz that was given to job applicants at MacNeal's consulting business show how semantic mistakes lead to numerical errors (and also why people have so much difficulty solving story problems). This sounds very academic, but it's written in a friendly, personal style and offers eye-opening, practical advice on how to communicate numerically. A good antidote to innumeracy.
- Amy Brunvand, Fort Lewis Coll. Lib., Durango, Col.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (March 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140234861
• ISBN-13: 978-0140234862
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,093,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Common Sense on an Uncommon Topic, October 29, 2003

By 

H. M. Rothman "JOAT" (Knickerbocker, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mathsemantics: Making Numbers Talk Sense (Hardcover)

The author is "an expert" - someone who knows something and can explain it to and/or use it for those who can't - or just don't - on their own.

I am a high school math teacher and community college and high school computer teacher. MacNeal THRILLED me with his insight into something that may be part of the problem with education the way we do it. Look for his connection of Piaget's work on the development of children's and adults' abilities through necessary stages with the Chinese language and with the teaching of math.

I have had more successes with some of my students because of MacNeal and his book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars worthy, June 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Mathsemantics: Making Numbers Talk Sense (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book. It's humorous, and addresses how humans learn, not how teachers would like them to learn. It's compared to Paulos' INNUMERACY, but it doesn't have Paulos' arrogance and condescension. I enjoyed that, too, so consider this a good companion book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves to be more widely known, August 10, 2003

By 

Steve Stowers (Springfield, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mathsemantics: Making Numbers Talk Sense (Hardcover)

This is one of my favorite books of its kind. It deserves a place on the shelf next to Paulos's _Innumeracy_. _Mathsemantics_ is a highly readable, insightful, conversational, anecdotal, fascinating discussion of the ways people apply (or fail to apply, or misapply) mathematical thinking to real world situations, and why they have trouble mixing math and language.