Misteaks. . . and how to find them before the teacher does. . .: A Calculus Supplement, 3rd Edition [Paperback]

Barry Cipra (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1568811225 | ISBN-13: 978-1568811222 | Publication Date: March 27, 2000 | Edition: 3

An unusual supplement to every calculus textbook, Misteaks and How to Find Them before the Teacher Does is popular with students and teachers alike. Teachers love the way it encourages students to truly think about mathematics rather than simply plugging numbers into equations to crank out answers, and students love the author's straightforward, tongue-in-cheek style. The title of this light-hearted and amusing book might well have been "Going Gray in Elementary Calculus and How to Avoid it." Changing the metaphor, Barry has hit the nail on the finger in hundreds of fine examples. --Philip J. Davis, coauthor of The Mathematical Experience. "How I wish that something like this had been available when I was a student!" --Ralph P. Boas, former editor of The American Mathematical Monthly. Bonus: Solution to LeWitt Puzzle

Editorial Reviews

Review

" Cipra has written one of the most entertaining pieces I have read in a long while. Whether you are in the process of learning calculus or teaching it, using calculus regularly or revisiting it, you will find this book a sheer delight. You will also find a lot of good advice about how to tell when your calculations have gone wrong. -Ross L. Finney, coauthor of Calculus and Analytic Geometry, April 2004
""... a worthwhile and mind-expanding journey for calculus students."" -Michael Flake, Math Horizons, November 2005"

Product Details

• Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: A K Peters/CRC Press; 3 edition (March 27, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568811225
• ISBN-13: 978-1568811222
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #532,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Mathematics
  • #18 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science > Mathematics > Pure Mathematics

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars for the calculus student, January 22, 2000

By 

Yoon Ha Lee - See all my reviews

This review is from: Misteaks, Second Edition: And How to Find Them Before the Teacher Does (Paperback)

I wish I'd found this earlier in my introduction to calculus, which at first was a Grand Mystery only to be penetrated by Wise Math Geeks. While it's *not* a guarantee of perfect math grades (few things are), it does offer useful rules-of-thumb for checking your results in introductory (single-variable) calculus. I've found the estimation techniques useful on occasion in places like physics classes.

It's also a fun read, if you're struggling with calc. :-p

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny and contains serious mathematical content, November 28, 2005

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Misteaks. . . and how to find them before the teacher does. . .: A Calculus Supplement, 3rd Edition (Paperback)

Mistakes, particularly absurd ones, form a staple of humor. Examples in video include anything starring the Three Stooges, the movies starring Inspector Cleauseau, the television show `Home Improvement', starring Tim Allen; and the antics of Gilligan on the television show "Gilligan's Island." This book uses some of the common errors made in calculus assignments as the basis for humor and you can recognize some of the techniques that are used in other forms of humor.
Cipra also uses verbal play to create jokes. On page seven there is the paragraph and footnote

Please don't get the idea that fudging always give the right answer. Sometimes it does, but usually it doesn't. In the example above, one fudge did and one fudge didn't. (Unfortunately, the one that didn't preceded the one that did, so; even the one that did really didn't.)*

*I didn't understand that parenthetical remark either. (You can safely ignore all parenthetical remarks in this book.)

The self-referential paradox in the footnote brought a smile to my face.
There are "problems" at the end of each chapter, and they are also used to add to the giggle count. On page 8, there is the problem

Discuss the positivity or negativity of the change in temperature of a bucket of water when the following items are dropped in it:

a) An ice cube.
b) A glowing coal.
c) A used (or unused) calculus book.

Embedded within the wordplay and other occasional jocularity are some calculus problems that are totally mucked up. Dropped signs, altered signs, and symbols are shifted around like berserk ping-pong balls, just like always seems to happen on calculus exams. Cipra covers the majority of the most common and offensive mistakes, making it worth your time if you are a calculus student. He spends a great deal of time in covering ways in which you can catch your mistakes, and that knowledge could save your skin.
This is one of the rarest of all books, funny, yet with a lot of serious mathematical content. Mathematics is a field where a symbol is shorthand for a great deal of computation and you must take care to use the symbols correctly. By seeing how not to do it, you can arm yourself with the knowledge to do it right.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

3 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Extremely condescending, puerile, and NOT FUNNY, March 26, 2002

By 

Angus Scrimm (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Misteaks. . . and how to find them before the teacher does. . .: A Calculus Supplement, 3rd Edition (Paperback)

I expected to gain some fresh insight into common
mathematical errors. Instead, I was subjected to
extremely mundane mathematical issues that do not
at all jibe with my own observations as an instructor.
Further, the author is very condescending, giving the
impression he imagines everyone a fool save his
insightful self. And I don't object to sharp wit in
scientific writings. The problem is that Cipra is a
pompous bore who does not have any sense for the subtleties
of savvy humor. He comes off instead as a grumpy nerd
who desperately, flailingly strives to be viewed as a
hawk-eyed comedian who just happens to know some mathematics.

This book is a flop in every way. HIGHLY UNRECOMMENDED.
Don't even waste your 6 bucks.