Customer Reviews

Succeed with Math: Every Student's Guide to Conquering Math Anxiety

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My wife, a former dancer who is now enrolled in college as an adult, was assigned this book in her Math class.

The title seemed to indicate that was the perfect text for someone who had successfully avoided math in high school, but now, many years, later was confronted with reality.

But much to our surprise this book only made things worse, much worse.

I'm the math geek in the family, so I could appreciate the spirit in which the book was attempted. The author does try to make things transparent by discussing the fundamental principals/logic behind topics as Pi, the seemingly magic ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.

But the execution is a classic exercise in an "expert" talking over the head of the reader. Unwarranted assumptions abound. Multiple concepts are packed into single passages. The text must be painstakingly read and unpacked word for word.

DANGER, Will Robinson, Danger!

After sitting for my professional engineering exam in April 2002, and before the reults were out, I had the opportunity to teach a Math class to a group of adults in an extended education program. Having being involved throughout my professional life in teaching civil engineering at both undergraduate and graduate levels, I thought that the task at hand would be an easy one. However,when I started my research for references, I was disappointed to find out that so few offered what was needed to teach extended education students. Books about Math varied from those that offered interesting historical backgrounds with little practical use, to highly technical treatises of very specialized nature. Sheila Tobias' "Succeed with Math" struck the correct balance that I felt was needed. I have used that reference exclusively in my class with outstanding results. Not only did adult students who had very limited knowledge of Math manage to grasp most of the important concepts that I had introduced, but they also became highly motivated in their study of Math. I am writing this review to give credit where credit is due. Thank you Ms. Tobias for making my job a success.