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Mathematics for the Million: How to Master the Magic of Numbers Rev Sub Edition

by Lancelot Hogben (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 22 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0393310719
ISBN-10: 039331071X
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 656 pages
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Rev Sub edition (September 17, 1993)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 039331071X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0393310719
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #305,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 91 people found the following review helpful
As important as it is exceptional.
By Chris Hanks (chanks@uci.edu) on February 28, 1999
Format: Paperback
In "Mathematics for the Million," Hogben takes the reader through the entire evolution of mathematics. He begins with ancient farmers whose meager math skills consisted of knowing the values 1, 2, 3, and "more than three," and shows how these skills grew out of necessity as societies became more complex. Hogben's goals are twofold. First, he means to educate the average person so that math won't remain the esoteric domain of academics. Second, he means to demonstrate that mathematical advances occur when math is used to solve real problems, and not when it's used as intellectual entertainment for an idle leisure class. Hogben succeeds on both accounts, and in doing so he (very subtly) develops a theory which anticipates the structural Marxism of the '50s and '60s, including the work of Louis Althusser, Herbert Marcuse, and Jurgen Habermas. But Hogben's real magic is that he makes all this accessible to anyone: Even those with no math background at all will be doing calculus by the end of the book, even performing calculations to measure the Earth's circumference or the distance to the moon. Never has such an opaque subject been as lucid as in "Mathematics for the Million."
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
How mathematics was learned
By Sheldon Lebowitz on December 7, 2006
Format: Paperback
I bought a used copy of this book 3 years ago (it was published in 1944). To think that it was written for ordinary people 60 or more years ago is astonishing. One can learn all the math that 99% of people need during their lives. If todays high school students would take the time to learn what is so excellently explained in this book, they would score 650 - 800 on the math SAT exam. One example is: there is a chapter where the author walks you through all the calculations and probabilities needed to set up your own life insurance company! This beats calculating the probability of drawing 3 green balls out of an urn filled with green and red balls. Buy It.
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37 of 39 people found the following review helpful
A wonderful book!
By A Customer on November 21, 1998
Format: Paperback
This book is a must for anyone who wants to understand the basis of many mathematical concepts that are taken for granted! Many concepts that are not fully explained in school are delineated brilliantly in M. for the M.! Everything is presented in its historical and societal contexts, thus adding even more meaning to the mathematical principles we use everyday (from basic math to calculus and probability).
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
The (not) magic of numbers
By Amazon Customer on September 3, 2005
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Mathematics is no more black and scary magic, while we go through this book, which was written long ago, but seems to fit right-oh in our life as if perscribed just yesterday.

I've read it some 30 years ago and never forgot the quantum leap it gave me to win over the threat of mathematics.
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22 of 25 people found the following review helpful
High School Math for the Educated Adult
By MC on August 6, 2004
Format: Paperback
When first written (1930s), this book was a sweeping overview of the importance of math in history. Since then, it has become a remarkable part of that history: a popular, enduring encapsulation of what an educated non-mathematician should know.

What this book won't do? It won't teach you how to do math that you didn't already know. As an instructional textbook, it's a bit of a flop (hence, only 4 stars for a book I consider a must-have). It doesn't introduce ideas in a step-by-step manner, and exercises in logarithms are over-represented for a post-modern audience (we now use pocket calculators instead of log tables).

But for someone who has been through the sometimes painful, but ultimately enlightening, process of learning high-school math, Mathematics for the Million is a gem of a work, that makes it all clear in a broad historical context.

To wit, a competent high-schooler who has completed a solid program in geometry and trigonometry has at her disposal as much mathematical knowledge as the most learned Ancient Greek philosopher. She can measure the circumference of the earth, and calculate the position and trajectory of the stars. She can prove the Pythagorean theorem, and apply it to basic problems in architecture, engineering, and construction.

From the discovery of zero and negative numbers, to geometry, to calculus, math continues to define how things are done, and how we understand the universe. The author helps us to appreciate just how much the geometry we teach schoolchildren really did change the world. Not bad for an inexpensive little 70-year-old math book!
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Mathematical kit for the technological citizen
By Amazon Customer on January 25, 2006
Format: Paperback
This book, jointly with Bertrand Russell's "Story of the Western Philosophy", aim to show that Mathematics and Philosophy, the most abstract of our intellectual creations, are driven by cultural, political and historical forces, too.

Happily, both authors have succeeded with their works.

Hogben describes the historical forces behind mathematical inventions, from early antiquity to the calculus era. And in doing so, he gives to the reader the mathematical ideas and techniques necessary to the "citizenship kit" of our technological society.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
For a light day trip take Hogben...
By A Customer on June 16, 2001
Format: Paperback
An excellent book deserving of all praise. If I were packing a book for a day trip and had to go lightly I would take this book. For those who want to understand and not just do math this book is wonderful. Another wonderful book is: Jan Gullberg's "Mathematics From the Birth of Numbers," it is a heavy book for day trips.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Math for everyone
By David Milliern on October 11, 2010
Format: Paperback
This is a fine book for anyone who is looking for a book to sharpen their reasoning skills through mathematics. Knowing how to perform the methods within this book constitutes basic math literacy. The average person's inability to handle quantities and solve rather simple quantitative problems bothers me. This is the kind of book I would recommend to anyone to sharpen their mind.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Five Stars

Great reference

Published 29 days ago by Mike Neu
Methodology

A masterpiece... Methods.
Makes me reflect a little on Descartes.

Published 11 months ago by Kindle Customer
This is a really cool book and really gets your mind working

This is a really cool book and really gets your mind
working. The author is brilliant the way he makes
you think. I find it a very interesting read indeed.

Published 11 months ago by Tony
Five Stars

Great book.

Published 16 months ago by Garnet Stanley
A Book and Writer To Be Rediscovered

Good luck finding a more thorough and down-to-earth teacher of mathematics than this book; Lancelot Hogben's entire approach to writing this book was from the direction of greatest... Read more

Published 16 months ago by Ronnie Gonzalez
Around the block and still leading

This book is informative and a good read. The math is explained in a historical context; the story of humanity and the need to explore and understand.

Published on August 3, 2013 by Will Runner
book review

Ive only just begun exploring this book but I can tell it will be valuable. It is not the typical math book.

Published on October 25, 2012 by xf
Old, but proven

I saw this book first at one of my friends in London. Began to read, but the available time was short. Read more

Published on September 17, 2012 by A. Sinus (Hungary)
I hate this book...recommendation failure

I bought this book on the recommendation of Marilyn Vos Savant, nationally known smart lady (super high IQ) and author of Brain Building in Just 12 Weeks. Read more

Published on December 31, 2010 by LH
Good coverage of math

Hogben's approach is to convey math as it proceeded historically as oppose to logically. It is a nice way to present math, but Hogben often puts down "the English speaking... Read more

Published on November 16, 2010 by JP

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