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Shai Simonson
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Rediscovering Mathematics: You Do the Math

by Shai Simonson (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 4 ratings
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Rediscovering Mathematics is aimed at a general audience and addresses the question of how best to teach and study mathematics.  The book attempts to bring the exciting and dynamic world of mathematics to a non-technical audience.  With so much focus today on how best to educate the new generation and make mathematics less rote and more interactive, this book is an eye-opening experience for many people who suffered with dull math teachers and curricula.

Rediscovering Mathematics is an eclectic collection of mathematical topics and puzzles aimed at talented youngsters and inquisitive adults who want to expand their view of mathematics. By focusing on problem solving, and discouraging rote memorization, the book shows how to learn and teach mathematics through investigation, experimentation, and discovery. Rediscovering Mathematics is also an excellent text for training math teachers at all levels.

Topics range in difficulty and cover a wide range of historical periods, with some examples demonstrating how to uncover mathematics in everyday life, including:
  • number theory and its application to secure communication over the Internet,
  • the algebraic and combinatorial work of a medieval mathematician Rabbi,
  • and applications of probability to sports, casinos, and gambling.
Rediscovering Mathematics provides a fresh view of mathematics for those who already like the subject, and offers a second chance for those who think they don't.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0883857707
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0883857700
  3. Publisher
    The Mathematical Association of America
  4. Publication date
    April 14, 2011
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    10.5 x 0.75 x 7.25 inches
  7. Print length
    240 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Rediscovering Mathematics: You Do the Math, by Shai Simonson is a great book. It starts with his piece on "How to Read Mathematics," which I love, and wends its way through lots of mathematical problems, and lots of ideas about how to teach and learn math....Simonson includes a number of problems I haven't seen before, which is quite a feat after all the grazing I've done online in the past few years. And the problems are at lots of levels, so there is much to chew on whatever your mathematical sophistication. --Math Mama

What a mix of problems! Simonson (Stonehill College) has provided a unique collection of problems intended for a wide range of readers. They seem to be all the fun and interesting problems that one finds as supplements and extras in a variety of textbooks. This reviewer has used many of the familiar problems in this work to generate interest or to motivate students on the need to learn what they might think are the more mundane topics in a textbook. There are problems related to the history of mathematics as well as problems related to more current business applications, fun applications, and even pop culture (e.g., e-commerce, sports, games, gambling). The mathematics covered includes number theory, statistics, combinatorics, geometry, and algebra. The author provides some theoretical background, but on the whole, the book is really a plug-and-chug look at problems. --M.D. Sanford, Felician College, CHOICE Magazine

Book Description

A guide to effective mathematical education, including a collection of topics and puzzles which aim to reignite interest in mathematics.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Mathematical Association of America (April 14, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0883857707
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0883857700
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.38 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.5 x 0.75 x 7.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 4 ratings

About the author

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Shai Simonson

Shai Simonson

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Shai Simonson, Ph.D (b. 1958) is a professor of computer science at Stonehill College. At various times, he has taught gym, science, mathematics, and computer science to students from first grade through graduate school. Shai was the director of ADUni, which offers free computer science lectures to students all over the world, especially in developing countries. He plays go and bridge, dabbles with poker and Scrabble, loves to hike, cycle, bowl, sing, and play disc-golf. Shai grew up in New York, spent ten years in Chicago, and now makes his home in the Boston area. He spent two years (1983 and 1999) teaching and doing research in Israel. He is married with three children.

His new book Looking for Math in All the Wrong Places is now available.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
We don’t use a simple average to calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star. Our system gives more weight to certain factors—including how recent the review is and if the reviewer bought it on Amazon. Learn more
4 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Brad
5.0 out of 5 stars the book does what it says it will do
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2011
Verified Purchase
If you read Amazon's product description it says: "the book shows how to learn and teach mathematics through investigation, experimentation, and discovery." That is a bit vaguely worded, does "how to learn" mean how to learn higher math and that you will be proficient in all math by the end of the book? No, this book teaches the process of how to learn math, how to go about solving complex math problems. You will learn some math as the book uses examples from different areas of math to show how to go through the experimentation process. I have a lot of quick learning math books such as "Calculus the easy way" type of books, and some books indeed are better than others in explaining the content. But in the end you need a complete foundation of base knowledge to be able to use something like Calculus, there are no shortcuts. And so it is with this book, you are required to have some familiarity with high school level math, this book will only equip you with tools you need to learn such a huge subject, not magically make you understand everything.

Regarding the price of the book, it should be mentioned that this book is a hardcover book with a high quality binding. You might notice that when you buy hardcover coffee table books that the binding will wear and become loose after a while or even break if you open it too wide. The binding on this book is very solid, yet the covers and pages will readily open widely and dont have to be broken in to hold open. Publishers need to be held accountable to the quality of their product, the publisher spared no expense on this book and deserve mention for it in this review.
20 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2015
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Good book but nothing special
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Allan L. Nelson
5.0 out of 5 stars A guided voyage of discovery that helps you move from ...
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2017
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A guided voyage of discovery that helps you move from how to do this problem to why to do it that way. Helps you develop math intuition.
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R
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, intuitive, interesting, accessible
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2021
Rediscovering Mathematics is exactly what it claims to be: an exciting and dynamic guide to the more interesting facets of math for those turned off by the often complex and more jargon-filled texts frequently used in math education. The problems presented are fun and stimulating — they're not without a bit of a challenge, but the explanations of topics and solutions for exercises are clear and intuitive. I personally have more of a math background than the average student, and I still found the puzzles compelling and novel. I showed the book to a friend of mine who hasn't taken a math class in years and has never gone beyond algebra, and she felt just the same — that the book and problems were interesting and welcoming, rather than intimidating (as textbooks usually tend to be).
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