Kiss My Math meets A Tour of the Calculus Jennifer Ouellette never took math in college, mostly because she-like most people-assumed that she wouldn't need it in real life. But then the English-major-turned-award-winning-science-writer had a change of heart and decided to revisit the equations and formulas that had haunted her for years. The Calculus Diaries is the fun and fascinating account of her year spent confronting her math phobia head on. With wit and verve, Ouellette shows how she learned to apply calculus to everything from gas mileage to dieting, from the rides at Disneyland to shooting craps in Vegas-proving that even the mathematically challenged can learn the fundamentals of the universal language.

Sophie Germain overcame gender stigmas and a lack of formal education to prove that for all prime exponents less than 100 Case I of Fermat's Last Theorem holds. Hidden behind a man's name, her brilliance as mathematician was first discovered by three of the greatest scholars of the eighteenth century, Lagrange, Gauss, and Legendre. In Sophie's Diary, Germain comes to life through a fictionalized journal that intertwines mathematics with historical descriptions of the brutal events that took place in Paris between 1789 and 1793. This format provides a plausible perspective of how a young Sophie could have learned mathematics on her own—both fascinated by numbers and eager to master tough subjects without a teacher's guidance. Her passion for mathematics is integrated into her personal life as an escape from societal outrage. Sophie's Diary is suitable for a variety of readers—both young and old, mathematicians and novices—who will be inspired and enlightened on a field of study made easy, as told through the intellectual and personal struggles of an exceptional young woman.

This is the captivating story of mathematics' greatest ever idea: calculus. Without it, there would be no computers, no microwave ovens, no GPS, and no space travel. But before it gave modern man almost infinite powers, calculus was behind centuries of controversy, competition, and even death. Taking us on a thrilling journey through three millennia, professor Steven Strogatz charts the development of this seminal achievement from the days of Aristotle to today's million-dollar reward that awaits whoever cracks Reimann's hypothesis. Filled with idiosyncratic characters from Pythagoras to Euler, Infinite Powers is a compelling human drama that reveals the legacy of calculus on nearly every aspect of modern civilization, including science, politics, ethics, philosophy, and much besides.

As diverse as people appear to be, all of our genes and brains are nearly identical. In Me, Myself, and Why, Jennifer Ouellette dives into the miniscule ranges of variation to understand just what sets us apart. She draws on cutting-edge research in genetics, neuroscience, and psychology-enlivened as always with her signature sense of humor-to explore the mysteries of human identity and behavior. Readers follow her own surprising journey of self-discovery as she has her genome sequenced, her brain mapped, her personality typed, and even samples a popular hallucinogen. Bringing together everything from Mendel's famous pea plant experiments and mutations in The X-Men to our taste for cilantro and our relationships with virtual avatars, Ouellette takes us on an endlessly thrilling and illuminating trip into the science of ourselves

A fun look at calculus in our everyday lives Calculus. For some of us, the word conjures up memories of ten-pound textbooks and visions of tedious abstract equations. And yet, in reality, calculus is fun and accessible, and surrounds us everywhere we go. In Everyday Calculus, Oscar Fernandez demonstrates that calculus can be used to explore practically any aspect of our lives, including the most effective number of hours to sleep and the fastest route to get to work. He also shows that calculus can be both useful—determining which seat at the theater leads to the best viewing experience, for instance—and fascinating—exploring topics such as time travel and the age of the universe. Throughout, Fernandez presents straightforward concepts, and no prior mathematical knowledge is required. For advanced math fans, the mathematical derivations are included in the appendixes. The book features a new preface that alerts readers to new interactive online content, including demonstrations linked to specific figures in the book as well as an online supplement. Whether you're new to mathematics or already a curious math enthusiast, Everyday Calculus will convince even die-hard skeptics to view this area of math in a whole new way.

A poignant and empowering teen novel of grief, unrequited love, and finding comfort in one's own skin. Aden isn't looking for love in her senior year. She's much more focused on things like getting a solo gig at Ike's and keeping her brother from illegal herbal recreation. But when Tate walks into Calculus class wearing a yarmulke and a grin, Aden's heart is gone in an instant. The two are swept up in a tantalizingly warm friendship, complete with long drives with epic soundtracks and deep talks about life, love, and spirituality. With Tate, Aden feels closer to her mom—and her mom's faith—than she has since her mother died years ago. Everyone else—even Aden's brother and her best friend—can see their connection, but does Tate? Navigating uncertain romance and the crises of those she loves, Aden must decide how she chooses to see herself and how to honor her mom’s memory.

Moscow has a rich tradition of successful math circles, to the extent that many other circles are modeled on them. This book presents materials used during the course of one year in a math circle organized by mathematics faculty at Moscow State University, and also used at the mathematics magnet school known as Moscow School Number 57. Each problem set has a similar structure: it combines review material with a new topic, offering problems in a range of difficulty levels. This time-tested pattern has proved its effectiveness in engaging all students and helping them master new material while building on earlier knowledge. The introduction describes in detail how the math circles at Moscow State University are run. Dorichenko describes how the early sessions differ from later sessions, how to choose problems, and what sorts of difficulties may arise when running a circle. The book also includes a selection of problems used in the competition known as the Mathematical Maze, a mathematical story based on actual lessons with students, and an addendum on the San Jose Mathematical Circle, which is run in the Russian style. In the interest of fostering a greater awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and everyday life, MSRI and the AMS are publishing books in the Mathematical Circles Library series as a service to young people, their parents and teachers, and the mathematics profession.

Noriko is just getting started as a junior reporter for the Asagake Times. She wants to cover the hard-hitting issues, like world affairs and politics, but does she have the smarts for it? Thankfully, her overbearing and math-minded boss, Mr. Seki, is here to teach her how to analyze her stories with a mathematical eye. In The Manga Guide to Calculus, you'll follow along with Noriko as she learns that calculus is more than just a class designed to weed out would-be science majors. You'll see that calculus is a useful way to understand the patterns in physics, economics, and the world around us, with help from real-world examples like probability, supply and demand curves, the economics of pollution, and the density of Shochu (a Japanese liquor). Mr. Seki teaches Noriko how to: –Use differentiation to understand a function's rate of change –Apply the fundamental theorem of calculus, and grasp the relationship between a function's derivative and its integral –Integrate and differentiate trigonometric and other complicated functions –Use multivariate calculus and partial differentiation to deal with tricky functions –Use Taylor Expansions to accurately imitate difficult functions with polynomials Whether you're struggling through a calculus course for the first time or you just need a painless refresher, you'll find what you're looking for in The Manga Guide to Calculus. This EduManga book is a translation from a bestselling series in Japan, co-published with Ohmsha, Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan.

'I haven't had this much fun learning math since I watched the Count on Sesame Street when I was three. And the Count never talked about log flumes or zombies' New York Times 'If, like me, you love the neatness of calculus but never appreciated its applications or the colourful characters who have used it through history, then these diaries are well worth a read' New Scientist Jennifer Ouellette never took maths in the sixth form, mostly because she - like most people - assumed that she wouldn't need it in real life. But then the English graduate turned award-winning-science writer had a change of heart and decided to revisit the baffling equations and formulas that had haunted her for years. The Calculus Diaries is the fun and fascinating account of the year spent confronting her number-phobia head on. With real wit and verve, Ouellette shows how she learned to apply calculus to everything from petrol mileages to dieting, from rollercoaster rides to shooting cards in Las Vegas - proving that anyone can learn the fundamentals of maths' universal language and make the world a lot more comprehensible. Who knew that numbers could be a woman's best friend?

Classical Euclidean geometry, with all its triangles, circles, and inscribed angles, remains an excellent playground for high-school mathematics students, even if it looks outdated from the professional mathematician's viewpoint. It provides an excellent choice of elegant and natural problems that can be used in a course based on problem solving. The book contains more than 750 (mostly) easy but nontrivial problems in all areas of plane geometry and solutions for most of them, as well as additional problems for self-study (some with hints). Each chapter also provides concise reminders of basic notions used in the chapter, so the book is almost self-contained (although a good textbook and competent teacher are always recommended). More than 450 figures illustrate the problems and their solutions. The book can be used by motivated high-school students, as well as their teachers and parents. After solving the problems in the book the student will have mastered the main notions and methods of plane geometry and, hopefully, will have had fun in the process. In the interest of fostering a greater awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and everyday life, MSRI and the AMS are publishing books in the Mathematical Circles Library series as a service to young people, their parents and teachers, and the mathematics profession. What a joy! Shen's ``Geometry in Problems'' is a gift to the school teaching world. Beautifully organized by content topic, Shen has collated a vast collection of fresh, innovative, and highly classroom-relevant questions, problems, and challenges sure to enliven the minds and clever thinking of all those studying Euclidean geometry for the first time. This book is a spectacular resource for educators and students alike. Users will not only sharpen their mathematical understanding of specific topics but will also sharpen their problem-solving wits and come to truly own the mathematics explored. Also, Math Circle leaders can draw much inspiration for session ideas from the material presented in this book. --James Tanton, Mathematician-at-Large, Mathematical Association of America We learn mathematics best by doing mathematics. The author of this book recognizes this principle. He invites the reader to participate in learning plane geometry through carefully chosen problems, with brief explanations leading to much activity. The problems in the book are sometimes deep and subtle: almost everyone can do some of them, and almost no one can do all. The reader comes away with a view of geometry refreshed by experience. --Mark Saul, Director of Competitions, Mathematical Association of America