Maths is an essential skill but many people fear that they will never pick up the maths that they failed to understand in school. Don't worry. Most people know more maths than they realise, Steve Chinn is your guide to understanding the 'basic facts' of maths as you will use it in daily lifeThere are many reasons why the inability to 'do' maths affects so many children, and follows them into adulthood, and it has little to do with intelligence. The major reason is anxiety, the best way to overcome that anxiety is to build on existing knowledge. Everyone has some maths skills and knowledge that can be extended to many more skills and knowledge. The Fear of Maths: How to Overcome It is for parents and teachers looking for a way to encourage and help their children. It is based on teaching maths as a set of principles (rather than a series of facts to be memorised) to be understood, and how they can be used in various situations, to make numbers seem less threatening and, perhaps for the first time, to begin to make sense.Numbers are integral to everyday life, from checking the cost of shopping and understanding a train timetable to calculating the best value mobile phone deal, and Steve Chinn brings maths into everyday life. Providing a solid foundation The Fear of Maths: How to Overcome It will inspire the confidence that will make learning maths easier.

Explains the nature and origins of anxiety about mathematics and provides advice on working with a variey of specific mathematical concepts and problems.

Feelings of apprehension and fear brought on by mathematical performance can affect correct mathematical application and can influence the achievement and future paths of individuals affected by it. In recent years, mathematics anxiety has become a subject of increasing interest both in educational and clinical settings. This ground-breaking collection presents theoretical, educational and psychophysiological perspectives on the widespread phenomenon of mathematics anxiety. Featuring contributions from leading international researchers, Mathematics Anxiety challenges preconceptions and clarifies several crucial areas of research, such as the distinction between mathematics anxiety from other forms of anxiety (i.e., general or test anxiety); the ways in which mathematics anxiety has been assessed (e.g. throughout self-report questionnaires or psychophysiological measures); the need to clarify the direction of the relationship between math anxiety and mathematics achievement (which causes which). Offering a revaluation of the negative connotations usually associated with mathematics anxiety and prompting avenues for future research, this book will be invaluable to academics and students in the field psychological and educational sciences, as well as teachers working with students who are struggling with mathematics anxiety

Forget your classroom nightmares and discover how numbers can enhance and illuminate your world! How can math help you bet on horses or win in Vegas? What’s the foolproof way to solve Sudoku? How can probability teach you to calculate your chances of survival in Russian roulette? In this irreverent and entertaining guide to mathematics, Lawrence Potter takes the fear out of everything from long division to percentages. Using fascinating puzzles and surprising examples, from M.C. Escher to Pascal, he shows us how math is connected with the world we encounter every day, from how the VAT works to why weather forecasts are wrong, from winning at Monopoly to improving your mental arithmetic. Along the way you’ll also discover who invented numbers, whether animals can count, and what nuns have to do with multiplication.

Humorously Uncovers the Reasons Behind Math's Dreadful Reputation and Shows us How we Can Help Prevent Our Own Children From Adopting Similar Phobic Attitudes

Previously published in hardcover: New York: Free Press, 2010.

"Few of us really appreciate the full power of math--the extent to which its influence is not only in every office and every home, but also in every courtroom and hospital ward. In this ... book, Kit Yates explores the true stories of life-changing events in which the application--or misapplication--of mathematics has played a critical role: patients crippled by faulty genes and entrepreneurs bankrupted by faulty algorithms; innocent victims of miscarriages of justice; and the unwitting victims of software glitches"--Publisher marketing.

A hilarious reeducation in mathematics-full of joy, jokes, and stick figures-that sheds light on the countless practical and wonderful ways that math structures and shapes our world. In Math With Bad Drawings, Ben Orlin reveals to us what math actually is; its myriad uses, its strange symbols, and the wild leaps of logic and faith that define the usually impenetrable work of the mathematician. Truth and knowledge come in multiple forms: colorful drawings, encouraging jokes, and the stories and insights of an empathetic teacher who believes that math should belong to everyone. Orlin shows us how to think like a mathematician by teaching us a brand-new game of tic-tac-toe, how to understand an economic crises by rolling a pair of dice, and the mathematical headache that ensues when attempting to build a spherical Death Star. Every discussion in the book is illustrated with Orlin's trademark "bad drawings," which convey his message and insights with perfect pitch and clarity. With 24 chapters covering topics from the electoral college to human genetics to the reasons not to trust statistics, Math with Bad Drawings is a life-changing book for the math-estranged and math-enamored alike.