An innovative and appealing way for the layperson to develop math
skills--while actually enjoying it Most people agree that math is
important, but few would say it's fun. This book will show you that the
subject you learned to hate in high school can be as entertaining as a
witty remark, as engrossing as the mystery novel you can't put down--in
short, fun! As veteran math educators Posamentier and Lehmann
demonstrate, when you realize that doing math can be enjoyable, you open
a door into a world of unexpected insights while learning an important
skill. The authors illustrate the point with many easily understandable
examples. One of these is what mathematicians call the "Ruth-Aaron pair"
(714 and 715), named after the respective career home runs of Babe Ruth
and Hank Aaron. These two consecutive integers contain a host of
interesting features, one of which is that their prime factors when
added together have the same sum. The authors also explore the unusual
aspects of such numbers as 11 and 18, which have intriguing properties
usually overlooked by standard math curriculums. And to make you a
better all-around problem solver, a variety of problems is presented
that appear simple but have surprisingly clever solutions. If math has
frustrated you over the years, this delightful approach will teach you
many things you thought were beyond your reach, while conveying the key
message that math can and should be anything but boring.
