Great for sceptical pupils
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"Sir, what's the point of maths?" The question that any maths teacher dreads. This is one of the books that I always recommend to my older pupils (aged 15 plus) who want to see how maths connects to the sort of things they are interested in. There are nuggets of interest in every chapter, with some serious mathematical ideas interspersed with other much lighter stuff. Apart from its sister book How Long is A Piece of String, I know of no other maths book that is pitched in this sort of fun and accessible tone with such real-world content.
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Does ANYONE ask these questions?
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This book addresses 18 questions that anyone might ask where a knowledge of mathematics would be helpful. Examples include "Why am I always in traffic jams?", "What's the best bet?" and (of course) "Why do buses come in threes?"
(Personally some of the questions I ask myself include "Why do I never have any money?" and "Why aren't I more attractive to women?" but mathematics doesn't seem to have any insights to offer and indeed, the fact that I purchased this book in the first place may answer both questions simultaneously.)
Of the previous reviews of this book 8 were very positive and 2 negative. Knowing what I do now, I can tell this was a biased sample with people who liked the book much more likely to register their approval than people who gave up after a few pages. If only I could have found that out more quickly.
The first two chapters hardly help. "Why can't I find a four-leafed clover?" is hardly an everyday question and the answer (because things occur in a Fibonacci series of numbers) is neither interesting or useful. The second chapter "Which way should I go?" is potentially interesting but is fatally flawed by using the illustration of a game allegedly played citizens of Kaliningrad over how to cross the five bridges in the city without crossing any one twice, or something. In fairness the book picked up a bit after that with interesting chapters on why clever people get things wrong and coincidences. After that it starts to tail away ("What's the best view of Nelson's column?" - who cares! "What's the best way to cut a cake?" - WHAT? Who ever asked that question??? And "How do you keep a secret" on making and breaking codes - haven't thought about it since I was ten years old.)
Some of it is pretty well known (like lottery odds), other bits are common sense ("How do I get the meal ready on time?" - by reading the back of the packet ...), and still other bits are too obscure to remember. One of the other Amazon reviewers says they acquired lots of things to talk about at dinner-parties - wow, how lucky would you have to be to get sat next to THEM for a whole evening? But who am I fooling, I paid money for the book to, so I am just as sad - I wouldn't advise you to do the same. If you really must get a copy from your library but make sure you borrow something else at the same time.
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A different kind of maths book
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Maths books, even 'popular' ones, generally approach the subject from an abstract point of view. That is partly because mathematics is a beautiful subject in its own right, regardless of its link with the real world. The problem, however, is that most people don't see it that way. What makes 'Why do buses' different is that it is centred firmly on the world of everyday experiences that most people can relate to, like coincidences and traffic jams, and from that starting point it goes on to explore the mathematical ideas behind those phenomena. The book isn't nearly as mathematical as it could be, but if there was more maths in it, I'm prepared to bet that far fewer people would ever have read it, which would defeat the point of it.
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Disappointing
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I just finished reading "Why Do Buses Come In Threes?" and I was disappointed with it. I was expecting something more and the book sure had the potential to be a quite interesting book about the use of mathematics on everyday subjects.
The problem though is that by trying to make it simple for people with no maths background, the authors went too far - they hint on mathematical explanations for some of the topics presented, but they never get to actually present the maths, albeit in a simple form.
It's not enough to have someone telling you that some mundane phenomena is explained by maths, you should take the time to actually explain the maths behind it, and this book fails in doing that.
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Common sense maths for the rest of us.
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If you have an interest in the reasons for things, a hunch that maths may explain these things, and an inability to grasp mathematical formulae then this may well be the book you're looking for.
After three unsuccessful attempts to read The Magical Maze by Ian Stewart, I found this book on the shop shelves and thought I'd give it a go.
Outstanding. Where The Magical Maze illustrates nature's relationship with maths but fails to explain it, this book succeeds and then some.
This was an absolute pleasure to read and taught me things that my school teachers should have, had they had the imagination and enthusiasm of the authors.
The greatest revelation was how counter-intuitive a lot of fairly simple mathematical problems are.
I now feel cleverer than when I started the book which can only be a good thing!
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