Reviews for Understanding math using AppleWorks spreadsheets

The average rating for Understanding math using AppleWorks spreadsheets based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-05-07 00:00:00 Kenn Geary In Coincidences Chaos and All That Math Jazz, Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird do for modern mathematics what Charles Wheelan did for economics in Naked Economics. Namely they have written a review of the major branches of current mathematics research in a highly accessible and often hilarious style. They begin with probability and chaos theory and work their way to degrees of infinity. Along the way they make stops around statistics, number theory and cryptography, Fibonacci numbers, the golden ratio, fractals, topology, and the fourth dimension. There were several bits that I thought were really great. Specifically, they include one of the best descriptions of chaos theory and mathematical chaos that I have ever read as a lay person. I also thought their description of fractals from the perspective of paper folding was surprising and clever, and their chapter on higher dimensions, was both quite funny and illuminating on a subject that is hard to grasp. The one down side to this great little book, is that they run lightly over ideas that have so much depth to them. That of course is the nature of what they are trying to do. The point is to give a taste to the lay reader, and they do that brilliantly. Most of the concepts were at least somewhat familiar to me, but I read a lot of popular mathematics written for the common interested public. If you want to get a general sense of what it is that mathematicians do, this is a great way to taste the awe inspiring beauty of mathematical ideas.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-01-16 00:00:00 Seth Bacon Oooh, so close. I wanted this book to be better than it is. It's a fine book, but I had, perhaps, unrealistic expectations. It introduces non-maths types to various mathematical concepts (chaos, infinity, etc.) in a way that is very accessible. But then it sort of dumps us there - "whee! wasn't that fun?!" I would have much preferred that it go a bit deeper. But it's probably quite good for those who have no interest in math to begin with.