The Mathematics of Everyday Life

If you are a reader who enjoys mathematics, you will love this volume by A. S. Posamentier and C. Spreitzer. This book will give you days and weeks of interesting readings. The Mathematics of Everyday Life is filled with mathematical problems applicable to hundreds of daily features we come across. They are mostly not difficult problems, but you will need to think to understand them. The authors are fortunately good writers, giving you crystal-clear explanations. The hundreds of simple illustrations will help to clarify the problems. An extensive introductory section gives a history of mathematics that is filled with fascinating facts, such as the introduction of the decimal system and the Hindu-Arabic numbers that replaced the Roman numerals, and the famous Fibonacci numbers. Examples include quickly converting miles to kilometers using Fibonacci numbers or designing your own coffee-cup sleeves, an ingenious invention no one gives a second thought to. Or why Friday occurs on the thirteenth more often than any other day of the week. This is not a book to be read from cover to cover but one to relish over time, one section at a time.