Friday, June 18, 2021

Everyday Mathematics Made Easy: A Quick Review of What You Forgot You Knew

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Everyday Mathematics Made Easy is an accessible, encouraging, and simple mathematics primer by Thomas Begnal. Due out 22nd June 2021 from Quarto on their Chartwell imprint, it's 272 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

For most people, their educational arc includes some mathematics up to (and generally including) algebra, geometry, and either calculus or practical math such as statistics and data science; three to four years. For many who don't go on to pursue education in STEM subjects, that knowledge eventually fades unless actively pursued again. That's this book's purpose.

The author has a very supportive and encouraging voice, especially comforting to the readers who have had some previous math related trauma during their school days. The book starts very simply (numeracy, counting, positive and negative integers) and proceeds to somewhat more complex concepts: arithmetic, fractions, decimals, order of operations, ratios, and interest and rates. The book does a good job of presenting problems and breaking them down into step by step  solutions. Everything is specified in each step and solutions are easy to follow and understand. There are "quick tips" scattered throughout the text in highlighted sidebars with concise small bits of information which is easy to understand and utilize.

This is a very basic book with practical arithmetic instruction. It would be a good choice for public or school library acquisition, for readers who need a brush-up on math problems which crop up in daily life such as household bills or figuring how much paint to buy for a project, or for helping your kid with arithmetic homework. 

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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