PBS Teachers™
Math
recommended books archive
Published: August 2004
Financial markets are even riskier than past theory predicts. Mathematician Mandelbrot employs fractal models to understand stock prices, commodities trading, and currency exchange rates. He assesses the old theory, describes the new, and looks to the future.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2001
Although China has many different spoken dialects, its written language is standard. This book introduces some of the simpler picture-words based on actions using the hands and feet. Each two-page spread features a phrase in English and Chinese writing and a cut-paper collage resembling a block print. The numbers 1-10 and the verb "go" are also included.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: June 2004
Count from one to ten and back again in this playful rhyming picture book. McCully’s illustrations supply humor and interest. Readers and listeners can search for a pair of tagalong mice on each page.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2005
A box of ten rubber ducks is washed overboard in a storm. One by one they drift apart until the last finds companionship with a real mother duck and her nine ducklings. Children can count, meet common ocean animals, learn the cardinal points of the compass, and make the rubber duck squeak.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2000
Jessica is a worrier. She worries about losing her first tooth, missing the school bus, and getting her math right. When her teacher asks each student to bring in a collection of 100 objects on the 100th day of school, she worries about what to bring in. Children 4-8 will learn different ways of counting to 100 as Jessica's classmates bring in their collections and just might recognize the solution to her problem before she does.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: November 2006
On the first of the year, a box with a penguin is delivered. Inside is a note: “I’m number 1. Feed me when I’m hungry.” The pattern is well established by the end of the week with the arrival of number 7. Who is sending the penguins, and why? You’ll discover the identity of the sender and the reason why he’s mailing penguins at year’s end. In the meantime, you’ll have fun calculating penguin totals and seeing how they can be arranged in easily counted groups. The surprise ending promises an unbearable New Year.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: 2003
The lessons gathered in this resource were chosen from the author’s Math Solutions Newsletter. Math teachers can find lessons in number, geometry, measurement, statistics, probability, algebra, logic, and patterns and functions. The book includes grade level and strand charts and black line masters.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2006
Here’s a good way to sharpen your critical thinking skills. This book presents 37 sets of questions covering number series, analogies, logic problems, logic games, analyzing arguments, and more. The book is designed to be used independently or in the classroom. The answers and explanations are grouped at the end of the book.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 1998
Young adult readers will love these engaging, brain-teasing math problems and will strengthen their math skills as they puzzle through to the solutions.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2002
Wilson Williams is having trouble learning his times tables. He wishes he were smarter. His parents try to help, but practicing isn’t as much fun as playing. When he fails his 3s again, Wilson’s teacher sends home a note, and Wilson can only see weeks of trouble ahead.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: June 2003
Niels Hendrik Abel was twenty-one in 1824 when he published a pamphlet which proved that fifth order algebraic equations are not solvable in radicals. At the time, his paper was largely ignored, and Abel died five years later, just before his work began to attract attention. His insights have since become a cornerstone of modern mathematics. This is a book of mathematical ideas reaching back to the Ancient Greeks. It highlights mathematical details in boxes and includes an annotated translation of Abel’s proof.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2004
The author presents all the well-known chessboard problems in a manner accessible to those not necessarily versed in math or chess. Chapters treat the Knight’s Tour, Queen’s Domination, three dimensional chessboards, Eulerian squares, and Polyminoes. Each chapter includes problems and solutions.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2004
How big is giant squid? How small is a pygmy shrew? Sometimes numbers aren’t enough to make size clear. Jenkins’s cut and torn paper collages are one and two page illustrations of animals, or in the case of the very very big, parts of animals. Opening this book to the double-page full-size Goliath Birdeater Tarantula (12 inches across) might cause you to reach for something larger than a flyswatter.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2004
In one hundred chapters of no more than two pages, the author who has a PhD in mathematics and works as a stand-up comedian and DJ in Australia takes the “numb out of numbers.” Each engaging chapter from 1 to 100 is filled with factoids, interesting observations, and humor. Some discretion is advised with younger students.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 1999
Zalavsky's account of the diverse mathematical systems of Saharan African cultures includes counting in words and in gestures; measuring time, distance, weight, and other quantities; patterns in music, poetry, art, and architecture; number magic and taboos, and much more.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: March 2003
"It's not that I' so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer," said Einstein. OK, he was smart too, but persistence is an essential characteristic in those who persue mathematics and science. This brief biography features many photos and illustrations and includes a timeline.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2003
What can happen in one hour? Start with a mouse and a cat at 6 A.M. and see. That’s what Crummel and Donohue have done in this wonderful cut paper collage odyssey. Each two-page spread follows the action at irregular increments of time through the hour and ends on a note suggesting the adventures will soon start again.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2006
Each letter's page pictures a number of things beginning with the letter. As the author explains, a “thing” can be an object, action, or color. Consult “How to Play” for other fine points on what to count and what not to count. The pictures will keep you counting and recounting. The author’s answers are given at the end, but even he expresses some uncertainty. If you find more, he’s provided an email address.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 1998
The authors who brought you the highly acclaimed Amazing Pop-Up Grammar Book have done it again! Readers in grades 3-6 will love the elaborate illustrations that slide and pop-up to reveal math questions and answers. The book is organized by the numbers 1-10; each number provides practice on a specific part of the multiplication table through scenarios like Noah's Ark, finding clothes in drawers and closets, and much more.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: March 1999
Inside a richly illustrated, mysterious jar is water, which becomes the sea; inside the sea, readers age 4-8 discover an island, and so on until the concept of factorials is elegantly and invitingly explained and readers have counted to 3,628,800.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: December 2001
Originally published in 1884, Flatland tells the story of A. Square, a plane figure, taken to a land of three dimensions. Stewart, a mathematics professor, has annotated this math classic, revealing much of the history and science underlying Abbott’s book, subjects as diverse as phrenology, ancient Babylon, Karl Marx, the Gregorian calendar, and the mathematician George Boole. Ample margins provide details, references, and explanatory drawings. The book ends with an essay on the fourth dimension in mathematics and bibliographies of Abbott and Charles Howard Hinton.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2002
Pallotta has written a number of math books using candy to illustrate concepts. In this book he uses apples, which should please dentists, to explain fractions. Bolster's elves divide realistic McIntoshes, Galas, and Cortlands into equal parts to feed two, three, and four persons, then other fruit related props like bees, pears, and glasses of juice to demonstrate other fractions, numerators, denominators, and improper fractions. As always, humor helps make ideas clear as well as add fun.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: March 2000
This is just the book for the whole family on that long car trip or flight. Divided in two sections, the first has 75 warm-up puzzles and the second 75 killers. Each section is followed by answers and explanations for approaching the problems. Open the book and watch time fly. Some puzzles require pencil and paper.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2002
Kids will have fun using basic math skills to solve the eighteen riddles in this picture book. Skills exercised include addition, subtraction, time, speed, measurement, multiplication, and common sense.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: March 2003
This readable discussion traces the concept of infinity from Pythagoras to Descarte to Leibnitz to Cantor and other less familiar mathematical figures. The text is accompanied by many charts, graphs, drawings. A generous appendix presents the mathematics in greater detail.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2006
This is one of those stories that puts a human face on mathematics. Nicholas Bourbaki was not one but initially six mathematicians. He was born in a Paris café in 1934. The six mathematicians and the others who followed published in his name-- inventing the man, his family, and artifacts like calling cards and wedding invitations to his daughter’s wedding. It was an elaborate hoax, but one that produced world-class mathematics. Bourbaki’s work has influenced all mathematicians working today.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2003
This variation on a familiar song lets children count umbrella-toting aunts in ranks of one to ten as they slosh through the rain to the beat of a drummer girl. When thunder booms, they all race home. Manning’s illustrations include interesting details, diversity of characters, and humor.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 1998
Saul helps very young readers learn to count with this fun barnyard tale. The barn cat is joined by different farm animals in a counting story richly illustrated with woodcuts.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2004
If you like baseball and statistics, you’re in luck. This city phone book size tome includes player stats and performance analysis for more than 1600 National and American league players. It includes best and worst catchers and the top 50 prospects.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2004
Little Runt shares an itchy bed of straw in Sooey, South Dakota with five other family members. Little Runt is squashed and unhappy so he eliminates one bed hog after another. Kids count backward from six to one. This humorous tale of subtraction is told in verse.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2006
The French Mathematician Maupertuis argued that everything in nature happens in a way that requires the least possible action. His least action principle or the concept of optimization has influenced mathematics, biology, economics, and politics. The author traces how optimization led to great intellectual breakthroughs.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2002
Rote memorization of the multiplication tables isn't the only way to conquer multiplication. In this approach, Tang shows how to combine what you do know to arrive at what you don't know. Instead of memorizing, for example, 7x5=35, think of 7x5 as being half 7x10. The book's final pages include the times tables and Tang's rules restated.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: June 2005
Puzzles are a good way to clear the cobwebs from your brain. Einstein used to solve them. This collection of more than 200 exercises covers logical and numerical puzzles, tangrams, sequencing, estimation, and magic squares as well as lateral thinking, optical illusions, and letter puzzles.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2001
Forbes ASAP is a bimonthly technology magazine. Big Issues is a collection of 66 essays from the first five years, examining the impact of digital technology on society, culture, and individuals. Writers encountered are as diverse as Muhammad Ali and Bill Gates, John Updike and Chuck Yeager. This is probably best used as a source book for teachers, as some of the issues are controversial.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2002
The modern game of Go is played on a board with 19x19 lines (361 points) with 181 black and 180 white stones. Although often associated with Japan, the game of Go originated in China at least before A.D. 200. The rules to Go are simple, but it is one of those games of strategy that is harder to master than its rules first suggest. This spiral-bound introduction teaches a simplified version of the game in which the first person to capture an opponent's marker wins before presenting the full game. The book comes with 9x9 and 13x13 boards and pieces to play.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2002
Challenge your brain with the twenty-one tests gathered in this spiral-bound book. Each test has fifteen questions involving anagrams, analogies, cryptograms, logic, mathematics, mazes, sequences, words, and more. The answers follow each test. An index makes it easy to find specific questions and puzzle types.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2004
Test your puzzler with this generous collection of brightly colored visual and number teasers. Stumped? A yellow section provides tips for arriving at a solution. Answers are in the final lavender section. Included is a section of optical illustions.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: June 2002
Certainty has become a commodity marketed by the medical industry, insurance companies, investment advisors, and election campaigns. Certainty is an illusion. Even DNA evidence can produce false matches. We don’t understand this because we haven’t learned statistical thinking, a handicap that hobbles doctors and lawyers as well as anyone else. This book will help you understand uncertainty and the real world.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2002
Sometimes all a student needs is to see a problem from a different angle to make sense of it. This book provides plenty of supplementary views in calculus. Chapters provide the foundations of calculus, applications of the derivative, the integral, indeterminate forms, transcendental functions, methods of integration, and applications of the integral. Solutions to the chapter exercises and a final exam are included.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2001
This brief book will not replace a calculus textbook but will provide additional explanation of concepts if read before or while using one. Readers will find no exercises. They will find verbal discussions of basic ideas, vocabulary, differential calculus, and integral calculus. Humor and vivid imagery make this a useful text for anyone with doubts about their understanding of calculus.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2005
Dunham examines in 14 concise chapters some of the mathematicians and theorems that have contributed to the development of calculus. The author warns that this is not a book for the mathematically faint-hearted.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: March 2007
This 700+ page resource was developed for motivated students who want to improve their understanding of calculus. It can be used as a companion to any single-variable textbook. It has 475 examples from easy to hard and emphasizes improving problem solving skills.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2006
Reluctant to publish his calculus, Newton circulated his ideas privately for ten years until Leibniz published his own. If you think mathematicians are always rational, this look at the ten year feud over priority between two giants will open your eyes.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: November 2004
Originally published in 1999 and now available in paperback, this counting book encourages children to count objects in Japanese, Russian, Korean, Hindi, Hebrew, Chinese, French, Tagalog, Spanish, and Zulu. Pronunciation help is provided. A world map shows where each language is spoken.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: March 2000
If you had as much money as Bill Gates in dollar bills, how much room would you need to store it? What if you owed $5.7 trillion? (U.S. national debt). This picture book for children 4-8 provides comprehensible images of smaller numbers and builds with them to provide memorable images of really big numbers. What about a googol? If you counted all the atoms in the universe, you still wouldn't reach a googol.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: March 2002
Counting, number sense, shape recognition, puzzles, mazes, matching - many of the elements of mathematics are present in this collection of complex and intriguing picture puzzles constructed from familiar or once familiar toys. Even after you have found what you are looking for, you will continue to search. This would make a great addition to a math activities table.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2000
If you are 9-12 and like doing math, you will want to read this book. Learn about fifteen math-grounded careers, from actuarial work to urban planning. Each entry gives a general description of an occupation, lists related websites, and provides a profile of someone who actually does the work. You will also find a list of other careers in science, health, aviation, and more, all requiring some proficiency in math. A planning section helps you work toward your dream career.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2003
This is a colorized reissue of a book first published in 1981. Fun rhymes and fun cats of every stripe, spot, and color make a Lewin’s counting book (from 1-60) a perfect read aloud for primary students.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2004
The study of probability is an attempt to understand uncertainty, the likelihood of some random event. Aczel relates the development of probability theory from Galileo, Pascal, fermat, and Moivre in a manner accessible to the general reader. He includes a section of problems for readers to test their understanding. An appendix by Brad Johnson applies theory to games of chance.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: March 2006
Probability and statistics are tools for understanding the recurrent but unpredictable. This account of the twin disciplines traces their development form the Romans to the present. The Kaplans examine chance in gambling, insurance, normality, medicine, justice, prediction, war, and being.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: July 2007
Childhood chase games like tag, dodgeball, and hide-and-seek are an application of pursuit theory with the same principles at work as in military strategy. Nahin has written the first history of this area of mathematics, tracing modern pursuit theory from its classical beginnings to the present day and drawing on game theory, geometry, linear algebra, target-tracking algorithms, and more. He provides problems and solutions and computer programs for the really ambitious student.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2004
Numbers climb an apple tree. Count from 1 to 20 by ones, then to 90 by tens. The numbers stop at 99 when set upon by angry bumblebees but brave 0 finally joins 10 at the top of the tree to make 100. Rhyme and Ehlert’s colorful illustrations make this an especially appealing book.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: July 1999
Very young readers will enjoy the brightly illustrated pop-up scenes in five spreads; this is a solid sequel to Murphy's earlier works, including One to Ten Pop-Up Surprises! and Black Cat, White Cat: A Pop-Up Book of Opposites.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: March 2005
Children explore the city and count 1 boy, 2 yellow cabs, 3 truck wheels, up to 10 French fries on a plate. Opposite each photograph are the numbers 1-10, a highlighted numeral, dots for children to count, and the number spelled.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: June 2003
Cleo is an orange kitten. Kids can count things that would interest a kitten: puppies, birds, trees, and more. Count from one to ten and back down to one. Mockford's bold bright illustrations will engage young and old.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2006
What are the farm animals up to as they sneak past one sleeping farmer? The four chickens, five cows, and six goats must have something in mind. The mystery is solved when they pour the farmer’s ten goldfish in the pond.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2005
When math teachers assign homework, they often assume a parent can help if the going gets rough. But many parents need a refresher, even with elementary math. That is the purpose of this book. Math teachers and parents can help each other help their students with these 58 lessons covering whole numbers, fractions, geometry, measurement, averages, integers, and exponents.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2008
Callery covers the history of codes and ciphers from hieroglyphics to cyberspace. He looks at code-breaking devices, Native American smoke signals, flags and semaphore, Braille, Morse code, and mono- and polyalphabetic letter substitution. The book features sidebars, many illustrations, a glossary, and recommendations for further reading.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2001
Count pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half-dollars and dollars. Determine all the ways to make 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, and so on. This picture book is a great introduction to money, counting, simple addition, and problem solving.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2005
For reluctant math students discovering how mathematics underlies the universe can be the first step to a new appreciation. Could monkeys really type Hamlet? How many handshakes separate you and Thomas Jefferson? Could you take off your underpants without taking off your pants? Probability, number theory, topology, and more are presented in an accessible and enlightening manner.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2000
Take a look at the tricks colors in relation to other colors can play on our perception. This book suitable for K-12 students includes a general discussion on colors and illusion, twenty-five illusions and their explanations, four rules explaining how your brain sees things, and a glossary.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2001
This is the best of Martin Gardner’s column “Mathematical Games,” which ran for twenty-five years in Scientific American. The book is divided into twelve sections: arithmetic and algebra, plane geometry, solid geometry and higher dimension, symmetry, topology, probability, infinity, combinatories, games and decision theory, physics, logic and philosophy, and miscellaneous - making this a 700+ page ultrasaurus of recreational math.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: November 2005
Gardner has collected 340 short recreational math puzzles from 25 years of “Mathematical Games,” his column for Scientific American. You’ll find puzzles in combinatorics, probability, algebra, geometry, topology, chess, logic, cryptarithms, wordplay, and physics. The puzzles are grouped by subject and progress from the easiest to the hardest.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2002
Reliance on common sense is dangerous. Ignorance of math is worse. In twelve cases, Holmes uses probability, statistics, decision theory, and game theory to solve crimes. The math and logic in each case is kept at an every day level, but an afterward suggests further reading for continued investigation.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2003
Change is the norm, but there are some things that remain constant. This book looks at some of the lasting things, scientific mysteries that challenge physicists. Why, for example, do all electrons behave alike? Barrow is a professor of mathematical sciences at the University of Cambridge. In this book, he explores at the numbers and values that set reality, the strength of gravity, speed of light, and masses of elementary particles.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2004
From a half million who compete for the honor, six teens are selected to represent the U.S. at the International mathematical Olympiad. The author reveals the personalities of six remarkable problem solvers in a recent Olympiad. An appendix explains the mathematics employed in solving the contest’s six problems.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 1998
Rhyming makes counting cool in this fun book for readers K-3.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 1999
Kids learn to count down from ten to zero as Jackson's cows prepare themselves for a barn dance. Bright illustrations and whimsical description make this counting book a treat.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2005
Find and count from one to ten floral decorated animals in a garden of bright flowers. The search for the disguised creatures adds an element of fun.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2001
How many kisses does it take to say goodnight? Count and find out. Everyone pitches in and kisses baby at naptime from Grandma to the dog and cat.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2000
A child's world is full of marvelous shapes. In her latest collection of color photographs without words, Hoban focuses on four solids and shows just how common they are.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2004
Ray Kurweil traces his belief that inventions can change the world for the better to his reading of Tom Swift, Jr. For Paul Davies, theoretical physics was always his quest, even when his family thought he was nuts. Janna Levin, physicist and astronomer, remembers looking out her bedroom window at the night sky and wondering how far she was seeing. Mathematician Steven Strogatz describes an experiment with a pendulum that made clear to him the order in the universe and the importance of knowing mathematics. Steven Pinker, a psychologist, thinks tracing influences is a waste of time. Twenty-seven men and women explain their journeys into science, invention, and mathematics.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: November 2003
Miss Tuttle has twenty Dalmatians in her obedience class, all named Daisy. How can she tell them apart? Each has a distinguishing characteristic, skill, or possession. Kids count from one to twenty.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: December 2004
Wiener entered college at eleven and earned his Ph. D at eighteen. He is considered the father of the Information Age. He coined the terms “cybernetics” and “feedback.” He had a long tenure at MIT. Yet he is largely forgotten. This biography traces the career and contributions of a mathematician who influenced John von Neumann, Claude Shannon, Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson, and Walter Reuther.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: July 2002
The author of Scientific American’s column, “Puzzling Adventures,” Shasha has collected cases organized around eight mathematical themes: design, combinatorial geometry, routing and networks, mathematical geography, scheduling, ciphers and secrecy, pattern mathematics, and games. Alternative approaches are suggested for cybernovices and cyberexperts. Solutions are furnished, though the best solutions are often still open.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: March 2001
Dog is white with one black spot on his left ear. At least that's the way he starts his day. Soon he starts collecting additional spots: jam red, paint blue, chocolate brown. By the time he gets back home he has ten different color spots. Young readers can practice counting and naming colors.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: June 2002
This rhyming picture book opens with one dog walking in the city, but as the title promises, he doesn’t stay alone for long. Count from one to ten and back to one as dogs enjoy a day in the city. Oller’s watercolors add humor that can be enjoyed by all ages.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2006
We often believe things because we want to believe them, not because there is any evidence. Using this observation as a starting point, the author examines six common mistakes in thinking, failures of logicn - preferring stories to statistics, failing to appreciate chance, and oversimplifying life to name half. Think of this book as a course in applied math as a life skill.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2006
The Double eagle is a twenty-dollar gold coin commissioned by Theodore Roosevelt, designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and minted in 1933. It has been one of the most sought after coins in history—and against the law to own ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt took the U.S. off the gold standard in 1933. The only coins to survive were stolen. Some were recovered. Others disappeared. One reappeared in 1996. It was recently auctioned for $7.59 million. This book is a coin collecting and detective story to please everyone.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2006
Euler still inspires mathematicians after 250 years. The author looks at applications of complex numbers in pure and applied math and electronic technology. The applications are as varied as the analysis of the flight of birds in the wind, a cat’s pursuit of a mouse, a violin’s vibrating strings, and the development of speech scramblers.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2003
This self-study book will help ease students from the concrete world of numbers to the abstract world of letters and symbols. Divided into five sections, the book examines fundamental operations, integers, real numbers, equations with variables, and algebra operations. This last section looks at word problems and real world applications.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2004
Dr. Math has been answering questions on the Web for years. This print collection provides help for geometry students. Five chapters deal with two dimensional geometric figures, area and perimeter of two dimensional figures, circles and Pi, three dimensional geometric figures, and symmetry. An illustrated appendix of geometric figures and a glossary are included.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2001
In the early 1960s when computers were largely perceived as huge threatening machines dependant on punch cards, J.C.R. Licklider saw something different. He was convinced computers would become not just super fast calculating machines but a way to empower users. Licklider envisioned a man-computer symbiosis, an intergalactic network, a global commons of the multinet. The Dream Machine covers the life of Licklider and the computer from WWII to the 1990s.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: July 2002
Published for the first time in paperback, this edition corrects errors included in the first edition. Nahin’s collection of twenty-one puzzles requires creative thinking about probability. The puzzles are posed in the first section, puzzles with intriguing titles like When idiots Duel, Who Pays for the Coffee, and the Blind Spider and the Fly. The solutions follow in the next section. Also included are sections on random number generators and MATLAB programs that simulate the puzzles.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2000
Like all good biographers, Bodanis investigates his subject's ancestors, in this case the symbols used in Einstein's equation. He then traces its development; its career in the world, including the atomic bombs dropped on Japan; and what it may still reveal about our universe. Suitable for middle schoolers and older, this book features a lengthy appendix and notes section for serious students.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2003
Einstein and Poincare set out to determine whether time was absolute or relative. Galison, professor of the history of science at Harvard University, tells of their efforts using recently uncovered photos, patents, and archives.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 1999
Although Einstein created the framework of modern physics, many prominent scientists once doubted his theories because they were too abstract to be easily understood and could not be verified in a laboratory. This biography for 9-12 year olds examines the man, his time, and his ideas.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2000
Each morning, says Emily's teacher, they will write a new number friend in their number books, and when they reach one hundred, each bring in one hundred things. No one believes they will ever reach one hundred. Children 4-8 will have fun counting objects and wondering what Emily will bring. This is a BIG book so don't try to read it in one sitting.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: June 2005
Mouse and her friends debate the concept of equal as they try to choose sides for tug-of-war. This is a fun introduction to a big idea. An end note discusses different kinds of equality.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2005
Symmetry is the concept that links science and art. This account of a difficult equation, the quintic equation, and the two mathematicians that discovered that it could not be solved by the usual methods, describes the beginnings of group theory. Livio introduces two brilliant and tragic figures: Niels Henrik Abel who died of tuberculosis at 26 and Evariste Galois who died in a duel at 20 as he shows how group theory explains the symmetry and order we encounter everyday.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2004
Mathematics is more than arithmetic. This illustrated atlas presents many of the real life applications of mathematics. Thirty-three sections cover number systems to fuzzy logic and chaos. The book features diagrams and explanatory sidebars.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: December 2001
An early recommendation simply stated of mathematician John Nash, “This man is a genius.” His early promise seemed lost when in 1959 at thirty he was diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic. Amazingly after thirty years he recovered. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in the theory on non-cooperative games. This book is a compilation of Nash’s influential papers and essays by himself, a colleague, and his biographer. A photo essay is included.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2004
The foundation of science and mathematics is logic. Mazur investigates three types of logic: the classic logic of the Ancient Greeks, the logic of infinity, and the everyday logic of plausible reasoning. He illustrates how we determine something is true with anecdotes from the history of science and math, his thirty years of observing students, and his own adventures in exotic lands.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2001
Take a short course in the five revolutions in geometry: Euclid, Descartes, Gauss, Einstein, and Witten. A former faculty member at the California Institute of Technology, Hollywood writer, educational software developer, and High Tech businessman, the author writes a lucid account of some very weird ideas.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: December 2002
This book answers the perennial question: “When will I ever use this?” Written for math-phobic adults who are facing the necessity of brushing up their math skills, this book will provide plenty of examples of math in real world situations. The first section reviews math, the next three sections show math in action in money matters; in the kitchen and around the house; and shopping, weather, travel, and games.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2003
Wallace explores the nature of a big idea from a fiction writer's perspective. Although the beauty of math and the concept of infinity are made accessible to readers with an average math background, the book is structured to give satisfaction to readers with stronger math backgrounds. More difficult information is identified as IYI: If You're Interested. He discusses the contributions of Plato, Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, Karl Weierstrass, Richard Dedekind, and Georg Cantor. A list of abbreviations is provided.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2000
If you want to understand why your dad and mom care if the Fed raises the prime interest rate, this book is for you. Separate chapters examine the history of money, coins and paper money in the U.S., banking, the Fed, the Euro, and investing. THe pages of this guide for readers 9-12 are filled fun facts, advice, activities and games.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2002
Professor of Theoretical Physics, Charap translates difficult mathematical ideas into terms understandable to a general readership. He reviews the 20th century’s transformation of physics, and then presents the latest findings in particle physics, astrophysics, chaos theory, and cosmology. He examines missing matter, the big bang, and superstring theory.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: November 1998
Kaczymarski's book is a manual for teachers interested in a creative, multidisciplinary approach to math instruction. The author uses familiar, popular children's books and stories as a springboard for math problems of all types.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2003
Kids count from one to ten as they explore a farm. Rhyme and bright watercolors add to the fun. A glossary of farm terns is included.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 1998
Just four years ago, Andrew Wiles of Princeton University solved a 350 year-old math problem: Fermat's last theorem. In a book that is part detective story, part testament to Wiles's determination, Simon Singh chronicles Wiles's dogged pursuit of the answer. Limericks and an appendix of math proofs are added pleasures to an already rich reading experience.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2003
When the author arrived at Caltech in the early 1980s on a post-doctoral fellowship, he was tormented by self-doubt. He took his worries to Nobel Prize-winner Richard Feynman. This brief memoir explores the friendship of two physicists, one up-and-coming, the other established and dying. Understand there is more of the mathematician and scientist is this book than math and science.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2006
Anthony Ant has embarked on a great explore. Young readers can follow Anthony through the maze of an ant hill. Part of the fun is finding Anthony. Visual clues are provided. Parental readers may need a magnifying glass. Each two page spread features a square of ants from1x1 to 10x10.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2002
Children become familiar with circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles and then search for them in every day contexts. The book includes tips for parents and a laminated poster.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2006
This illustrated version of a familiar children’s song has poignancy and humor as five ducklings wander off one by one from their bewildered mother. Children count back from five to zero, until mother duck is finally reunited with her ducklings. Bates has individualized each duckling. A touch young children will appreciate.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: March 2000
Intended for advanced math students, high school or older, this book explores five mathematical theories and explains how knot theory contributes to the development of new drugs, how coding theory makes mapping human DNA possible, and how control theory has affected space travel. You'll also learn about the personalities behind the mathematics.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 1998
Glass engages young readers with one of the most famous math myths, centered around geometry great Rene Descartes.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2006
Count your way from morning to night and from city to country across two-page spreads filled with details: flowers, antennas, freckles, headlights, traffic cones, tree stumps, fallen apples, stars, and a lot more.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: March 2002
Follow George, a quarter, from his stamping in the mint through his small adventures in finance. Each page provides opportunities to count and compute with money. Even the page numbers are stated in money. A final section gives more information about money and a glossary. The illustrations provide plenty of humor and interest.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2005
Colors, shapes, opposites, and the numbers 1-10 are visualized in 77 fruits, vegetables, and spices. This colorful picture book provides a fun introduction to some basic kid knowledge.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2003
It started in 1852 with a question from a former student. What is the least possible number of colors needed to fill in any map so that neighboring countries are always colored differently? For the next 150 years, thousands of problems solvers attempted to solve it. The author has written an entertaining account of the four color problem and its solution. He defines the problem, explains the main ideas of the proof, describes philosophical problems raised, and introduces related coloring problems, such as how many colors would you need if your map were printed on a doughnut? The book includes a timeline.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2001
Explore the region where mathematics and art meet. Filled with black and white and color illustrations, the book has chapters on subjects as diverse as plane folds in origami, grid fields and fractals, and crystals and tiling. You’ll meet artists who work with stone, computers and snow.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2006
Every number has a story. This updated 50th Anniversary edition of a math classic reveals the stories of natural numbers 0-9 and reports on advances in number theory. It includes the proof of Fermat’s Last theorem. This look at mathematical history and lore can be appreciated by a general audience. Solutions for problems are grouped at each chapter’s end.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2003
This collection of 370 cryptograms contains humorous quotes from celebrities like Johnny Carson, Stephen King, and Newt Gingrich. The introduction provides advice on how to approach cryptograms and two pages of hints. The answers conclude the book.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 1998
This is a most unusual alphabet book for readers of all ages. Where else would you find "R is for rhombicosidodecahedron" or "T is for tessellate"? Each entry comes with detailed information about the topic and entertaining illustrations.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2006
Diterlizzi has created a picture book combining the alphabet and numbers and a lot of eccentric fun with some of the weirdest creatures since Dr. Seuss. If you're not looking for logic, this is the perfect book for you. Kids will love its non-stop silliness.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: November 2007
Game theory, a branch of applied mathematics, is the study of games when they are played rationally. To reach a larger audience, this brief introduction explains game theory without mathematical equations. An expert in the field, the author examines game theory in the sciences, particularly evolutionary biology, psychology, ethics, politics, and economics. The book contains many illustrations.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2003
Geodesics are shell-like structures that employ interlocking triangles to hold themselves up without supporting columns. Kenner's classic manual for the construction of Buckminster Fuller's domes has been out of print since 1990. Divided into three sections, the book covers tensegrity and geodesics and provides data tables.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2001
This collection of 164 simple geometric patterns was created with triangles, squares, rectangles, diamonds, cubes, hexagons, octagons, and basket weave. Each page has an original design and three variations created by coloring in different areas of the original pattern. These copyright-free designs can be used as they are or as a start in creating something completely new.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2004
Here is a geometry primer the presents the basics in a clear manner for those frustrating moments when your textbook isn’t enough and it’s too late to call your teacher. Chapters cover triangles, circles, perimeter and area of two-dimensional polygons, volume and surface area of three-dimensional polygons, and conic sections. Each chapter opens with a pretest, and each chapter section ends with a self-test.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2000
In this counting book for children 4-8 based on the familiar nursery rhyme, Kellogg employs his trademark humor in providing a tangle of dogs, from pointers to spaniels, 250 in all. He even throws in velociraptors for good measure. The book includes a musical setting for the rhyme and a key to identify the dog breeds. Don't forget to count the bones.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2005
Hawking has selected 31 landmarks of mathematics from basic geometry to transfinite numbers, from Euclid to Turing. This massive book includes biographies of 17 mathematicians and full proofs and explanations of the significance of their work. One shortcoming is that the book has no index.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 1999
In January 1998 when astronomers found evidence that the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate, the most promising theory to explain it was one Albert Einstein proposed and quickly retracted, considering it his greatest blunder. This book for high school students and older explores the latest developments in cosmology and reveals a previously unknown Einstein.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2000
Godel's Incompleteness Theorem shattered hopes that logic would enable us to completely understand the universe. This biography for middle schoolers and older examines the life of a brilliant mathematician who was chosen by Time magazine as the greatest mathematician of the twentieth century and who was considered an intellectual peer by Einstein. His work revolutionized philosophy, linguistics, computer science, and cosmology.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2002
What do the arrangement of rose petals, a painting by Dali, and the spiral shells of mollusks have in common? This riddle is the starting point of a fascinating exploration of phi (1.6180339887499...), the Golden Mean. Roughly speaking, phi is a proportion. Not nearly as widely appreciated as pi, phi has entertained mathematicians such as Pythagoras, Fibonacci, Euclid, Kepler, and Roger Penrose, as well as biologists, artists, musicians, historians, architects, psychologists, and mystics. Much of nature, from the position of leaves on a stem to the structure of galaxies, can be explained by phi.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2006
The Golden Section is also known as the Golden Mean, Golden Ratio, and phi. It is defined as a line segment divided into two unequal parts, so that the ratio of the smaller to the larger is the same as the larger to the whole. This small, beautifully illustrated book reveals the Golden Section in nature, art, architecture, music, philosophy, science, and mathematics.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2001
This picture book for children 8-12 provides entertainment while teaching problem solving skills. Each of sixteen problems is presented pictorially and verbally and is accompanied by a hint for solution. An appendix supplies the answers and reveals how the hint provides a quicker solution. See if you can come up with your own strategies.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: November 1999
Eighty racers begin the Great Divide. Along the course, they encounter hazards, and the field of contestants is reduced by halves. Who will win? The outcome remains uncertain until the last moment. Readers 4-8 will become familiar with the concept of dividing in half and will love the verse and illustrations.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2006
Learn to estimate in groups of 10, then take on groups of hundreds and thousands. The author presents "clump counting" and "box and count," using full-color photos of plastic bugs, dog and cat stamps, penguins, rice grains, jellybeans, and other things. The book includes more hints for estimation.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2006
Mathematicians can be hotheads too as this book testifies. When Giralamo Cardano published The Rules of Algebra in 1545, he made mathematical history and an enemy of Tartaglia. Cardano had included a solution Tartaglia shared with him with the understanding he would not publish it until Tartaglia did. Cardano gave credit, but Tartaglia was not satisfied. The resulting feud ended with Cardano’s betrayal to the Spanish Inquisition 25 years later. In addition to ten feuds, the author examines a long standing question: Are mathematical advances inventions or discoveries?
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: 2005
Gridworks, a game in book form, exercises your deductive reasoning skills. Players place green, yellow and blue triangles, circles, and Xs on a nine cell square. Think tic-tac-toe. The 60 problems challenge beginners and experts. Two types of clues are given: positive and negative. The book format comes with a magnetic game grid and magnetic tokens.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: November 2001
Where do you keep your money? If you want your money to grow, to make more money, keeping it in your pocket is not the best strategy. This newly updated guide to investing examines savings banks, bonds, and stocks; helps you determine what kind of investor you are; and explains how to read the financial pages in the newspaper. An appendix provides forms for investment tracking.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2001
The hackers in this essay are the enthusiastic computer programmers who share their work with others, the original meaning of the word. This book for high school readers and older presents an ethic for the Information Age, one opposing the ethics that drove the Industrial Age. Sections discuss the Work Ethic, the Money Ethic, and the Nethic. An appendix provides a brief history of computer hackerism.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2000
Hannah likes to collect things: Popsicle sticks, buttons, stamps, seashells -- anything. When her teacher asks the students to bring in a collection, Hannah can't decide which one to take. Her solution is ingenious. Jocelyn's mixed-media collages are an adventure. Children and math teachers will find plenty to count and add.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2002
Hannah Bennett is thirteen and lives in rural Pennsylvania during the 1930s. She can’t read, but she can scan a page of words and tally letters in an instant. She teaches math to the younger students in her one room school. She keeps the books for the family farm. A visitor from Philadelphia is astonished by Hannah’s gift and offers her a chance to pursue her talent in the city. Hannah’s friends and family are reluctant to let her go. Only her grandfather sees math as her future and encourages her.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2005
Exercise your logic skills with 86 puzzles involving shapes, sequence, color, matching, distinguishing differences, spatial reasoning, simple arithmetic, and mazes. Each page features one brightly colored puzzle making it a perfect choice for a puzzle of the day in a math classroom. The answers are grouped in a separate section at the end.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2000
While Henry walks 30 miles to Fitchburg, his friend works in Concord to earn the 90 cents to take a train. The train is faster, he says. But on the way, Henry collects ferns and flowers, climbs a honey tree, and eats his way through a blackberry patch. From page to page, children 4-8 can calculate how far Henry has walked and the how much his friend still needs to earn. Everyone will enjoy the gentle humor of this picture book.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2007
Based on the familiar nursery rhyme, this picture book takes aspiring clock readers through twelve hours, from one oÂ’clock in the afternoon to midnight. Each hour is portrayed on an easy to read large-faced grandfather clock. An energetic mouse and his friends add some extra fun.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: November 2004
You don’t need to be a mathematician to enjoy this collection of 73 puzzles and mathematical recreations. Teachers and students will enjoy the mental wrestling required to solve Dudeney’s hinged square transformation and other geometric puzzles, mazes, and games.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 1999
Some humans learn to count by pointing at parts of their bodies, like their neck and ears, and the authors will explain how (plus much more) with exacting research and engaging color photographs.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: December 2001
In 1900, David Hilbert gave a talk at the Second International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris. He lectured on the importance of individual problems, listing those he thought would be most fruitful for mathematics in the twentieth century. Although he had time to talk about only ten, his published paper had twenty-three. This challenging book examines Hilbert’s problems and the mathematicians who solved them or have advanced their solution. In an introductory note, the author assures mathematical and nonmathematical readers that his book can be read and enjoyed for the math or the narrative.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2006
Solve a variety of multi-step math problems. Fisher has created fanciful scenes with mixed media and photography. The author provides four additional problems in an appendix for each of the fifteen scenes and challenges her readers to make up their own. Solutions are grouped at the end.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2004
It is nightfall and moms and dads ask their ducklings, kittens, and foals how many bedtime kisses they want. Readers count from one to ten and beyond in rhyming couplets. Bates’s illustrations are bright and cozy.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2007
Princeton mathematician Andrew Wiles described the practice of mathematics as a room by room exploration of a dark mansion - first stumbling over furniture, learning each pieceÂ’s location, finding the light switch and turning it on to illuminate the room, and then moving on to the next room. Mathematicians do not think like Star Trek's Spock. Breakthroughs are often creative intuitive responses to ambiguity, contradiction, and paradox.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2007
The author traces the birth of mathematics in the pattern recognition and finger counting of hunter-gatherers at least 50,000 years ago. He continues his historical field trip by exploring pebble counting herder-farmers in the Middle East and the Americas, and then Ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Greece. The text features tables and illustrations. Sidebars offer recreational math.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2002
You won’t need a Delorean, but you’ll need more than what you can find at the local hardware store. After reading this small but dense book, you’ll understand the underlying theory of time travel and possess a plan for constructing a traversable wormhole and turning it into a time machine. A final section addresses questions raised, such as if time travel is possible, where are all the tourists from the future on their time travel getaways?
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: December 2006
Anyone who spends time with kids knows that cake cutting requires precision. Stewart examines the finer points of cake cutting algorithms. By the way, it becomes increasingly complex with more eaters. He recommends further reading for cake cutting and looks at nineteen other conundrums and puzzles, such as shoe lacing techniques, packing problems, tangled phones cords, zero-one programming, predicting when Easter falls, and more. Stewart wanted to title his book Weapons of Math Distraction, which should give you an idea of its playful nature.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: April 2007
This illustrated history of secret communication opens with a cipher primer. Chapters explore ancient codes and ciphers, military and national applications, and famous secrets revealed. Code fanatics are challenged to crack the kryptos code decorating a sculpture outside the CIA in Langley, Virginia.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2005
The Bobton-Trents are frightfully, frightfully rich, but their precocious son, H for short, discovers they soon will be frightfully, frightfully broke if they don’t earn some money. H and his equally wizard friend Stanton crunch numbers and devise a couple of schemes, but in the end, the Bobton-Trents require a radical change in lifestyle. The value of a balanced budget and friendship are explored in an entertaining manner.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: October 2000
This picture book for children 4-8 contains nonsense verse for the numbers 1-10 fashioned from words rhyming with each number. Moreton's illustrations are as silly and appealing as the verse.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2004
This introduction to looking at art highlights the shapes artists use in creating paintings. American and European art from the 19th and 20th centuries, painting as different as the realism of Winslow Homer and the abstraction of Auguste Herbin contain eleven two dimensional shapes and three dimensional forms.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: November 2003
Count from one bug to ten and back to one. Count bugs that are alike. Count antennae and wings. Count legs and spots. Skip count even numbers and odd numbers. Pallotta packs a lot of counting in a small book, and the illustrators provide plenty of realistic icky bug details.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 1999
Schwartz and Warhola's science/math tale is a great way to introduce students to ratio and proportion. Learning that a frog can jump 20 times its length, or that an ant can lift an object 50 times its weight, students are able to explore what that might mean in human terms.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2007
Nahin relates for a general and mathematical audience the 2000 year history of the square root of minus one, also known as “i.” He combines mathematical and historical discussions and explains the application of complex numbers and functions to important problems. A series of appendices provide extended mathematical explanations.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: December 2002
This book grew out of a mathematician’s attempt to recreate for non-mathematicians the act of mathematical imagining. In the process of exploring imaginary numbers, Mazur examines the role of imagination and imagery in poetry and mathematics, reviewing the work of Girolamo Cardano and Rafael Bombelli. Be of stout heart. No math beyond multiplication is required.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2001
In 1999, 16 year-old Sarah Flannery was declared Ireland's Young Scientist of the Year for a project called "Cryptography - a new Algorithm Versus the RSA." It dealt with the science of secrecy. In this autobiography, Sarah tells her own intellectual journey from solving problems on a blackboard in the kitchen to her own mathematical discoveries.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: December 2000
An inchworm likes to measure vegetables in a garden but is dismayed when she finds her measurement is just a bit off. A half inchworm comes to her aid as do a third inchworm and quarter inchworm. This would make a good introduction to measurement and fractions for children 4-8.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2005
Kurt Godel was 23 when he presented his Incompleteness Proof. Goldstein looks at his mathematical theorem and its implications for mathematics as well as the places, people, and ideas that shaped his thinking.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2005
Berlinski’s brief history of mathematics devotes each of its ten chapters to a breakthrough in mathematics starting with Pythagoras and the right triangle and concluding with Benoit Mandelbrot and Mandelbrot sets.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2005
If the universe is infinite, then there are an infinite number of exact copies of you reading this sentence on identical planets. How about reading over your own shoulder? This book investigates the implications of infinity, an easy word to use but a slippery concept to understand. What is infinity? What are its logical consequences? Barrow writes for the general reader and looks at mathematics, physics, philosophy, and theology, fields that grapple with the concept.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: December 2003
When told there were an infinite number of worlds, Alexander wept that he had not yet conquered one. This tour of the very, very big and the very, very small is aimed at the general reader who is curious about the notable thinkers, from Archimedes to Cantor and Robinson, as well as the mind-boggling concepts.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2001
Fractal Geometry is the geometry of the natural world, not the idealized forms of Euclidean Geometry. This comic-book-like primer presents challenging but fundamental concepts in small, understandable doses. Every page is illustrated, and activities help clarify concepts. In addition to the math, the book presents the people behind the ideas, some as familiar as Mandelbrot, some as obscure as Lewis. F. Richardson.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: August 2001
If you think the Web is big, the Invisible Web is estimated to be 500 times bigger. This guide is a comprehensive effort to define and map the Invisible web. Chapters examine the visible and invisible webs, present case studies, and explore future technology. Half the book is devoted to resources arranged in subject areas. Each entry supplies a URL and a resource description. A copy of this book belongs in every library, school media center, and computer lab.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2003
Newton invented the calculus, the mathematics of change and flow. He is credited with discovering gravity and for splitting white light into its constituent colors. Yet he also studied Alchemy. Gleick furnishes a fascinating glimpse into the life of a secretive genius.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: May 2003
Einstein said “The only physical theories that we are willing to accept are the beautiful ones.” The twelve essays in this collection examine Einstein’s notion of mathematical beauty and the importance of mathematics in the sciences during the twentieth century. There is a lot of physics but also biology, chemistry, information science, and the search for extraterrestrial life.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: February 2001
This picture book for children 4-8 is a collection of activities in math, observation, puzzle solving, shape recognition, mazes, and estimation. Every activity is an arrangement of candy, mostly jelly beans but other familiar penny candy too. An appendix supplies the answers and additional jelly bean super-challenges. Don't try to use this book on an empty stomach.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: 2004
Pappas takes her readers out of the classroom to discover mathematics in the real world. Now in its 20th printing this collection, provides 147 puzzles, historical snapshots, anecdotes, observations, optical illusions, mazes, and more to entertain and instruct. Solutions are at the end of the book.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: September 2005
Su Doku is a number puzzle in a grid. The hardest examples are on 9x9 grids. This collection is aimed at younger puzzlers and begins with 4x4 grids. For those of you who are not already familiar with this relatively new but immensely popular puzzle type, the object is to fill in the blanks without repeating a number in a row, column, or box. The book contains 122 puzzles from easy to more difficult. The answers are collected at the end.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: November 2003
Grandma Beetle is busy getting her house ready for her birthday party when Senor Calavera knocks on her door. Senor Calavera is a skeleton and has come to take her, but she has a trick or two or ten in this combination trickster tale and counting book. Kids count from one to ten in English and Spanish. Morales’s illustrations include many elements of Hispanic culture.
Resource Type: Recommended Non-PBS Book
Subject: Math
Published: January 2003
Sir Walter Raleigh needed a way to know how many cannonballs were in a pile by knowing the shape of the pile. His assistant took this problem a step further and looked for a way to fill a ship’s hold with the maximum number of cannonballs. Johannes Kepler provided a quick answer: stack the cannonballs like oranges. T