Quick(er) Calculations

How to Add, Subtract, Multiply, Square, and Square Root More Swiftly

Quick(er) Calculations
Trevor Davis Lipscombe
RRP:
NZ$ 41.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 33.59
Hardback
h216 x 135mm - 176pg
1 May 2021 UK
9780198852650
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
How fast can you calculate? Would you like to be faster? This book presents the time honored tricks and tips of calculation, from a fresh perspective, to boost the speed at which you can add - whether a couple of numbers, or columns so long an accountant may faint. Find out how to subtract, multiply, divide, and find square roots more quickly. What' s more, this book gives suggestions for how to find answers that are "good enough" for tricky tasks like dividing by 17. It includes brand new ways to multiply and divide irrational numbers such as pi, e, the square root of 2, and the golden ratio. It has sections devoted to ancient mathematics, and the techniques we can borrow from previous and other cultures, in order to calculate more quickly. Examples, some serious, some fun, come from everyday life or from history - likehot dog eating competitions, the Vatican' s cricket team, the molecular weight of the molecule with the world' s longest name, and the amount of people taken by Henry VIII to arguably history' s biggest party, the Field of the Cloth of Gold. In an age of timed multiple-choice questions, the swifter you can sum, orrule out wrong answers, the better you will do. If you love to play with numbers, this book will be recreational reading. And if you ever wonder whether simple arithmetic problems can crop up in everyday life, this book provides a fresh perspective.
If you think mental arithmetic is out of date in the 21st century, think again. This engaging book is about insight and interestingness beyond the simple utility of quicker calculations. The general style is original and characterful, and makes the book distinctive. * Prasenjit Saha, University of Zurich * This book is about very elementary concepts that ought to be read by sophisticated people who appreciate that elementary does not mean trivial. The author' s erudite scholarship shines in the prose, along with just the right level of dry wit. It' s serious stuff he' s writing about (without numbers and arithmetic, our modern world simply vanishes into the ancient past where numbers were limited to none, one, and many), but in such a way that the reader does not slowlynod-off into a coma. * Paul J. Nahin, University of New Hampshire * Lipscombe' s book is unusual, being, as it is, an expansive view of a small subject. The text he presents here is excellent, and is a model of everything a writer strives for: concision, simplicity, directness, accuracy, and surprise. * Don S. Lemons, Bethel College, Kansas *
Trevor Lipscombe graduated with an undergraduate degree in theoretical physics from Queen Mary College, University of London, and then obtained a doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Oxford. He is the author, with Alice Calaprice, of "Albert Einstein: A Biography," and sole author of "The Physics of Rugby," which was selected as one of the best ten physics books of 2009. He edited the critical edition of Saint John HenryNewman' s novel "Loss and Gain. " Trevor was a postdoctoral researcher at the Levich Institute at the City College of New York, but has also worked in a homeless shelter, a physics journal, and three university presses. He remains fond of finding ways to present science-related materials simply.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9780198852650
Published: 1 May 2021
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Format: Hardback
Height: 216mm
Width: 135mm
Pages: 176

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