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Description of  Go Figure!: Using Math to Answer Everyday Imponderables

Provides a collection of math puzzles and mind benders with instructions for solving them. This book, which was written by an engineer, might have been more appropriately subtitled, "Now that I have a scientific calculator, what do I do with it?" There is little here in the way of proof but lots of formulas with explanations of how to use them. The topics covered range from calculating the wind chill factor and temperature humidity index to computing the time dilation effect predicted by Einstein's theory of special relativity. Although not too many people will read this for pleasure, the book could be used to advantage as a supplementary text in a course in "cultural mathematics." It might well motivate students to learn how to use a calculator while at the same time exposing them to some of the ways math impinges on their lives. For most math collections.