Brookhart C. Go Figure! Using Math to Answer Everyday Imponderables

McGraw-Hill, 2002. — 144 pages.Go Figure is an engaging and diverse collection of maths-related anecdotes, puzzles and formulas. It shows readers all the interesting things they can figure out using basic algebra.As Bruce Merserve and Max Sobel observed in their Introduction to Mathematics (Prentice-Hall), Many people study mathematics just for fun! These individuals would rather solve a mathematical
puzzle than read a book, watch television, or go to a movie. Admittedly, not everyone has, or can have, this type of disposition. On the other hand, most of us use mathematical concepts in a variety of ways but have never been given an opportunity to explore some of the more interesting aspects of mathematics.This author couldn’t have said it better! Numbers are around us everywhere. Newcomers to
mathematics will find that dealing with them will be very important in molding many careers. For fields of business, social sciences, health fields, and particularly engineering and science, mathematics is an invaluable support ingredient.Scientific Calculator ApplicationsxSomething for Everyone
How Far Can You See? How Far Is the Horizon from a Height?
Baby, It’s Cold Outside! Effects of Temperature and Wind
Hey! Cool It! Temperature-Humidity Index
Easy Volumes: One Formula Simplifies It All
Looking Back: How Many Direct Ancestors Do You Have?
Looking for a Date? Carbon Dating and the Shroud of Turin
California Earthquakes: Three Mini Big Ones in Four Years!
Dollars and Sense: High Finance Made Simple
The Making of a Star: Doing It the Old-Fashioned Way
Ups and Downs: Exponential Growth and Decay
Patterns in Arithmetic: The Ubiquitous Number Nine
Backward Numbers: How the n Factorial Works
“Horizontaling” a Slope: Slope Correction Measurements Made Easy
Just Between Us Cities: The Gravity Law in Sociology
Lottery Fever: It’s Everywhere!
They’re Off! For Thoroughbred Horse Racing Fans
Want to Know the Temperature? Listen to the Crickets
You Can’t Prove It by Me! Goldbach’s Conjecture
Isn’t That Stretching It a Bit? Increasing the Earth’s Circumference
When You Grow Up: Predicting Your Child’s Height
It’s Not Easy, but It’s Fun! Square Roots, Cube Roots, and nth Roots
How Many of Us Will There Be? Population Growth in the United States
There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute: The Pyramid Scheme
Something Doesn’t Add Up! Baseball Arithmetic
It Took Only 350 Years to Prove! Fermat’s Last Theorem
It’s All Around Us: The Fibonacci SeriesWorkings of Time and Space
Solar System Mechanics
Calculator Math Made Simple: The Power of Scientific Notation
Properties of Solar System Bodies
Escape Velocity
Earth-Moon Point of Equilibrium
Synchronous Satellites
Kepler’s Third Law
Application of Newton’s Inverse-Square Law
Halley’s Comet
Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity and the Twin Paradox
Energy Forever? Einstein’s Equation
Food for ThoughtDid You Know?
For Neophytes
For Middle-of-the-Roaders
For Pure Math BuffsOne for the Road
Lazy Method of Substitution in Polynomials
Appendix A: Metric Conversions
Appendix B: Scientific Notation
Appendix C: Formulas, Relationships, and Notation
Appendix D: Commentary: Logarithms
Appendix E: Commentary: Newton’s Inverse-Square Law
Appendix F: Decimal Equivalents for Fractions of a Year