The Calculus Diaries
Subtitle: How math can help you lose weight, win in Vegas, and survive a zombie apocalypse
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2010
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 318
ISBN-13: 9780143117377
Description: "Were you traumatized by high school calculus? Does the mere mention of integrals and derivatives make you queasy? Jennifer Ouellette feels your pain. She never took math in college, mostly because she -- like most people -- assumed that she wouldn't need it in real life. But then the English-major-turned-award-winning-science-writer had a change of heart and decided to revisit the equations and formulas that had haunted her for years. And she's here to tell you that the mysteries of calculus aren't nearly so scary when they're faced head on. The Calculus Diaries is the fun and fascinating account of her year spent confronting her math phobia. With wit and verve, Ouellette shows how she learned to apply calculus to everything from gas mileage, diet, and the rides at Disneyland, to surfing in Hawaii, shooting craps in Vegas, and warding off zombies famished for tasty fresh brains. Along the way, she proves that even the mathematically challenged can learn the fundamentals of the universal language"--Publisher description.
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgments
pagenum: xiii; title: Prologue: I Could Be Mathier
pagenum: 1; label: 1
title: To Infinity and Beyond
pagenum: 11; label: 2
title: Drive Me Crazy
pagenum: 40; label: 3
title: Casino Royale
pagenum: 65; label: 4
title: The Devil's Playground
pagenum: 93; label: 5
title: Show Me the Money
pagenum: 119; label: 6
title: A Pox upon It
pagenum: 140; label: 7
title: Body Heat
pagenum: 171; label: 8
title: The Cantenary Tales
pagenum: 202; label: 9
title: Surfin' Safari
pagenum: 225; title: Epilogue: The Mimetics of Math
pagenum: 249; title: Appendix 1: Doing the Math
pagenum: 263; title: Appendix 2: Calculus of the Living Dead :
pagenum: 293; title: Bibliography
pagenum: 299; title: Index
pagenum: 309