The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help You Lose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse

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Overview

Jennifer Ouellette Feels Your Pain. But she's here to tell you that the mysteries of calculus aren't nearly so scary when they're faced head on. In The Calculus Diaries, the award-winning science writer recounts her year confronting her math phobia. With wit and verve, Ouellette shows how she learned to apply calculus to everything from gas mileage and dieting to Disneyland rides and shooting craps in Vegas-definitively proving that even the mathematically challenged can learn the fundamentals of the universal ...

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The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help You Lose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse

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More About This Book

Overview

Jennifer Ouellette Feels Your Pain. But she's here to tell you that the mysteries of calculus aren't nearly so scary when they're faced head on. In The Calculus Diaries, the award-winning science writer recounts her year confronting her math phobia. With wit and verve, Ouellette shows how she learned to apply calculus to everything from gas mileage and dieting to Disneyland rides and shooting craps in Vegas-definitively proving that even the mathematically challenged can learn the fundamentals of the universal language.

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Editorial Reviews

Nature
“In The Calculus Diaries, science writer Jennifer Ouellette makes maths palatable using a mix of humour, anecdote and enticing facts. . .Using everyday examples, such as petrol mileage and fairground rides, Ouellette makes even complex ideas such as calculus and probability appealing.”
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780143117377
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 8/31/2010
  • Pages: 336
  • Sales rank: 365,937
  • Product dimensions: 5.30 (w) x 7.90 (h) x 0.80 (d)

Meet the Author

Jennifer Ouellette is a card-carrying member of the National Association of Science Writers. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Discover, Salon, and Nature. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Cal Tech cosmologist Sean Carroll.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xiii

Prologue: I Could Be Mathier 1

1 To Infinity and Beyond 11

2 Drive Me Crazy 40

3 Casino Royale 65

4 The Devil's Playground 93

5 Show Me the Money 119

6 A Pox upon It 140

7 Body Heat 171

8 The Catenary Tales 202

9 Surfin' Safari 225

Epilogue: The Mimetics of Math 249

Appendix 1 Doing the Math 263

Appendix 2 Calculus of the Living Dead 293

Bibliography 299

Index 309

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Sort by: Showing all of 14 Customer Reviews

  • Posted April 12, 2012

    I thought this book would be full of math equations, yet it was

    I thought this book would be full of math equations, yet it was stories of how math is used in the real world. great book, highly recommended.

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    Posted October 28, 2010

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