How Math Can Save Your Life: (And Make You Rich, Help You Find The One, and Avert Catastrophes)

by James D. Stein

Overview

Are service contracts for electronics just a scam?

Should your lottery ticket contain numbers greater than 31?

How do you know when he or she is "the one"?

How Math Can Save Your Life shows you how to use basic arithmetic to answer these and many other questions that come up in everyday life. You'll discover how simple math can make you lots of money, keep you safe, and even save the world. Not bad for something you learned back in grade school.

Filled with practical, indispensable guidance you can put to work every day, this book will safeguard your wallet and enrich every aspect of your life.

"Even if you hated math in school, you'll like this book. Jim Stein presents math the way I wish my teachers had: as a practical tool that can be used to solve everyday problems in the real world. Using down-to-earth langauge and real-life examples, Stein shows how even quick, back-of-the-envelope math can help us avoid costly errors."
—Joseph T. Hallinan, author of Why We Make Mistakes

"Stein pulls off a literary hat trick by writing a book about mathematics that is fun, friendly and factual. It's the definitive answer to the student's question, 'When will I ever need this stuff?'"
—Leonard Wapner, author of The Pea and the Sun: A Mathematical Paradox

Learn how a little math can help:

• Avert disasters

• Beat the bookies

• Boost your grades

• Extend your life expectancy

• Fix the economy

• Improve your love life

• Make you rich

• Win arguments

• And much more!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470569740
Publisher:	Trade Paper Press
Publication date:	02/12/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	754 KB

About the Author

James D. Stein is the author of How Math Explains the World: A Guide to the Power of Numbers, From Car Repair to Modern Physics and is a professor of mathematics at California State University, Long Beach. A graduate of Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley, he has taught college math for more than forty years.

Table of Contents

Preface.

Introduction: What Math Can Do for You.

1 The Most Valuable Chapter You Will Ever Read.

Are service contracts for electronics and appliances just a scam?

How likely are you to win at roulette?

Is it worth going to college?

2 How Math Can Help You Understand Sports Strategy.

Why could Bart Simpson probably beat you at rock, paper, scissors?

What are "pure" and "mixed" strategies?

Is a pass play or a run play more likely to make a first down?

3 How Math Can Help Your Love Life.

How do you know when he or she is "the one"?

Whom should you ask to the senior prom?

Why are women reputed to be fickle while men are steadfast?

4 How Math Can Help You Beat the Bookies.

Why should your lottery ticket contain numbers greater than 31?

Can you overcome a negative expectation?

When should you bluff and when should you fold?

5 How Math Can Improve Your Grades.

Will guessing on a multiple-choice test get you a better score?

What test subject should you spend the most time studying for?

What subject should you major in?

6 How Math Can Extend Your Life Expectancy.

How dangerous is it to speed?

Why might your prescription show the wrong dosage?

Should you have a risky surgery or not?

7 How Math Can Help You Win Arguments.

Was the bailout the only way to save the banks?

Do you really have logic on your side?

What are the first arithmetic tables learned by children on Spock's home planet?

8 How Math Can Make You Rich.

How can you actually make money off credit card companies?

Will refinancing your house actually save money?

Is a hybrid car a better value?

9 How Math Can Help You Crunch the Numbers.

How did statistics help prevent cholera in nineteenth-century London?

Why won't Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf’s son be a tennis prodigy?

Are you more likely to meet someone over 7 feet tall or someone more than 100 years old?

10 How Math Can Fix the Economy.

What is the "Tulip Index"?

What doesn't the mortgage banking industry understand about negative numbers?

What caused the stock market crash of 1929?

11 Arithmetic for the Next Generation.

How can you get your kids interested in math?

What is the purpose of arithmetic?

How does Monopoly money make learning division easier?

12 How Math Can Help Avert Disasters.

What caused the Challenger space shuttle crash?

How could we have prevented much of the damage from Hurricane Katrina?

How can you determine the possible cost of a disaster?

13 How Math Can Improve Society.

How much is a human life worth in dollars?

When should legal cases be settled out of court?

At what point does military spending become unnecessary?

14 How Math Can Save the World.

Do extraterrestrial aliens exist?

How can we prevent nuclear war and a major asteroid impact?

When is the world going to end?

Notes.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

* Taking his lead from Freakonomics, mathematics professor Stein examines everyday, occasional, and inevitable life problems—what's the financial benefit of a college degree over a lifetime? Is gambling more cost-efficient entertainment than a first-run movie? How much money does a hybrid car actually save?—through the lens of arithmetic, with enlightening, and sometimes surprising, results. Addressing topics like genetics, statistics, and economics with practical knowledge sure to heighten math literacy—and the appreciation for it—Stein illustrates concepts like game theory by analyzing the benefit-to-risk ratio of his father's surgery, buying flowers for a significant other, and football plays. Stein offers numerous suggestions for improving mathematics education and for making mental math easier, as well as for handling more immediate concerns like refinancing the house (will it actually save you money?), studying for tests (how effective is guessing on a multiple-choice quiz?) and finding love (“The original title for this book, suggested by my editor, was How Math Can Get You Laid”). With a sure grasp of the material and a game sense of humor, Stein's text should interest a broad audience of intellectually curious readers, including any fan of practical cultural analysis ala Malcolm Gladwell. (Mar.) (Publishers Weekly.com, February 8, 2010)

From the Publisher