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The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help You…
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The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help You Lose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse (édition 2010)

par Jennifer Ouellette

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2458108,502 (3.13)2
"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.… (plus d'informations)
Membre:teagueamania
Titre:The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help You Lose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse
Auteurs:Jennifer Ouellette
Info:Penguin (Non-Classics) (2010), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 336 pages
Collections:Liste de livres désirés
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Mots-clés:Amazon wish list

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

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» Voir aussi les 2 mentions

Affichage de 1-5 de 8 (suivant | tout afficher)
DNF - For a book that seemed meant to relate calculus to real life there was not nearly enough of the relating of calculus to real life.
  sgwordy | Dec 31, 2022 |
This was an absolutely wonderful introduction to real-world uses of calculus. It's made me want to learn it, desperately. I highly recommend this to anyone who doesn't like math, because it's great at making the reader interested. ( )
  SwitchKnitter | Dec 19, 2021 |
What this book is not:
1) A diary of the author's attempt to overcome her fear and loathing of calculus (save for the introduction and the epilogue).
2) An introduction to calculus.

What this book is:
1) A list of applications for calculus not unlike Week One of a calculus syllabus or the introduction to a calculus textbook.
2) A collection of anecdotes and facts about major figures (and some often overlooked figures and a couple of contemporary interviewees) throughout the history of calculus and physics, plus illustrative events to which calculus could have/should have/had been applied (like the tulip bubble market).

I think I was not the audience for the book, despite the catchy title, the charm of the author's writing style and our shared love of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. (I do think I'd like Ouellette's science articles and may end up checking out her other books.) I've already taken calculus and am aware of the variety of practical applications; I just really, really didn't grasp the concepts. So a book that gives only a quick and basic explanation of what a derivative is and then spends nearly 300 pages showing all the things a derivative could be used to find... was more frustrating than illuminating. Especially when the author in the introduction admits that The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus was too difficult for her initially and then unironically recommends it in the Appendix for anyone who wants to actually learn any math. This discovery resulted in some flailing around on my part, which led to putting down the book for a couple months before I decided to just power through it anyway, even if I didn't really get the calculus itself.

Also, the sine and cosine illustrations? Don't match up correctly. Not helpful, no matter how cute the little sine surfer dude is! (I mainly noticed because waves are the part of physics I'm most comfortable with -- I spent a whole semester on The Physics of Sound in college.) Bad illustrator, no biscuit. ( )
  akaGingerK | Sep 30, 2018 |
Meh. Quickly lapses into anecdote saturated over-thesaurusized narci-journalism. Didn't finish. ( )
  scott.bradley | Jul 24, 2014 |
Låt det vara klart från början: Jennifer Ouelletes The calculus diaries är inte en mattebok – det är en bok om matematik, närmare bestämt differentialkalkyl. Syftet är egentligen inte att man skall kunna räkna på saker när man läst den, utan att man skall veta vad man kan räkna på om man behärskar derivator och integraler (samt sannolikhetsanalys).

Visst, man får lära sig en del praktiska saker också, som lite om kägelsnitt, eller en hyfsad härledning av hur man räknar derivator och integraler, eller en helt okej förklaring av Fourierserier (som dock inte hålls isär riktigt ordentligt från Fouriertransformen). Mycket av boken är dock anekdoter, vilket tillsammans med de ständiga billiga skämten, ibland ger en lätt andfådd känsla: titta, man kan räkna på berg-och-dalbanor! och Zombier! och tulpanmarknaden i Holland på 1600-talet! och bågformer! och energikonsumtion! och titta här är en vetenskapsman! och här är en till! och en till!

Nå, matten är i huvudsak bra, och även komplikationer jag fruktade skulle missas tas efterhand upp. Det finns förvisso några misstag, i stil med missade parenteser i något uttryck. Den poäng som görs i slutet är också bra: matte handlar inte i första hand om medfödd talang, utan om övning. Även om man kanske inte kan ut var man befinner sig från ens hastighet så är dessutom bara vetskapen om att det går något att glädjas över; om man bara håller utkik och funderar så kanske man till slut förstår varför det där som lärarna försökte banka in i skallen på en var viktigt. Gör man bara det, så gör nöjet av att förstå att de praktiska svårigheterna känns betydligt lättare att ta sig igenom. ( )
  andejons | Nov 24, 2013 |
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"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.

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