[MATHEDCC] Liberal Arts Mathematics

Patrick Cully (cullyp@INTAC.COM)
Thu, 21 Aug 97 16:31:07 -0400

I have a lot of books about mathematics (as opposed to books that teach
mathematics) that I am very pleased with. These include "From Here to
Infinity" by Ian Stewart, "Five Golden Rules" by John Casti and recently,
I purchased "Visual Revelations" by Howard Wainer. Both Stewart and
Casti are first rate expositors and discuss the latest mathematical
theories. Stewarts book in particular I am finding full of wonderful
surprises. Incidently, for those who are interested, I believe Stewart's
book on Galois Theory is the best one out there.

The book by Wainer is actually about graphs and charts. It has wonderful
examples from history, but also goes into detail on what makes graphs
communicate and how information can be cleverly misrepresented. I was
surprised to see that there is actually a lot of mathematics in this
subject so that students can both learn elementary math and grow
sophisticated about charts at the same time. I highly recommend this
book and intend to use it in my eighth grade Algebra class.
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