A women working at a Starbucks told me that her son was having problems with math. I said I would try to find a book for her son that might help. I did find a number of Internet book recommendations but none of the local used book stores or new book sellers had the books I was looking for. My wife wanted to go to Barnes and Noble Book Store and I took that opportunity to look for what they had in stock. They only had one book in the kids section which seemed to have good reviews and I purchased it. I then went into the adult math book section and by chance found an astonishing math book called “Help Your Kids With Math“. When I was very young my parents purchased an electronic theory book set that instructed the reader mainly with pictures. Those books helped me become self taught in electronics. I had never seen a math book teaching the reader by using images like this book. Even though this book says it is aimed at teaching kids, I bought me a copy. A few days later I purchased another copy for the Starbucks barista’s son. I slipped in a letter to this by which I will show you below:
Dear xxxxx,
Your mom told me you are having difficulty in math. I am giving you this book in the hope it helps you comprehend math in a new visual way. Some tricks I have learned about problem solving I will now share with you. First, do not give up. Second, walk around the problem to view it from a different perspective. Third, try to understand the problem using different methods. Fourth, when facing a near impossible problem, turn it into a challenge, a contest.
Some times just going to school and listening to a teacher and reading a school text book will fail you. Some times you need to seek out a different method if you are not understanding the material.
I am giving you this book because it offers you all of these solutions. This book shows you all of math visually. The book should look scary to you beyond the first few chapters. This is because it shows you the whole math path and you are at its beginning. Use it as a reference book. It should help you all your life to “see” math relationships. I have never seen this method used for math before. I am really impressed with this book. I have my own copy.
Why study math? Math is a language; it is a method; it is a tool; it is a long struggle; it is tough to learn and it offers wonderful rewards when you understand it. Because it is tough to learn, it can determine how successful you might be in some professions and how much money you will make. For example, if you can comprehend trigonometry, you can better become a computer game designer. If you pass calculus you can get a degree in business, engineering and science making $50,000 to $100,000 or more. If you go further and become an actuary, you should make $150,000 to $250,000 a year.
As you can see, the math path has more rewards the further you can travel its length. I do hope this book helps you get further. Please remember not to give up.
Update: 3-6-19: The web link needed to be replaced because I got a “404 Not Found”.