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

by Stein, James D.

• ISBN13: 9780470437759
• ISBN10: 0470437758
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-03-08
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

How to make lots of money, keep yourself safe, and even save the world-all by using a little simple mathForget the dull, boring math you learned in school. This book shows you the powerful things math can do for you, with applications no teacher ever taught you in algebra class. How can you make money off credit card companies? Will driving a hybrid save you money in the long run? How do you know when he or she is "the one"?From financial decisions to your education, job, health, and love life, you'll learn how the math you already know can help you get a lot more out of life. Gives you fun, practical advice for using math to improve virtually every area of daily life Includes straightforward explanations and easy-to-follow examples Written by the author of the successful guide, How Math Explains the WorldFilled with practical, indispensable guidance you can put to work every day, this book will safeguard your wallet and enrich every aspect of your life. You can count on it!

Author Biography

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	p. xi
Introduction: What Math Can Do for You	p. 1
The Most Valuable Chapter You Will Ever Read	p. 5
Are service contracts for electronics and appliances just a scam?
How likely are you to win at roulette?
Is it worth going to college?
How Math Can Help You Understand Sports Strategy	p. 21
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?
How Math Can Help Your Love Life	p. 37
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?
How Math Can Help You Beat the Bookies	p. 47
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?
How Math Can Improve Your Grades	p. 65
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?
How Math Can Extend Your Life Expectancy	p. 77
How dangerous is it to speed?
Why might your prescription show the wrong dosage?
Should you have a risky surgery or not?
How Math Can Help You Win Arguments	p. 89
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?
How Math Can Make You Rich	p. 107
How can you actually make money off credit card companies?
Will refinancing your house actually save money?
Is a hybrid car a better value?
How Math Can Help You Crunch the Numbers	p. 125
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?
How Math Can Fix the Economy	p. 147
What is the “Tulip Index”?
What doesn't the mortgage banking industry understand about negative numbers?
What caused the stock market crash of 1929?
Arithmetic for the Next Generation	p. 165
How can you get your kids interested in math?
What is the purpose of arithmetic?
How does Monopoly money make learning division easier?
How Math Can Help Avert Disasters	p. 191
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?
How Math Can Improve Society	p. 205
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?
How Math Can Save the World	p. 215
Do extraterrestrial aliens exist?
How can we prevent nuclear war and a major asteroid impact?
When is the world going to end?
Notes	p. 229
Index	p. 235
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