Review by Choice Review
Faculty looking for a resource for a liberal arts mathematics course might be interested in this offering by Wallis (Southern Illinois Univ.). Designed for a one-semester course for students with a minimal background in mathematics, the author's intention is to present interesting mathematics that arise in daily living rather than merely rehash the mundane school mathematics of arithmetic and algebra. Using a brief and informal style, initial chapters cover background mathematics in areas such as numbers, sets, counting techniques, probability, data distributions, and sampling techniques. From there, Wallis discusses a variety of topics, all motivated by easily stated but interesting problems. Graph theory is introduced by way of the Konigsberg bridge and traveling salesman problems. Three chapters are devoted to the mathematics of identification numbers, including check digits; data transmission; and cryptography, including an elementary introduction to the RSA public key code. Two chapters focus on voting systems and problems inherent to them. The text concludes with a treatment of financial mathematics, and a chapter titled "Growth and Decay," which discusses inflation, population growth, and radioactive decay. Given these numerous and diverse topics, any instructor should be able to successfully build an interesting course. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates, two-year technical program students, and faculty. D. S. Larson Gonzaga University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
