Math for life: crucial ideas you didn't learn in school PDF
Preview Math for life: crucial ideas you didn't learn in school
Math for Life Crucial Ideas You Didn’t Learn in School UPDATED EDITION What are our real choices for energy? How do politicians play games with redistricting? Is it safe to talk and drive? — and much more Jeffrey Bennett US$25.00 ➤ How can we solve the national debt crisis? ➤ Should you or your child take on a student loan? ➤ Is it safe to talk on a cell phone while driving? ➤ Are there viable energy alternatives to fossil fuels? ➤ What could you do with a billion dollars? ➤ Could simple policy changes reduce political polarization? These questions may all seem very different, but they share two things in common. First, they are all ques- tions with important implications for either personal success or our success as a nation. Second, they all concern topics that we can fully understand only with the aid of clear quantitative or mathematical thinking. In other words, they are topics for which we need math for life—a kind of math that looks quite different from most of the math that we learn in school, but that is just as (and often more) important. In Math for Life, award-winning au- thor Jeffrey Bennett simply and clearly explains the key ideas of quantitative reasoning and applies them to all the above questions and many more. He also uses these questions to analyze our current education system, iden- tifying both shortfalls in the teaching of mathematics and solutions for our educational future. No matter what your own level of mathematical ability, and no matter whether you approach the book as an educator, student, or interested adult, you are sure to find something new and thought-provoking in Math for Life. Math for Life Crucial Ideas You Didn’t Learn in School Jeffrey Bennett BIG KID SCIENCE Boulder, Colorado Education, Perspective, and Inspiration for People of All Ages Math for Life Crucial Ideas You Didn’t Learn in School Math for Life: Crucial Ideas You Didn’t Learn in School © 2012, 2014 by Jeffrey Bennett Updated Edition published by Big Kid Science Boulder, CO www.BigKidScience.com Education, Perspective, and Inspiration for People of All Ages Original edition published by Roberts and Company Publishers, October 2011. Updated edi- tion published by arrangement with Roberts and Company. Changes to the Updated Edition include revising data to be current through the latest available as of mid-2013. Distributed by IPG Order online at www.ipgbook.com or toll-free at 800-888-4741 Editing: Joan Marsh, Lynn Golbetz Composition and design: Side By Side Studios Front cover photo credits: Solar field: ©Pedro Salaverria/Shutterstock Charlotte map:©Tupungato/Shutterstock Texting while driving: ©George Fairbairn/Shutterstock National debt clock: ©Clarinda Maclow Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to the Permis- sions Department at Big Kid Science. ISBN: 978-1-937548-36-0 Table of Contents Preface vii 1 (Don’t Be) “Bad at Math” 1 2 Thinking with Numbers 11 3 Statistical Thinking 33 4 Managing Your Money 65 5 Understanding Taxes 89 6 The U.S. Deficit and Debt 105 7 Energy Math 119 8 The Math of Political Polarization 147 9 The Mathematics of Growth 163 Epilogue: Getting “Good at Math” 183 To Learn More 197 Acknowledgments 199 Also by Jeffrey Bennett 201 Index 203 Index of Examples 209 v Preface The housing bubble. Lotteries. Cell phones and driving. Personal budgeting. The federal debt. Social Security. Tax reform. Energy policy. Global warming. Political redistricting. Population growth. Radiation from nuclear power plants. What do all the above have in common? Each is a topic with important implications for all of us, but also a topic that we can fully understand only if we approach it with clear quantitative or mathematical thinking. In other words, these are all topics for which we need “math for life”—a kind of math that looks quite different from most of the math that we learn in school, but that is just as (and sometimes more) important. Now, in case the word “math” has you worried for any reason, rest assured that this is not a math book in any traditional sense. You won’t find any com- plex equations in this book, nor will you see anything that looks much like what you might have studied in high school or college mathematics classes. Instead, the focus of this book will be on what is sometimes called quantita- tive reasoning, which means using numbers and other mathematically based ideas to reason our way through the kinds of problems that confront us in everyday life. As the list in the first paragraph should show, these problems range from the personal to the global, and over everything in between. So what exactly will you learn about “math for life” in this short book? Perhaps the best way for me to explain it is to list my three major goals in writing this book: 1. On a personal level, I hope this book will prove practical in helping you make decisions that will improve your health, your happiness, and your financial future. To this end, I’ll discuss some general principles of quantitative reasoning that you may not have learned previously, while also covering specific examples that will include how to evaluate claims of health benefits that you may hear in the news (or in adver- tisements) and how to make financial decisions that will keep you in control of your own life. vii viii Math for Life 2. On a societal level, I hope to draw attention to what I believe are oft- neglected mathematical truths that underlie many of the most impor- tant problems of our time. For example, I believe that far too few of us (and far too few politicians) understand the true magnitude of our cur- rent national budget predicament, the true challenge of meeting our future energy needs, or what it means to live in a world whose popu- lation may increase by another 3 billion people during the next few decades. I hope to show you how a little bit of quantitative reasoning can illuminate these and other issues, thereby making it more likely that we’ll find ways to bridge the political differences that have up until now stood in the way of real solutions. 3. On the level of educational policy, I hope that this book will have an impact on the way we think about mathematics education. As I’ll argue throughout the book, I believe that we can and must do a much bet- ter job both in teaching our children traditional mathematics—mean- ing the kind of mathematics that is necessary for modern, high-tech careers—and in teaching the mathematics of quantitative reasoning that we all need as citizens in today’s society. I’ll discuss both the prob- lems that exist in our current educational system and the ways in which I believe we can solve them. With those three major goals in mind, I’ll give you a brief overview of how I’ve structured the book. The first chapter focuses on the general impact of societal attitudes toward math. In particular, I’ll explain why I think the fact that so many people will without embarrassment say that they are “bad at math” was a major contributing factor to the housing bubble and the recent recession; I’ll also discuss the roots of poor attitudes toward math and how we can change those attitudes in the future. The second and third chapters provide general guidance for understanding the kinds of mathematical and statistical thinking that lie at the heart of many modern issues and that are in essence the core concepts of “math for life.” The remaining chapters are topic-based, covering all the issues I listed above, and more; note that, while I’d like to think you’ll read the book cover to cover, I’ve tried to make the individual chapters self-contained enough so that you could read them in any order. Finally, in the epilogue, I’ll offer my personal suggestions for changing the way we approach and teach mathematics.
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