Stan Gibilisco - Everyday Math Demystified

Everyday Math Demystified

Demystified Series

Advanced Statistics Demystified
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Biology Demystified
Business Statistics Demystified
Calculus Demystified
Chemistry Demystified
College Algebra Demystified
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Everyday Math Demystified
Geometry Demystified
Physics Demystified
Physiology Demystified
Pre-Algebra Demystified
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STAN GIBILISCO

Copyright 2004 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-147106-0

MHID: 0-07-147106-5

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To Samuel, Tim, and Tony from Uncle Stan

This book is for people who want to refine their math skills at the high-school level. It can serve as a supplemental text in a classroom, tutored, or home-schooling environment. It should also be useful for career changers who want to refresh or augment their knowledge. I recommend that you start at the beginning and complete a chapter a week. An hour or two daily ought to be enough time for this. When youre done, you can use this book as a permanent reference.

This course has an abundance of practice quiz, test, and exam questions. They are all multiple-choice, and are similar to the sorts of questions used in standardized tests. There is a short quiz at the end of every chapter. The quizzes are open-book. You may (and should) refer to the chapter texts when taking them. When you think youre ready, take the quiz, write down your answers, and then give your answers to a friend. Have the friend tell you your score, but not which questions you got wrong. The answers are listed in the back of the book. Stick with a chapter until you get most of the answers correct.

This book is divided into multi-chapter sections. At the end of each section, there is a multiple-choice test. Take these tests when youre done with the respective sections and have taken all the chapter quizzes. The section tests are closed-book, but the questions are easier than those in the quizzes. A satisfactory score is 75% or more correct. Again, answers are in the back of the book.

There is a final exam at the end of this course. It contains questions drawn uniformly from all the chapters. A satisfactory score is at least 75% correct answers. With the section tests and the final exam, as with the quizzes, have a friend tell you your score without letting you know which questions you missed. That way, you will not subconsciously memorize the answers. You can check to see where your knowledge is strong and where it is not.

When youre finished with this supplemental course, youll have an advantage over your peers. Youll have the edge when it comes to figuring out solutions to problems in a variety of situations people encounter in todays technological world. Youll understand the why, as well as the what and the how.

Suggestions for future editions are welcome.

Stan Gibilisco

Illustrations in this book were generated with CorelDRAW. Some of the clip art is courtesy of Corel Corporation.

I extend thanks to Emma Previato of Boston University, who helped with the technical editing of the manuscript.

Everyday Math Demystified

Mathematics is expressed in language alien to people unfamiliar with it. Someone talking about mathematics can sound like a rocket scientist. Written mathematical documents are often laden with symbology. Before you proceed further, look over . It will help you remember symbols used in basic mathematics, and might introduce you to a few symbols youve never seen before!