Beveridge - Basic Maths For Dummies

Basic Maths For Dummies

by Colin Beveridge

Basic Maths For Dummies

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ISBN: 978-1-119-97452-9 (paperback), 978-1-119-97561-8 (ebook), 978-1-119-97562-5 (ebook), 978-1-119-97563-2 (ebook)

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall

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About the Author

Colin Beveridge is a maths confidence coach for Flying Colours Maths and co-author of the Little Algebra Book.

He holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of St Andrews and worked for several years on NASAs Living With A Star project at Montana State University, where he came up with an equation which is named after him. Its used to help save the world from being destroyed by solar flares. So far so good.

He became tired of the glamour of academia and returned to the UK to concentrate on helping students come to terms with maths and show that not all mathematicians are boring nerds; some are exciting, relatively well-adjusted nerds.

Colin lives in Poole, Dorset with an espresso pot, several guitars and nothing to prove. Feel free to visit his website at www.flyingcoloursmaths.co.uk or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/icecolbeveridge.

Authors Acknowledgments

Im very grateful to the team at Dummies Towers for their work and guidance in making this book awesome particularly my editors Rachael Chilvers and Mike Baker.

The writing was largely fuelled by the Little Red Roaster coffee shop in Parkstone, and inspired by the students who helped me develop the ideas and make them simple enough to understand extra-special thanks to Tain Duncan, Ethan Oak and Dale Bannister. LaVonne Ellis, Lisa Valuyskaya and Ryah Albatros from Customer Love all went above and beyond in getting me to just write the blasted thing.

It wouldnt have been written at all without the work my brother Stuart and his colleagues at The Chase did on the Little Algebra Book, or the unfaltering support of my parents Ken Beveridge and Linda Hendren and the tireless encouragement of Melissa Day.

Dedication

For the teachers who taught me most of what I know: Brian Rodrigues, DJ Rowley, Dana Longcope and Naomi Dunford.

And for the students who taught me most of the rest.

Publishers Acknowledgements

Were proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Commissioning, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Rachael Chilvers

Commissioning Editor: Mike Baker

Assistant Editor: Ben Kemble

Development Editor: Colette Holden

Technical Editors: Samuel Harrison, Vincent Kwasnica

Proofreader: Jamie Brind

Production Manager: Daniel Mersey

Publisher: David Palmer

Cover Photo: Shutterstock / Robert Spriggs

Cartoons: Ed McLachlan

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees

Layout and Graphics: Corrie Socolovitch, Christin Swinford

Proofreader: Lauren Mandelbaum

Indexer: Becky Hornyak

Introduction

H i! Im Colin, and I want to change the world.

I live in a world where, when I say Im a maths tutor, people say to me Oh, maths... I was never any good at that, or I havent used maths since I left school.

I live in a world where I have to bite my tongue rather than say I dont mind that you think maths is hard, but I am saddened that youre proud of this, or Are you sure about that? I bet you used maths six times before breakfast this morning.