Math Illuminated: A Visual Guide to Calculus and Its Applications (4 book series)

45 reviews for Math Illuminated: A Visual Guide to Calculus and Its Applications (4 book series)

1. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   J. Bassett (verified owner) – December 29, 2018

   OK, with the title of “Math with Bad Drawings,” I’m not quite sure what I expected, but I’m not disappointed. It is not heavy on the math, meaning there is enough English to make reading it enjoyable.

   I haven’t sat down and read the book yet; I’ve done the “let’s check out this part” routine. I plan on starting it this weekend. I don’t have the book in front of me, but there is one chapter about Darth Vader’s Death Star that I’m looking forward to reading.

   Once I’m finished, the rating may increase. 🙂
2. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Kindle Customer (verified owner) – January 1, 2019

   This looks like a really interesting book. (If you open the preview, you can see the first couple of pages of each section by clicking on the section head in table of contents. Does that work all the time?) I normally buy books like this for my middle school grand kids and their teachers (I hope they’ll keep the book around until they’re old enough to understand it. However, I think the target market is college age kids so I didn’t because the paper book is kind of pricey. I normally send ebooks in that case but the ebook was above my normal 9.99 max. However, if you know some college kid struggling with higher math issues, might buy it. BTW: No option to download a sample. Sigh. (Yes, I’m an Amazon author and understand the system.)
3. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Piaw Na (verified owner) – January 8, 2019

   Sometimes, I’ll watch as Bowen puts down an advanced book he’s been reading, and revert to reading a pre-school book more suitable to his brother. I call those moments “taking a stupid pill.” It’s fun to do something easy once in a while, just so you can reassure yourself that the things you knew were the things you knew.

   Math with Bad Drawings is a great book to read when you’re taking a stupid pill. It covers all math/statistics/probability you already know, including probability, statistics, etc. In the opening chapter he covers Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe, which is a fun game that I’ve now taught to my wife and Bowen. That, alone was worth the cost of the book.

   The drawings are pretty bad, and even worse on the kindle edition. Sometimes I didn’t even bother zooming in to read the cartoons, because they’re not very funny anyway. Much of the coverage is rather pedestrian, though if you haven’t been reading too many science books they might not be familiar to you. There’s a section on trusses that’s fun, and in an obvious homage to Martin Gardner, a description of the game of life, though unfortunately, at a rather shallow level.

   Would I recommend this over a Martin Gardner book? No. But if you’re having a day when you took a stupid pill, this book is much more accessible than Martin Gardner, and is much more readable. Hey, how often would you find a math book I’d recommend that would make for a light airplane read? Recommended.
4. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Boutros Ghassibi (verified owner) – February 5, 2019

   Fun to read. A little slow for an adult.
   A lot of witty sarcasm; a little too much for me.
5. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Fran R (verified owner) – March 21, 2019

   this is a great fun way to think about the many ways that math is part of our lives. i’ve been trying to figure out how to incorporate it into middle school math, so if anyone out there has some ideas…
6. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Amazon Customer (verified owner) – June 1, 2019

   Enjoying the book.
7. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   MDauldschool (verified owner) – December 21, 2019

   I am not facile in math and have no desire to tackle difficult equations. But I do recognize that math is fundamental to the world as we conceive it. This book gave me insight to the underlying principles of mathematics and was both interesting and enjoyable.
8. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Kathy/Jim W. (verified owner) – April 19, 2020

   Very clear explanations. Range of topics covered a bit thin for someone with accounting background. i.e. I already knew 50% or more. For general population probably great.
9. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Ian Simon (verified owner) – November 3, 2021

   The first few chapters had specific mathematical concepts. Subsequent chapters seemed to focus on more abstract and broader topics of mathematical applications in society. I was hoping for more interesting mathematical concepts, but it was still very interesting and an enjoyable read.
10. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    JM (verified owner) – December 5, 2021

    I wish chapters from this book accompanied text book readings in various courses while I was in school. Pragmatism and humor make the complex digestible… and entertaining!
11. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Niche (verified owner) – February 23, 2024

    This was a pretty slow start for me. The humor didn’t really click, and I didn’t find if particularly engaging until probability and statistics came to the fore about a third in. It mostly argues that math isn’t some esoteric and impractical exercise, but instead a language of logic.
12. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    HELSOL (verified owner) – March 12, 2025

    Looks great, but book came in a box with heavy things and the edges were a little more roughed up than I’d like with it being a gift.

    It was a bday gift for my middle and high school math teacher husband, so it’ll definitely get roughed up on its own, but he seems excited go through it with students.