Perfectly Perilous Math – A Book!
The Book of Perfectly Perilous Math is a new book from Workman Publishing. It fits in as a sequel to the popular science books Book of Totally Irresponsible Science and The Book of Potentially Catastrophic Science.
The topic, as the title implies, is more about Math than Science Experimentation. That does not mean this book is as dull as an elementary math text, however. The book tries to live up to its title of “perilous”. Situations are described where the reader must come up with answers – such as in chapter 13 where you and some friends must cross a rickety rope bridge to escape zombies. Scenarios like this are the mainstay of this book and make math exciting. Blank pages are provided to work out the Math.
Examples of problems include:
Calculating if a rate will chew through a rope holding a bladed pendulum before it cuts into you tied up underneath it.
Destroying an asteroid using Geometry
Defeat Vampires using algebra
Use hourglasses to escape death by Pirates!
Calculate how to decompress from a diving expedition to avoid getting the Bends.
Figure out how long shipmates can survive on a barrel of fresh water after being shipwrecked!
As you can see, many of these problems involve life-or-death situations. The book is aimed at grabbing the interest of young mathematicians and keeping it with perilous situations to solve their way out of!
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