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Easy As Pi: The Countless Ways We Use Numbers Every Day
by
Jamie Buchan
Have you ever wondered what makes "seventh heaven" and "cloud nine" so blissful and the number 13 so unlucky? Here's the "4-1-1" on the origins of numerical expressions and the importance of numbers in fiction, film, culture, and religion, including:
How 007 became James Bond's number Imaginary numbers and how they exist How the binary system manages to say so much with o...more
How 007 became James Bond's number Imaginary numbers and how they exist How the binary system manages to say so much with o...more
Hardcover, 174 pages
Published
April 15th 2010
by Reader's Digest Association
(first published June 11th 2009)
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Easy as Pi by Jamie Buchan is an interesting nonfiction book dealing with basic mathematics and numbers. This book describes the countless ways we use numbers everyday throughout our lives, oftentimes without realizing it.
This book is filled with over a hundred different and unique ways that we use numbers in practically every area of our lives. Throughout the course of the book, the reader comes to the realization that numbers occur within multiple subjects and topics including education, cultu...more
This book is filled with over a hundred different and unique ways that we use numbers in practically every area of our lives. Throughout the course of the book, the reader comes to the realization that numbers occur within multiple subjects and topics including education, cultu...more
This might be a mildly amusing toilet-time read for the right person, but I suspect I'm not really in the target audience for the book.
The first of its five sections deals with the occurrence of numbers in popular sayings (at sixes and sevens, et al.), and discusses these sayings' etymologies. Alas, the most interesting examples in this section are either fairly well known already or else the etymology is unknown, and it's not particularly interesting to read that "Nineteen to the dozen is a thi...more
The first of its five sections deals with the occurrence of numbers in popular sayings (at sixes and sevens, et al.), and discusses these sayings' etymologies. Alas, the most interesting examples in this section are either fairly well known already or else the etymology is unknown, and it's not particularly interesting to read that "Nineteen to the dozen is a thi...more
We are a people of numbers. We have phone numbers, house numbers, Social Security numbers, medical records numbers, lot numbers, and serial numbers. Even our computers and electronic devices function with numbers – you get the idea. Easy as Pi gives the read a glimpse into the world of numbers and how society uses them.
A brief summary of the divisions in Easy as Pi:
Numbers in our language – phrases using numbers explained
Numbers in Fiction – Movies, books and TV shows with numbers in the title...more
A brief summary of the divisions in Easy as Pi:
Numbers in our language – phrases using numbers explained
Numbers in Fiction – Movies, books and TV shows with numbers in the title...more
Leslie's Review:
One of my favorite subjects at school is Math so Easy As Pi was great to read. I really learned a lot of new stuff about numbers and not just in relation to math but also in fiction, culture and religion (the book dedicates a chapter for each of these and all nicely organized) that I heard in passing but don't really know the meaning of. For example, I now know the meaning behind the movie title 8 Mile (it's a road in Detroit that provides a socio-economic divide between rich and...more
One of my favorite subjects at school is Math so Easy As Pi was great to read. I really learned a lot of new stuff about numbers and not just in relation to math but also in fiction, culture and religion (the book dedicates a chapter for each of these and all nicely organized) that I heard in passing but don't really know the meaning of. For example, I now know the meaning behind the movie title 8 Mile (it's a road in Detroit that provides a socio-economic divide between rich and...more
From my blog...
Easy as Pi: The Countless Ways We Use Numbers Every Day by Jamie Buchan is a brilliant and interesting read for those who have a fondness for math as well as those who have an aversion to math. Buchan's book offers up tidbits to delight and intrigue readers. Easy as Pi is written in short bursts, tidbits if you will, for the reader to enjoy to leisure. Being quite passionate about math, my family and I read straight through the book which equally entertained and enlightened each o...more
Easy as Pi: The Countless Ways We Use Numbers Every Day by Jamie Buchan is a brilliant and interesting read for those who have a fondness for math as well as those who have an aversion to math. Buchan's book offers up tidbits to delight and intrigue readers. Easy as Pi is written in short bursts, tidbits if you will, for the reader to enjoy to leisure. Being quite passionate about math, my family and I read straight through the book which equally entertained and enlightened each o...more
A rather painless foray into the world of numbers... Mostly trivia stuff, but fun. It can also perhaps be an introduction for those who are afraid of numbers, as they do seem to pop up everywhere in our lives...
Numbers are perhaps the most mysterious of things ever invented by Mankind. On one level they seem to be straightforward; but dig deeper, and the most counterintuitive things begin to happen. The Fibonacci series is fascinating; but the world of Probabilites, Statistics, Game theory, and...more
Numbers are perhaps the most mysterious of things ever invented by Mankind. On one level they seem to be straightforward; but dig deeper, and the most counterintuitive things begin to happen. The Fibonacci series is fascinating; but the world of Probabilites, Statistics, Game theory, and...more
I’ll be honest…you want honesty, right? This book wasn’t my cup of tea. Now, please don’t misunderstand. It is chock full of information about every numerical saying known to man, including many I have never heard of. On the other hand, it is a book chock full of every numerical saying known to man. You see where I’m going with this?
I am very sure that lots of people love reading that kind of stuff. I personally know several people with fountains of random trivia coming out of their mouths all t...more
I am very sure that lots of people love reading that kind of stuff. I personally know several people with fountains of random trivia coming out of their mouths all t...more
talking book version. I liked it although the first of the 3 disks was not the sort of trivia I go for. Numbers made famous in books and films rather than being memorable for something intrinsic too them. But the other 2 disks were easier to take in a and remember. It brought back many of my childhood wonders such as why a "billion" is more in some countries than others, how Romans modified "numbers" to get a thousandfold and how to get some shortcuts in determining multiples of numbers and whet...more
Let me start out by saying that I am not a math person at all. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The book is divided in sections to include: Numbers in Language, Numbers in Fiction, Numbers in Culture, Numbers in Mythology and Religion, and Numbers in Math and Science. Each of these sections has numerous short stories about topics included in each heading. I love trivia and fun facts and this book was stocked full of them. I recommend this to everyone, not just those that like trivia. I t...more
I like words and I have a real aversion to math. (There's a reason I received an English degree in college.) I wasn't sure about reading Easy as Pi, but I do enjoy books that show the origins of words and ideas, so I figured numbers couldn't be that bad!
This did not disappoint. I learned that paper burns at 451 degrees, which is why Ray Bradbury titled his book Fahrenheit 451; appropriate because the book is about a society where all books are burned. And Jean Valjean's prisoner number in Les Mi...more
This did not disappoint. I learned that paper burns at 451 degrees, which is why Ray Bradbury titled his book Fahrenheit 451; appropriate because the book is about a society where all books are burned. And Jean Valjean's prisoner number in Les Mi...more
Interesting in parts but on the whole didn't live up to my expectations. Too much filling with sections on things like 'numbers in fiction' and not enough of the actual maths stuff. With a mathematical background I would have liked more of the 'numbers in maths and science' bit but maybe that wasn't the aim of the book?
An interesting and entertaining look at the world of numbers and the world in numbers. Explores the history of our numbering system as well as real-life examples of where arithemtic and maths play an important, if unseen, part.
This was fun. Roaming from probabilities to numerology, radio hands to golden numbers, some wacky theories to the number of the beast this book is a witty jumble of interesting info.
Liked it.
Favourite part: the part which looked at the numbers which lie behind classic art.
Liked it.
Favourite part: the part which looked at the numbers which lie behind classic art.
I DO NOT recommend. The first two entries I read (Three sheets to the wind and 5x5) were either wrong, incomplete, or poorly explained. Why bother reading more.
Feb 27, 2011
Sally
marked it as to-read
Today, as I added this book as "to-read," the average rating was... wait for it... 3.14!
Oct 13, 2010
Peter
marked it as to-read
Saw this at Scholastic Book Fair and really want to read it.
Interesting, helpful, and very fun to read!
Love the facts! Will use them in my classroom!
Jan 19, 2012
Bob Noff
added it
genre Informational
quarter 2
quarter 2
Math books are always fun.
Oct 27, 2010
Enna Isilee (Squeaky Books)
marked it as to-read
I WANT THIS BOOK!!!
This book could have had more contemporary concepts involving math and less out of date or older concepts that I personally have never heard of, and they were supposed to be famous. Still interesting, but not everything was relevant to the math we see in our world today.
I was very disappointed to find out that I knew more about certain topics in the book then the author.
In case you want to read my full review, I'll be adding it tomorrow when it goes live on my blog.
In case you want to read my full review, I'll be adding it tomorrow when it goes live on my blog.
Some interesting facts and a bit of a refresher if it has been a while since school, but overall very little that was new to me and a triffle on the short side.
This has some interesting facts, but most of it is pretty boring. I read from it every now and then to my math students, but only the good parts.
May 19, 2013
Kelli
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
Holly
marked it as to-read
May 09, 2013
Kimberly Presser
marked it as to-read
Apr 23, 2013
Bill Kempthorne
is currently reading it
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Feb 01, 2011 09:44pm