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The Great Number Rumble: A Story of Math in Surprising Places
When the schools in Jeremy’s town ban math, there are loud cheers from the kids. Even his teachers happily toss their textbooks. But Jeremy’s best friend Sam, a self-proclaimed mathnik, sets out to prove that math is not only important, but fun. In the chapters that follow, Sam reveals math’s presence in everyday places, including sports (types of triangles determine how a bike functions), art (artist M.C. Escher combined math patterns with imagination), even in nature (ants instinctively calculate dead reckoning—a navigation tool also used by astronauts). Meanwhile, surprising sidebars offer Jeremy’s thoughts on weird concepts from chaos theory to cash prizes for new prime numbers. In the end, Jeremy, his teachers, and even the Director of Education have to admit that school minus math equals all sorts of trouble. Complete with dozens of amusing real-life math examples, brief bios of seven famous mathematicians, and fun illustrations and diagrams, this innovative introduction to all things arithmetic will win over even the most math-phobic readers.
- GenresMathematicsChildrens
108 pages, Hardcover
First published March 16, 2007
35 people want to read
About the author
Cora Lee
2 booksWhat’s more fun: science or writing? Science gives you the rush of exploring and discovering new things—but so does writing. Writing gives you the satisfaction of wrestling big ideas into easily digestible bits ... hold on ... science does, too. Well, if you can’t choose one as a lifelong profession, you can always do both. Cora writes science for a living—from SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and specifications to articles and books for kids.
Born in Ashcroft, British Columbia, Cora spent a brief six months in Cache Creek before moving to Vancouver, where she now lives with her family. Reading and drawing were early favorite pastimes. Adventure was rare in her childhood home, except in books. In-depth surveys of her father’s wall of books and frequent expeditions to the nearby library yielded books she still revisits, including The Dark is Rising, A Wrinkle in Time, L.M. Montgomery’s books, Diamond in the Window, and Banner in the Sky.
Cora studied biochemistry and biotechnology in university. As a research associate, she worked mainly with lipids (fats) and DNA, but also with some elements—gold and mercury, mostly—as a geochemical analyst. Then there was a switch to some freelance writing and editing on various topics, and a publishing certificate. She could not resist the call of science, however, and started writing both science articles for kids and technical documents for organizations and companies.
Now she spends her working hours as one half of a two-person scientific writing business aimed at the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. When she is not working or with her family, Cora volunteers for CAGIS (Canadian Association for Girls in Science), an organization that tries to get girls interested in science.
It is the ideal combination—science and writing. And children are the perfect audience, willing to accept impossible answers, and open to the most bizarre concepts that scientists can throw at them. Nothing’s too hard for kids, and Cora aims to prove it with her books on mathematics and science.
Born in Ashcroft, British Columbia, Cora spent a brief six months in Cache Creek before moving to Vancouver, where she now lives with her family. Reading and drawing were early favorite pastimes. Adventure was rare in her childhood home, except in books. In-depth surveys of her father’s wall of books and frequent expeditions to the nearby library yielded books she still revisits, including The Dark is Rising, A Wrinkle in Time, L.M. Montgomery’s books, Diamond in the Window, and Banner in the Sky.
Cora studied biochemistry and biotechnology in university. As a research associate, she worked mainly with lipids (fats) and DNA, but also with some elements—gold and mercury, mostly—as a geochemical analyst. Then there was a switch to some freelance writing and editing on various topics, and a publishing certificate. She could not resist the call of science, however, and started writing both science articles for kids and technical documents for organizations and companies.
Now she spends her working hours as one half of a two-person scientific writing business aimed at the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. When she is not working or with her family, Cora volunteers for CAGIS (Canadian Association for Girls in Science), an organization that tries to get girls interested in science.
It is the ideal combination—science and writing. And children are the perfect audience, willing to accept impossible answers, and open to the most bizarre concepts that scientists can throw at them. Nothing’s too hard for kids, and Cora aims to prove it with her books on mathematics and science.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 18, 2017
What will math do for my life? Teachers are inundated year after year with this question. When the director of education at Sam's school institutes a MATH BAN, math is removed from the school curriculum. Students and teachers gleefully dispose of their notebooks, textbooks and calculators in school recycle bins. Sam, however, is crazy for math. He sees math everywhere and intends to prove to Principal Lake, fellow students and even TV reporters covering this breaking story, that math is used all the time.
How many ways can you make a double scoop ice cream cone if it matters not what flavor is on top and you cannot choose two scoops of the same flavor? Let's select from the flavors vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.
(vanilla, chocolate) (vanilla,strawberry)
(chocolate, vanilla) (chocolate, strawberry)
(strawberry,vanilla) (strawberry, chocolate)
3 x 2 = 6 possibilities MATH!
Biking uses geometry, explains Sam. Bike frames and bridges have triangles in them. Triangles are the strongest shape there is and won't collapse from the weight of trucks, cars or cyclists. MATH!
Fellow students now tell Sam that numbers are boring and have no mystery. Sam has his answer ready. Geographic profiling. On TV crime dramas, profilers can map out,for example, where a string of burglaries have occurred and look for patterns to predict where the culprit might work or live. Guess what? MATH!
"The Great Number Rumble: A Story of Math in Surprising Places" by Cora Lee and Gillian O'Reilly delves into math from medieval times as well. Medieval universities required scholars to take arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. Mathematicians like Pythagoras and Archimedes are highlighted. Children, as well as math aficionados of all ages, will find a wealth of facts, often displayed in a playful manner by the authors and illustrator Lil Crump. A complete glossary, selected bibliography and suggestions for further reading are presented as well. Authors Lee and O'Reilly have done a superb job! Math rules!
Thank you Annick Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Great Number Rumble".
How many ways can you make a double scoop ice cream cone if it matters not what flavor is on top and you cannot choose two scoops of the same flavor? Let's select from the flavors vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.
(vanilla, chocolate) (vanilla,strawberry)
(chocolate, vanilla) (chocolate, strawberry)
(strawberry,vanilla) (strawberry, chocolate)
3 x 2 = 6 possibilities MATH!
Biking uses geometry, explains Sam. Bike frames and bridges have triangles in them. Triangles are the strongest shape there is and won't collapse from the weight of trucks, cars or cyclists. MATH!
Fellow students now tell Sam that numbers are boring and have no mystery. Sam has his answer ready. Geographic profiling. On TV crime dramas, profilers can map out,for example, where a string of burglaries have occurred and look for patterns to predict where the culprit might work or live. Guess what? MATH!
"The Great Number Rumble: A Story of Math in Surprising Places" by Cora Lee and Gillian O'Reilly delves into math from medieval times as well. Medieval universities required scholars to take arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. Mathematicians like Pythagoras and Archimedes are highlighted. Children, as well as math aficionados of all ages, will find a wealth of facts, often displayed in a playful manner by the authors and illustrator Lil Crump. A complete glossary, selected bibliography and suggestions for further reading are presented as well. Authors Lee and O'Reilly have done a superb job! Math rules!
Thank you Annick Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Great Number Rumble".
November 30, 2021
I’ve never been much for mathematics. I think it’s a little too late for me to just start. For those of you that are, and have children who are interested in math that feel that it may not be the coolest thing in the world. This is a pretty neat book! The illustrations are really nice and done in a way that is relevant to current animation that is on television. It explains several historical facts about the development of mathematics as well as figures that develop certain formulas and theorems. If this book or around when I was younger, I think I would have a much more substantial interest in mathematics.
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April 19, 2021Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
October 30, 2016
When the director of education decides to remove math from the school curriculum, you'd think students would be happy - right? Well, not Sam - he's a self-described "mathnik", and is determined to prove to the director that math is worth learning. He claims math is part of everything we do - and if he can't convince him, he'll work for him for free for a whole year!
Mathematical concepts are woven through the story, with easy to understand examples - multi-scoop ice cream cones for permutations, for instance - and amusing explanations much easier to remember than text book prose. The illustrations are fun and colorful as well, and add a lot to the story. All of the examples are from the real world, such as sports, music, nature and art.
This is a great guide to understanding math and its usefulness for the mathnik and math-phobe alike! It would also be easy to follow along with the real world examples, for hands-on math activities. Highly recommended for your school or homeschool library!
Mathematical concepts are woven through the story, with easy to understand examples - multi-scoop ice cream cones for permutations, for instance - and amusing explanations much easier to remember than text book prose. The illustrations are fun and colorful as well, and add a lot to the story. All of the examples are from the real world, such as sports, music, nature and art.
This is a great guide to understanding math and its usefulness for the mathnik and math-phobe alike! It would also be easy to follow along with the real world examples, for hands-on math activities. Highly recommended for your school or homeschool library!
March 20, 2008
The story is pretty good: age-appropriate, us-against-them. Middle schoolers would probably like it. But the illustrations! They ruined the book for me. Stuff like, "my hands feel like they're going to fall off," then a drawing of a kid with his hands severed, with bone, muscle and blood. Um, yuck. There are so many other aspects of the text that could have been illustrated and engaged a child's attention. Too bad.
Then there was the story about the Pythagoreans that assassinated one of their own for discovering the square root of 2 (because it wasn't a whole number, therefore against the ideals of their "cult"). Is that what Pythagoras should be remembered for?
Other good math books for kids.
Then there was the story about the Pythagoreans that assassinated one of their own for discovering the square root of 2 (because it wasn't a whole number, therefore against the ideals of their "cult"). Is that what Pythagoras should be remembered for?
Other good math books for kids.
October 12, 2010
Grades 4-6. Nonfiction Chapter Book. When math is dropped from the curriculum, a self-described Mathnik has to prove that math is used EVERYWHERE. This book covers the usefulness of math in everything from making predictions to architecture, to sports, statistics, games, art, dance, music, biology, weather—you name it, there’s math involved!
April 12, 2013
I would use this book in the older end of early childhood education. Students sometimes begin to question why they are learning certain parts of math and this book shows that math is everywhere! It covers many different parts of math from shapes to number sense.
August 5, 2016
IL101877599 (J510 LEE CORA)
Basic introduce fractal, Pascal triangle, perspective etc. some basic math concept. My child rate 5, but I rate as 3.
Basic introduce fractal, Pascal triangle, perspective etc. some basic math concept. My child rate 5, but I rate as 3.
August 20, 2014
Shows that math is everywhere. I think would appeal to elder elementary/middle school age kids.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews