How To Be Brilliant At Algebra

Get better at maths and numbers by realizing which math skills you already use in daily life, and learn new ones while having fun. Did you realize how much maths you are already using when playing computer games, planning a journey, or baking a cake? This book shows how to expand the knowledge you've already got, how your brain works things out, and how you can get even better at all sorts of maths. Explore amazing algebra, puzzling primes, super sequences, and special shapes. Challenge yourself with quizzes to answer, puzzles to solve, codes to crack, and geometrical illusions to inspire you, and meet the big names and even bigger brains who made mathematical history, such as Pythagoras, Grace Hopper, and Alan Turing. Whether you're a maths mastermind, numbers nerd, or completely clueless with calculations, train your brain to come out on top. This essential book explains the basic ideas behind maths, to give young readers greater confidence in their own ability to handle numbers and mathematical problems, and puts the ideas in context to help children understand why maths really is useful and even exciting! Fun, cartoon-style illustrations help introduce the concepts and demystify the maths.

This text for a second course in linear algebra, aimed at math majors and graduates, adopts a novel approach by banishing determinants to the end of the book and focusing on understanding the structure of linear operators on vector spaces. The author has taken unusual care to motivate concepts and to simplify proofs. For example, the book presents - without having defined determinants - a clean proof that every linear operator on a finite-dimensional complex vector space has an eigenvalue. The book starts by discussing vector spaces, linear independence, span, basics, and dimension. Students are introduced to inner-product spaces in the first half of the book and shortly thereafter to the finite- dimensional spectral theorem. A variety of interesting exercises in each chapter helps students understand and manipulate the objects of linear algebra. This second edition features new chapters on diagonal matrices, on linear functionals and adjoints, and on the spectral theorem; some sections, such as those on self-adjoint and normal operators, have been entirely rewritten; and hundreds of minor improvements have been made throughout the text.

How to be Brilliant at Algebra is contains 40 photocopiable worksheets designed to improve students' understanding of number relationships and patterns. They will learn about: odds and evens; patterns; inverse operations; variables; calendars; equations; pyramid numbers; digital root patterns; prime numbers; Fibonacci numbers; Pascal's triangle.

In this charming volume, a noted English mathematician uses humor and anecdote to illuminate the concepts of groups, sets, subsets, topology, Boolean algebra, and other mathematical subjects. 200 illustrations.

How to be Brilliant at Science Investigations contains 40 worksheets with activities, to help Key Stage 2 (KS2), 7-11 year old pupils develop the skills needed to plan and carry out investigations and to draw conclusions from the results. Topics covered include: Tooth decay, Muscles, Seeds, Habitats, Testing washing powders, Red cabbage water magic, Pinhole cameras, Camouflage, Making the best telephone, Light bulbs and Where is the Sun now?

The making of books provides motivation and a purpose for writing. How to be Brilliant at Making Books gives children a greater appreciation and awareness of audience and helps them to develop their own critical evaluation skills. The 40 photocopiable worksheets in this book encourage a wide range of skills allowing children to compose, create, publish and respond to print. The technological side of book production involves lots of problem solving and engages children in gathering information, prioritizing, negotiating, decision-making and evaluating. The activities include: selecting an idea for a book; choosing a good title; creating an index; choosing and designing illustrations; producing preliminary pages; different types of books, e.g. pop-ups, books with windows, concertinas, pocket books, big books and diaries.