Math for English Majors: A Human Take on the Universal Language

Employing basic mathematical operations such as addition, division, and percentages can heighten feelings of uneasiness in readers who are math-averse, while exponents, irrational numbers, logarithms, algorithms, and proofs may be intolerable and induce math anxiety. Former math teacher Orlin (Math with Bad Drawings) attempts to make the science more palatable for readers whose math skills are lacking. He correlates mathematics education to second-language acquisition. Consequently, he introduces nouns that describe numbers, such as “counting,” “fractions,” “negative numbers,” “rounding,” and “irrational numbers.” There are related verbs too: “add,” “subtract,” “multiply,” “divide,” “square,” “cube,” and “compute.” He asserts that the syntax of mathematics brings these nouns and verbs together to form symbols, variables, equations, graphs, and formulas. The book includes a glossary that covers terms such as “error” and “estimate”, “cause” and “correlation,” “logic” and “proof,” and “data.” Orlin peppers his discussion with his unique style of stick-figure illustration, which adds a fun, humorous element.