5 comments about The Ultimate Math Refresher for the GRE, GMAT, and SAT.

1. 
   I bought this book based on amazon reviewers comments and I was wrong. This book is so simple it's not even funny. Just skimming through it, I can not even say that it will help with the GMAT in the slightest way.
   
   For a far better math review guide for gmat preparation, I would reccommend the Arco Gmat/GRE Math review book. This book assumes you know how to add and multiply (unlike the "Ultimate" refresher) and goes through topics in great detail. I am almost done with the entire Arco book and love how it introduces new topis and gives you problems that range in difficulty - from easy to hard. This is how you build up a mathematical skillset.
   
   Not to mention, the Arco book covers the bredth of math-related topics which are likely to appear on the GMAT.
   
   Anyone looking to get a serious score, steer clear of this waste of $. Your $ is better spent on the Arco book.



2. I think this is a good book to go through before you jump into the official exam books. I really liked the Geometry section since that was where I was feeling the pinch when I started looking at the GMAT books. However I think you would get away by not doing the Algebra & Arithmetic since they were pretty simple.



3. This book is perfect for those who have a) not had a math class in a while or b) little confidence in their math skills. As one of the mathematically crippled myself, I felt I needed a brush up on my skills. This is a great entry-level book with wonderful step-by-step instructions, both of methodology and practice problems.
   
   This is a "leg up" book, though. You definitely need to couple this book with more advanced practice to be successful on the GRE. Try the Barron's comprehensive study aid.



4. Wow, this book is awesome. I am already trying to study like 1000 subjects with the GMAT, but this book breaks it down. First it test you on your problem areas, then gives you a page number to reference if you missed a question, then you just fix the problem areas and move on. Great book!



5. Dear Reader,
   
   It's been a while since I've written a review,but this time i felt compelled.
   The ultimate math refresher promises a lot and delivers very little to none. I bought it for an upcoming GMAT test. GMAT math is still substantially 'below' GRE levels, so I really don't understand how this book can claim to prepare for higher levels, when it doesn't even cover the full spectrum of GMAT necessities. While it will explain how to add fractions in almost painfull detail, proper treatment of nasty word problems, algebra- and ratio questions has been almost completely neglected.
   I was extremely disappointed. I read a couple chapters and discarded it in favor of an EZ solutions practice book together with the official orange book. Even the Kaplan titles bring more to the table then this thing. All in all disappointing.

No comments about Kaplan SAT Subject Test: Mathematics Level 2, 2008-2009 Edition (Kaplan Sat Subject Test. Mathematics).

4 comments about Guesstimation: Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin.

1. The idea of this book is great, and I had hoped to learn new principles for estimation. Unfortunately, the execution falls short. I expected the authors to teach methods and techniques, but instead they rely almost exclusively on examples that try to teach by illustration. I don't find that style effective and I had hoped for a deeper presentation.



2. 
   Somehow, guessing at numbers is unsettling, even though I've done it all my life. John Adam is a professor of applied mathematics, with a degree in physics. Larry Weinstein is a nuclear physicist. Their book is devoted to proving that intelligent guessing is useful and fun.
   
   The book lays out some general principles but its great strength lies in the interesting problems, a series of hints to help you solve each problem, and an interesting discussion of the pitfalls and triumphs involved. Three key points: estimate by powers of ten, break complex problems into simple steps and consider alternative approaches.
   
   The book includes an excellent appendix containing a few formulas and scientific concepts, together with some useful statistics. The pen-and-ink sketches are funny and to the point.
   
   Best of all, the Princeton Press maintains a site with new problems on a weekly basis; a recent question was how many golf balls would it take to encircle the earth at the equator. Hints included:
   
   a. What is the diameter of a golf ball?
   
   b. What is the circumference of the earth?
   
   The authors give several interesting hints at determining the circumference of the earth (if you don't know it), including the 24 time zones, the number of time zones in the US, the time it takes to fly from New York City to Los Angeles, etc.
   
   Brain stretching stuff, which is always good for you, and the publishers claim job applicants should be prepared for tests of their estimating abilities. The Chinese rights have just been sold, and we may face even more competition on that front as well. If you learn by doing, this book is a great way to improve your skills and have fun doing it.
   
   Robert C. Ross 2008



3. This is a great "hands on" book that teaches the art of making a quantitative "educated" guess based on just a few basic facts most people know (or should know). I found this book great reading and very educational. Recommended for anyone.



4. This book was entertaining reading...except that most of the more interesting examples described in this book were so familiar. This is one of those books where I might rate it better if it weren't for the fact that there is a far better book for anyone interested in this topic. Like Guesstimation, How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business by Douglas Hubbard also discusses the Fermi approach and how ancient Greeks estimated the circumfrance of the Earth (Hubbard's book uses these same examples even though it came out almost a year before Guesstimation...curious). But Hubbard picks up where Guestimation, as another reviewer puts it, "falls short". After a bit of "Fermi decomposition", Hubbard discusses how we can learn to excel at subjectively assessing odds and ranges and how we can compute the value of further measurement. Then he gets into a fascinating array of practical methods of observation to further reduce uncertainty. Although the techniques in Hubbard's book are based on sophisticated mathematical methods, he is able to reach a much broader audience by distilling the math into simple charts, tables and procedures. In short, if you owned both of these books, Guesstimation would be redundant and wouldn't cover nearly as much.

5 comments about Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (Introducing Statistical Methods S.) (2nd Edition).

1. dr. field has done an excellent job of making stats understandable and spss user friendly. as a social psychology grad student, i enjoy the ease of use found with the index. if i forget the differences in rotation methods for factor analysis, i can quickly find clear explanations in the book. i suggest to all grad students and advanced undergrads using spss to get a copy of this text!



2. Useful and entertaining stats books are hard to come by but this one has hit the mark! Comprehensive and clear explanations of statistical theory are provided as well as of SPSS output. Love the examples and icons. Who would have thought a stats text could make me laugh out loud?!



3. This book is perfect!! Very informative, the layout is systematically and on top of it all; statistics becomes fun. It is a pleasure to read this book!!
   Thanks to Andy Field which made my life as a PhD easier!!:O)



4. This book was an enormous help to me in writing my doctoral dissertation. Now, I am a Communications scholar and I did a content analysis, so I didn't need to master a lot of highly advanced techniques. But nor had I taken courses that taught statistics in any depth. I was feeling quite at sea on some things. And for a dissertation, you really have to understand things, so you can defend it at the end. Although I had other statistics books and they certainly were helpful, this one that walked me through the tests I had been doing and -- quite simply, with patience and good humor -- helped me to understand why they were necessary and basically how they worked. I liked the fact I could read much or as little detail as I could absorb at the time -- there are quick summaries, clearly marked, or longer, quite simple explanations for those in a hurry, as well as in-depth explanations for things you really need to know thoroughly. It was having those choices that made this book incredibly helpful.



5. This should be the first book you buy if you need help with stats and SPSS. When I first began doing empirical research I knew almost nothing about statistics or SPSS, and had to learn virtually everything I needed to know about complex multivariate tests on my own. I had suffered through many of the relevant, canonical books before I happened upon Field. It was a V-8 moment. Not only does the book explain everything in engaging, easy to understand, often hilarious terms (a favorite example is the caption of the photo of statistician Bonferroni: "Carlo Bonferroni before the celebrity of his correction lead to drink, drugs and statistics groupies"), but again and again it answered questions I had that other sources didn't address in a practical way. One example out of many is how to calculate and interpret effect sizes, which SPSS doesn't calculate for all multivariate tests, or calculates using a measure that has been widely criticized. Field describes the rationale behind several measures of effect size as well as formulas for calculating them, including clear indicators of where to find the data in SPSS output.
   
   Other reviewers have commented that this book is light on theory. I don't know enough about statistical theory to know if this is a valid criticism. But, I do think the book provides ample and detailed "whys" behind the "hows" that I haven't found elsewhere and that were necessary to help me justify the tests I run and how I interpret them. The level of detail and abstraction, in my opinion, is completely appropriate for most researchers and students.

5 comments about A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations.

1. The first class in Electricity and Magnetism is often difficult for undergraduates. The course material brings together diverse concepts in Physics and Mathematics in a way that can challenge some students. This book is a useful primer for undergraduates. The book focuses on the mechanics of applying the four equations attributed to Maxwell. There is little or no discussion of the engineering or physics involved in applying these equations. The author presents each equation in a separate chapter and shows the different forms, e.g. integral, differential, in which they are written. The step by step identification of each and every term and operation can get boring but it provides a good explanation for the new student. It is a quick read and can be a useful reference during a class. The problems at the end of each chapter are good ones and I particularly liked the approach of providing solutions to all problems on a website.



2. I've studied quite a few textbooks (Jackson, Griffith, etc) and supplementary material ("Div, Grad, Curl,...", Feynman Lectures, etc) on classical electromagnetism over the years and I can say without a doubt that for clarity and explanatory power, this book is in a class by itself! The folks that choose the course materials for university physics curriculums need to be made aware of the existence and quality of this booklet. It's a shame there aren't more out there of this caliber. It isn't a replacement for the usual textbooks on the subject. But, it definitely is a much needed supplement to any of them since it lays out the foundational concepts and mathematical framework in a much more understandable and memorable (!) manner than any textbook has ever done; at least, any that I'm aware of.
   
   dh



3. A new category of Pulitzer Prizes now must be established so that its first recipient can be Daniel Fleisch, who deserves it for the impressively clear mathematical exposition presented in this book.
   
   This "Guide to Maxwell's Equations" alone proves that there is no need for mathematical explanations to be enigmatic and obscure to the point of being incomprehensible simply because the concepts are abstract and difficult. What this exposition suggests is that it takes one kind of talent to understand abstract mathematics and an entirely different type to be able to explain complex and abstract ideas, simply.
   
   And as is always the case with great minds like Fleisch's, they begin simply: by explaining clearly the function of each mathematical term in an equation, and then showing how they all go together to explain larger more abstract concepts.
   
   If there is a clearer explanation of complex mathematics than this, I have yet to see it.
   
   The bonus of the book of course is not just that it allows one to understand perhaps the most important four equations known to man (even more important than Einstein's E=MC^2, since it is derivable directly from Maxwell's Equations) but that all of this understanding is transferable to other mathematical contexts.
   
   Now when I am reading other complex mathematics -- especially where the surface, or line integrals are used. Or when I forget the conceptual difference between the curl and the divergent, I just pull out this little book, review the concepts in context and then transfer that conceptual understanding to the new problem. I did not even need to consult the website to get a pretty much full understanding of the equations. But once I did, it just nailed down all remaining doubts.
   
   What an incredible find! Fifty stars



4. As an undergrad physics major, my toughest challenge was electromagnetism; many of my non-physics major friends are surprised that it's not quantum that was the hardest, or general relativity. Nope, it was good ol' E&M.
   
   I am now just starting my PhD physics courses, so I was on Amazon looking for supplements to Jackson's book on electrodynamics. I came across this book and had thought it would have been a great help in my undergrad course, but probably too elementary for the upcoming PhD course...but when I noticed Fleisch had podcasts for every section in every chapter, I became intrigued. After reading the positive reviews, looking at some excerpts, and sampling a few of the podcasts, I knew this was no ordinary book on electromagnetism: Fleisch might be the first guy in history to say, "Maybe E&M is presented to students a bit too strongly at first; let's slow it down and break it apart piece by piece so the student can actually understand what's going on instead of fumbling in the dark."
   
   I went over most of this book before classes began this semester and I truly feel it solidified the basics enough that I confidently face the graduate text.
   
   In short: I recommend it.



5. Fleisch's Maxwell's Equations is the mother of all "wish I had this book when I was taking ..." books. Too many books are written with the aim, as one author put it in his preface, "to make the reader think that the author is superman". Now, I appreciate elegantly written physics and math books as much as anyone, but particularly egregious in textbooks, it seems that too often the author is out to show how smart he is. Fleisch, in teaching EM, probably observed the need for a book like this Student's Guide, and for this subject, which requires a first footing in basic concepts before the appreciation of the equations can begin, this book is a gem.

5 comments about Algebra Workbook For Dummies.

1. About 180 pages into it and I'm actually having fun!
   The example problems are great but the solutions at the end of the chapter are sometimes a bit confusing (but they clear themselves up if you chew the problem a little and remember what you're supposed to be learning in that given chapter).
   I've only found one typo in an answer so far (signs reversed).
   
   Learning a few things I never heard of before for example Pascal's Triangle.
   
   Skip around and focus on the weak areas. I'd buy it again.
   
   Bought it for a review before returning to college after a seven year break from school (if you can really call the military a break).



2. I recently ordered the Algebra for Dummies, as well as the workbook to go with it, for a friend who is trying to obtain a position with a company who is looking for someone with math skills in algebra.
   
   He is working out of state, so I had the books shipped to his address. Upon asking him if he thought these books would help him, he said they definitely would. His comment was that they were easy to understand, and although it has been 20+ years since he was in school, he thought he had a good chance at getting the job.
   
   Anything that I have ever ordered from Amazon has always come quickly, been the correct item, and I will certainly keep ordering things from them.



3. Material is perfect for becoming reacquainted with algebra. New titles, terms and methods for solutions of algebraic equations are presented and discussed fully and with a minimum of words. The Algebra II Workbook is necessary if you have been a long time absent from algebra. The material came on time and in perfect condition.
   
   I have never been disappointed in all my purchases from Amazon and their sellers.



4. It was a good choice, to help my nephew with his algbra.
   His in 8th grade and it makes algbra easier to understand
   HECK i may even use it.



5. Although the review content is well written, I would not purchase this book again. Some of the fractions are typed in bold and are of a decent size buy many of the fractions throughout are written in such small text that they are almost impossible to decipher - even with good vision and bright light!

5 comments about Cartoon Guide to Statistics.

1. This book is so cool! It makes the topic clear and fun at the same time.



2. this is great as a refresher and a road map of what to study in-depth.



3. I wrote a short review of this book previously for Amazon and my opinions have not changed very much. However, Gonick deserves credit for coauthoring his cartoon books with experts in the field. This way he avoids mistakes and brings out the important messages that, in the case of this book, a statistician would want to teach his students.
   Recently, I used the cartoons on p-values to help another statistician with a presentation on p-values for an audience of medical researchers. I found the relevant cartoons to be humorous and very instructive.
   
   Also, I discovered that in addition to the standard topics of estimation, hypothesis testing, regression, correlation and analysis of variance, Chapter 12, simply titled "Conclusion" has a brief description of many advanced topics, particularly in multivariate analysis.
   
   Multivariate topics include Chernoff faces, cluster analysis, factor analysis and discriminant analysis. Other advanced topics mentioned are random walks, time series analysis, image analysis and even resampling (bootstrap, jackknife and randomization).
   
   Each is described with a single cartoon. This reminds me to again warn that these cartoons alone cannot do justice to the various topics being taught. However, careful selection and placement into the context of a course can bring home important points to students better than just conventional teaching methods. I wouldn't hesitate to use this material to supplement and liven up an introductory statistics course.
   
   The bibliography at the end provides a number of very fine introductory texts and other topics and software that could interest the general public (also done in the cartoon fashion of Gonick).



4. Not as easy to understand as I thought it would be based on the title.



5. Cartoons definitely make the subject of statistics seem less-intimidating. I bought this book for self-study and found it difficult to follow. Though the cartoons made me smile at times, I was unhappy with the lack of material substance. For instance, equations and topics are thrown out there with little explanation on how they were derived. On multiple occasions, I looked for supporting information that wasn't there. Ultimately, I cannot recommend Cartoon Guide to Statistics. I am, however, finding success with a more expensive book, take a look: Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics

5 comments about Math Workbook for the New SAT (Barron's Math Workbook for the Sat I)3rd Edition.

1. Harder tham the usual test but defintely works.



2. I'm an SAT tutor that actually takes the SAT three times a year. This is a great book and I wish all my students had the discipline to use it. The complaint from the other SAT tutor is not relevant to the objective of raising your score (which if you are scoring in the 500's can easily go up 100 points if you use this book in conjunction with the eight practice tests in the College Board Official Study Guide). This book remediates your math skill weaknesses which is the first step in preparing for the SAT math section. Once completed, (just the sections you are weak or rusty in)then dive into the eight practice tests in the College Board book which combine math reasoning with math skill. My other favorite resource for my students is Acing the New SAT I Math by Greenhall Publishing---an excellent resource to use by itself or in combination with Barron's. It's actually more comprehensive than Barron's and ideal for the student that is looking for a challenge and a score over 650. I would do the Barron's book first and then the Acting the New SAT I Math for each math section. Have fun!



3. I am a math tutor who has used this book to help several kids study for the SAT. It is a good review of the material covered on the SAT. It has a full section explaining each type of question followed by plenty of practice problems ranging from easy to very difficult. I have not found many mistakes in the book. There are answers and explanations for all the problems in the book making it easy for students to self teach. There are also practice tests which I feel are a great deal harder than the actual SAT. The Appendix to the book is an excellent math review listing all the math concepts needed very consisely allowing a quick review the night before the test.



4. I used this review book about two weeks before an SAT. If I had more time, I am sure it would have made me do even better on the test. This fully prepares you for any math questions that may show up on the exam. Barron's really is the best review book company.



5. I recently purchased this book as a way for me to better improve my Math SAT score. So far I am very pleased with this purchase. I hope to raise my Math SAT score by 200 points for the next SAT. Satisfied so far...

5 comments about Statistics for Dummies.

1. I bought this thinking that I would be familiar with statistical principles in experimentation. Given the fact that I was taking an advanced statistics course in the graduate level at that time, and using a more technical book, I thought that this book would provide me a shallower access to the material, a sort of primer. But in some ways it does not. The formulae are there, but somehow, I feel like there are things missing that should be there.



2. Great Transaction, Very fast. Product was flawless. Will do business again with this seller



3. Excellent book. In my opinion the author does a great job in taking a complex subject matter and breaking it down so that it could be understood. Well worth the expenditure and will recommend this book to my students.



4. Not very helpful for my beginning Stats (221) class I did not use it



5. I did not find any use for my college statistics when I started working (at least for my function), but just recently, I had to relearn, what I've forgotten to keep pace with the demands of my job. This book is heavenly! Whether you're someone looking for a refresher course without having to pay huge sums to pick-up on stuff you know you've already learned or someone who wants the basics of statistics, this is the book for you.

5 comments about Secrets of Mental Math: The Mathemagician's Guide to Lightning Calculation and Amazing Math Tricks.

1. I recently purchased this book after a stranger in a bookstore suggested it. I'm already impressed. There are quite a few 'speed math' books out there, but this one is easily accessible to everyone and is intended to help with everyday life. I'm fairly advanced in college-level math and I intuitively knew some of the suggestions in the book, but it has helped me brush up, learn new things, and most of all learn how to do it BETTER.
   
   I highly recommend this book to students because it is a tremendous help to know how to perform quick math in your head. Even if you have a calculator, just knowing what to expect for the outcome helps you perform faster and serves as a double-check when you need it. And knowing how to do math quickly is essential on a standardized test like the SAT. Even if you know how to do all the problems correctly, the time limit can cripple you--so do yourself a favor and get this book.
   
   Some of the topics covered in this book include 'basic' to 'advanced' multiplication, mental division, guesstimation, calculating the day of the week, and memorizing numbers through mnemonics.



2. 
   This book is great! This book teaches you tricks that really work and really makes you wonder how people came up with them.
   
   One thing I wanted to reccommend - Although this book is for mental math, going through it, I always kept a pencil and paper by my side - some of the concepts/tricks were a little abstract to simply read and absorb the first time around, so they needed a couple of examples (on paper) to solidify the 'trick' for me. After I worked out a couple of problems on pen and paper, I was able to grasp the ability to do them mentally.
   
   One of the best things this book teaches is guesstimation and more importantly, how to forumulate your 'guesses' so you are not so far off from target. I had been doing guesstimation for ages but the methods mentioned in the book were pretty good guidelines for my future guesses.
   
   This book is a must have for anyone that is afraid of numbers because these simple tricks will make difficult math problems a little easier to deal with. The time saving techniques this book is filled with can shave seconds off of your problem solving skills which, come test time (math test, SAT, any test which involves math), you'll be thinking about this book and thanking the author.



3. It's fascinating to learn ways to easily and quickly get answers to spur-of-the-moment mathematical calculations without the need for pencil and paper. Besides a I-wonder-why-this-wasn't-taught-in-school reverse technique for mentally, quickly and easily adding, subtracting and multiplying, it's especially neat to be able to determine the day of the week for any calendar date in any century! The author shows how and makes it simple. The techniques work better for those who know well their multiplication tables and their sums. If one doesn't, getting answers is doable but takes longer.



4. I am not a big fan of math but I thought I give it a try. Since I have the book, I am practicing on frequent bases and the tricks really work. Beside many hours of calculation practice the book also provides some nice stories about different lightning calculators.



5. This is a great book with lots of helpful hints at how to do mental math. My daughter wanted the book, and she is learning the material quickly.