Everyday Mathematics Made Easy: A Quick Review of What You Forgot You Knew (Volume 2) (Everyday Learning, 2)

The grownups in our house don’t struggle with math at all, but we have a 4-year-old we are teaching math concepts to. This book is perfectly suited to helping him learn because it starts with the most basic of basics (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and then works towards harder concepts. In addition to teaching young children tips, tricks, and rules, what I really love this book for is the real world examples sprinkled throughout the chapters as well as the two end chapters: one dedicated to finances such as simple and compound interest, APY and APR) and the last dedicated to cooking, automotive costs, home improvement, and shopping.I felt like I was solid with all areas of the book. After moving on from the basics, it teaches factions / decimals, powers / roots, order of operations, ratios, proportions, and percentages.I really like how the book explains each topic in simple to understand wording and includes several examples of each point. There are also quick tips in each chapter (for example how to use addition afterward to make sure you subtracted correctly, how to add a 0 to whatever number you’re multiplying by ten to get the answer, how to read math out loud, etc). There are also math principles that are highlighted that are rules to follow (such as before you subtract fractions you should have the same denominator).Unless you are trying to teach children the best way to learn math, most of this book probably won’t be useful to the average adult because they are not going to look through each chapter until they get to the real world examples parts. There is some good stuff in the book for sure though - the end chapters go into things like how long to cook or thaw a turkey, how much beef you need to make a certain number of burgers, how to calculate how much cost you will recoup for common home building projects, how to mix up cleaning solutions or oil to he right ratio, how to estimate if a tree will fall on your house, vehicle depreciations / annual costs, gas mileage, comparing prices in the stores, and more. I really think that this could be the topic of a whole book (volume 2) and leave the explanations of how to explain everyday math to a volume 1.The book is a beautifully bound hardback, but it’s a pretty small sized book and consequently the font is tiny (10 point). There is a lot of white space for each page too. I would suggest making the book a little larger or decreasing the amount of blank space to enlarge the point. Also, the inside cover is a plain black matte page that easily absorbs oil from your fingers and stains the page. Most of the pages are in greyscale but the tips are in teal and rules are in orange so they really stand out.Overall, this book will be useful for my family due to my little one I am currently homeschooling. I think that the content is excellent but maybe loses focus on audience. I think splitting it into two different books: one for a math primer and a separate book longer than just two chapters for real world applications would be better.

Reading the procedures for doing various types of math problems brought up memories of sitting in class in elementary school. Just because it was elementary school does not mean that what we were learning was easy. However, this book used all the steps that I learned back then and revived several that I had forgotten. I am really pleased with this book and it makes math straightforward like it used to be before all this insane "new math" came into being. I definitely recommend this book for anyone wanting to re-learn the older, tried and true ways of solving math problems, or wants to recover from the new math that was shoved down their throats and learn how it's supposed to be done.

The main thing I realized when reading this book was that I hadn't forgotten stuff! Some of the info. is very, very basic (we're talking, telling the reader what 1+1 is), to the point where I think most adults probably remember quite a lot of the information, and didn't forget they knew it.I'm not someone who is too great at math. When reading it, I tried to pay attention to when I got to the point where I felt very lost and that the information was genuinely stuff I needed to be reminded of. It wasn't until around page 118 and fractions that I really began to feel like I needed a refresher. It kind of builds on itself in parts. But then, later on, I was back to feeling confident with some of the other sections.Some problem explanations and examples go on for pages each, which can seem like a waste of paper and page turning if you already know the answer to the sometimes very easy questions.Everyone is different, though, so I can't say for sure if the book is "too basic." And it would be hard to know where the author SHOULD start, if leaving out the most basic things. So it's hard to know how this could have been handled differently. It's just worth mentioning, that you may find a lot of the book is very basic and contains information you already have a firm grasp on.I think this book might be best suited for parents of young children, who want to make sure they know the basics and can help them with math homework. It's also a book some might just want to have on hand for reference if something comes up. It also might be nice for those wanting to remember how to solve math problems by hand, rather than using a calculator to do the work for them. But it might be too basic for some adults, or contain math they just don't "need" in everyday life.I was curious if my go-to math problem is in the book, and similar examples of the formula I use are on pages 210-211, 221-224, and starting on page 237 (followed by various examples). I use this equation for crocheting and knitting, to see if I'll have enough yarn to finish a project (you have to use a kitchen scale, to help gauge the weight). I was surprised to see how much it showed up in the book! The formula comes in really handy, and I think everyone should know it!

If you took an "Everyday Math" course and condensed it into one book, this would be the book. It offers instruction on how to perform basic mathematical operations with examples and situations where these operations would come in handy (or *might* come in handy -- I've never wondered if 1/3 cup is more or less than .375 cups when making food). Still, the instructions and steps are clear if the exact applications are not. If you know someone that is math-averse or claims they can't do math, this would not be a bad book for that person, assuming they want to use their brain rather than a computer or smartphone. My one complaint, and this is just something for older eyes, is that the type is on the small side. Most of the text appears to be 10pt type, which is on the small side of legible. I could have used a little less explanation and larger type.