The Complete How to Figure It: Using Math in Everyday Life - Softcover

Huff, Darrell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393319245 ISBN 13: 9780393319248

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999

Synopsis

An all-in-one compendium of easy techniques for all kinds of calculations, from personal finance to home improvement.

Budgeting and personal finance, planning for retirement, buying a house, estimating travel and leisure expenses, estimating costs of home repair: modern life presents us with an array of calculations we need to make but may not know how. Now, with his trademark wry humor and simple language, Darrell Huff explains how to figure: the likely outcome of different investments; how much home insurance is enough; whether it makes more sense to buy or lease a new car; the most efficient way to save for future needs, from vacations to college tuition; air-conditioning and heating requirements for a new house; how many rolls of wallpaper you will need for a particular room; and much more. Here are tips for getting the most out of a modest pocket calculator or home computer to make tedious calcuations easy, a handy chapter on "Math in a Hurry," and even tips on improving your chances in tennis, horse racing, and blackjack. Line drawings

About this title

About the Author

Darrell Huff lives in Carmel, California.

From Booklist

Huff, who wrote the classic How to Lie with Statistics, now draws his resources into a thick collection of math tips and tidbits. Not wanting to be relegated to "an obscure corner marked math," he offers How to Figure It as a self-help book, an "enabler." He delivers many practical ways to bring figures and measurements into the lives of those for whom math has always been a dirty word. About a quarter of the book is devoted to money, with chapters on interest and saving, investing, spending, and home loans. Another large chunk covers residences and features house planning, how to figure steps for building things, and an entire chapter focused on rafters and beams. Huff also includes chapters on automobiles, travel, outdoors, and how to do math in a hurry. With this book as guide, you can evaluate the warmth of a sleeping bag, analyze the need for pedestrian crossings, and rate an earthquake--all assisted by handy charts and tables. This makes an ideal browser on a rainy afternoon, and it is especially friendly to those who can't quite cope with calculators. Jennifer Henderson

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0393319245
• ISBN 13: 9780393319248
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 490
• Illustrator: Kinsey Carolyn R.