My Little Big Math Book - Hardcover

Rönnbäck, Lars

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9198282603 ISBN 13: 9789198282603

Publisher: Up to Change AB, 2016

Synopsis

First and foremost, this is a beautiful story about a girl who learns to count. However, most of us have forgotten how we became skilled counters, and few know that in doing so we also learn concepts from higher mathematics. If you are curious to know why you can count or if you want to do some exercises together with children to help them on their way to start counting, then this is the book for you. There is something for everyone in the book and you will enjoy it as an exploring kid or as a caring parent, as well as a seasoned mathematician. This book illustrates and thoroughly explains a number of key scenarios on the way towards counting, with pointers to anyone who wants to dig deeper into the presented subjects. It is time to learn how to learn to count!

About this title

About the Author

Lars Rönnbäck is working as an author and a consultant at Up to Change and is an associate researcher at the Department of Computer Science, Stockholm University. He has a masters degree in mathematics from Uppsala University, specialising in information modeling and prediction models for profitability. He has worked for some of the largest companies within the banking, financial, and retail markets in Sweden and has more than ten years experience from Business Intelligence and Anchor modeling. Lars can frequently be seen as a speaker at international conferences and performs certification trainings in Anchor modeling. My Little Big Math Book is his first book for children, based on his own experiences and research in the foundations of mathematics combined with ideas from information modeling.

From the Inside Flap

The goal of this book is to through simple illustrative scenarios describe the early mathematical development of children and how they become acquainted with notions usually reserved for studies in higher mathematics. The book will also give an understanding of the general order in which this mathematical knowledge is gained.

Most children have gained the knowledge described in the book before turning eight, and most of them through experimentation driven by their own curiosity. Very few of them have reflected upon what they have learnt through these experiments though, having to familiarize themselves with these concepts again much later in life. Because much of the described knowledge can be seen as self-evident, it is easy to overlook its connection to the foundations of mathematics, and near impossible for child to figure out alone. With this book and some encouragement, the scenarios can be discussed and experiments reenacted together with an adult, in order to give a child a deeper and objective understanding of the concepts involved. Such an understanding will undoubtedly help and better prepare children for their journey through the mathematical landscape of life.

The child depicted in the scenarios age as the book progresses, but no exact age is given for when each scenario is likely to occur. This is a deliberate choice. Since the development of a child is individual, children may reach these scenarios at different ages, sometimes in a different order than the one presented, and sometimes in parallel with others.

In order to give children, parents, teachers, and other curious minded people reading the book some background, each scenario is accompanied by a short section explaining the underlying mathematics together with suggestions for further experiments. For those interested in finding more information the words in italics in each section provide good search words to use on the Internet. I hope reading the book will be an enlightening adventure for everyone involved!

Edition details

• Publisher: Up to Change AB
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9198282603
• ISBN 13: 9789198282603
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Steiner Lídia
• Number of pages: 48