NOTE: This edition features the same content as the traditional text in a convenient, three-hole-punched, loose-leaf version. Books a la Carte (Loose-Leaf Versions) also offer a great value; this format costs significantly less than a new textbook. Before purchasing, check with your instructor or review your course syllabus to ensure that you select the correct ISBN. For Books a la Carte that include MyLab™ or Mastering™, several versions may exist for each title–including customized versions for individual schools–and registrations are not transferable. In addition, you may need a Course ID, provided by your instructor, to register for and use MyLab or Mastering platforms.
For courses in Liberal Arts Mathematics and Quantitative Literacy.
The standard in quantitative reasoning instruction ― by authorities in the field
The 7th Edition of Using & Understanding Mathematics by Jeff Bennett and Bill Briggs aims to prepare students for the mathematics they will encounter in other college courses, future careers, and life.
The authors' goal is to develop students’ ability to reason with quantitative information in a way that will help achieve success in their careers, and to give students the critical-thinking and quantitative reasoning skills needed to understand major life issues. Through new resources in MyLab™ Math and updated content within the text, the Bennett/Briggs team continues to set the standard in quantitative reasoning instruction.
Also available with MyLab Math
By combining trusted author content with digital tools and a flexible platform, MyLab Math personalizes the learning experience and often improves results for each student.
Note: You are purchasing a standalone product; MyLab Math does not come packaged with this content. Students, if interested in purchasing this title with MyLab Math, ask your instructor to confirm the correct package ISBN and Course ID. Instructors, contact your Pearson representative for more information.
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About our authors
Jeffrey Bennett specializes in mathematics and science education. He has taught at every level from pre-school through graduate school, including more than 50 college courses in mathematics, physics, astronomy, and education. His work on Using and Understanding Mathematics began in 1987, when he helped create a new mathematics course for the University of Colorado's core curriculum. Variations on this course, with its quantitative reasoning approach, are now taught at hundreds of colleges nationwide. In addition to his work in mathematics, Dr. Bennett (whose PhD is in astrophysics) has written leading college-level textbooks in astronomy, statistics, and astrobiology, as well as books for the general public. He also proposed and developed both the Colorado Scale Model Solar System on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus and the Voyage Scale Model Solar System, a permanent, outdoor exhibit on the National Mall in Washington, DC. He has recently begun writing science books for children, including the award-winning Max Goes to the Moon and Max Goes to Mars. When not working, he enjoys swimming as well as hiking the trails of Boulder, Colorado with his family.
William L. Briggs has been on the mathematics faculty at the University of Colorado at Denver for 22 years. He teaches numerous courses within the undergraduate and graduate curriculum, and has special interest in teaching calculus, differential equations, and mathematical modeling. He developed the quantitative reasoning course for liberal arts students at University of Colorado at Denver supported by his textbook Using and Understanding Mathematics. He has written 2 other tutorial monographs, “The Multigrid Tutorial” and “The DFT: An Owner's Manual for the Discrete Fourier Transform,” as well as Ants, Bikes, Clocks, a mathematical problem-solving text for undergraduates. He is a University of Colorado President's Teaching Scholar, an Outstanding Teacher awardee of the Rocky Mountain Section of the MAA, and the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Ireland. Bill lives with his wife Julie and their Gordon setter Seamus in Boulder, Colorado. He loves to bake bread, run trails and rock climb in the mountains near his home.
