Arithmetic

LOVE this book. Believe me, if you think you hate math or its too hard, you will calm down and "get it". And if you still dont like numbers you won't feel bad about it ! The author feels like a a regular pal.

I wish I could afford to buy this book for every college student working on an elementary degree. I've read Paul Lockhart's earlier book. And I have his book, Measurement, on my to-do list. First, a reply to some who found it too simple. Yes, this is elementary. Maybe you did learn this when you were in school. But I am a product of the local public school and a teacher of 10 years, some of those years in a top 3 ranked school in South Carolina (which was a private school. And in South Carolina, none-the-less. But our SAT/ACT and AP Scores were ranked alongside the public schools as well). I think I have some room to say that most if not all students are NOT taught or reinforced with this understanding and relationship with the subject. I taught as a Learning Specialist. That is, I helped students who wanted it to become better students at learning. I helped students at whatever subject troubled them. Algebra and Geometry were regulars for me all the years. And from my experience with them, what Paul Lockhart explains here was not in their books nor reinforced in the classroom. I did my best to bring it to them. If you have read his earlier book, then you are familiar with his style of writing, which I enjoyed. Other than that, Paul Lockhart has the understand and experience to help the reader gain a personal understand of Arithmetic that isn't confined to the Industrial Age manipulation we live with today. This includes the understanding that this is not confined to some utilitarian value. HERE IS THE BIG DIFFERENCE I see between Utilitarian Public School and Lockhart's understanding of Arithmetic: Public Schools help students understand and known and the already discovered process for getting to the already known answer in terms of systems and rules. Lockhart sees it in terms of options and tools discovered and created on the way to understanding the character of entities and ways to arrange it 'for ease of communication and comparison'.

Let me first say that Paul Lockhart's previous two books have easily made my top 5 list of most powerful Mathematics books. This one makes the cut as well, and has exceeded my expectations once again. His writing is profound and entertaining, and quite literally improves my life as a teacher, as well as a human being fascinated by the art of learning an discovery. This volume in particular expands his previous discussions on number and its connection to Algebra, Geometry and Calculus (topics from his previous books). I state these different math categories as if there are borders, although ironically, Paul shows in beautiful simplicity how all these math fields fit together under the art of explanation of patterns. I clearly recommend this book, as well as his previous two books. "Measurement" and " A Mathematician's Lament ". Mathematician's Lament was a life changing experience and deeply humorous as well.

This book is not for everyone! If you enjoy numbers, the way they "feel" and the patterns that they make, then this book may be for you. In this book the author takes the reader on a journey through the history of numbers as well as showing the "properties" of those numbers. We look at the numbers themselves and the way they have been represented through time - after all a "3" is just the current way in the Hindu-Arabic numbering system that we represent "threeness" - and could just as easily have some other notation which, in a different society, would represent the same "threeness". We are taken through the Roman numerals, and their counting Tabula, as well as the Japanese Soroban (a type of abacus), and are exposed to the way the ancient Egyptians wrote their numbers (as well as the fairly cool (my description) of the way they notated fractions). Through all of this we start to see the numbers as entities in their own right, and not as the particular symbol we assign to them in our Hindu-Arabic numbering system. The author starts us off slowly with addition, then moves into subtraction, then multiplication, then division, and eventually into such "odd ball" concepts as negative numbers. He almost makes it into "set theory", but stops just short. The author also imparts a bit of advice along the way, for example on page 134 he notes "don't bother being more accurate than your data." Something one has to remember when doing calculations based on real world observations. To understand where the author is "coming from" take note of what he says on page 98 "That's kind of the whole math thing: working hard to find ways to get out of working hard." So, if you enjoy numbers and their patterns, then you will probably find this book enjoyable - but, if when someone mentions math you are the first to run screaming from the room --- then not so much.

Paul Lockhart is a great writer and he loves mathematics. This combination means that his mathematical writing is infectious. The reader cannot help but get a buzz when they read one of Paul's books. With his latest one, Arithmetic, Paul takes the reader on a small adventure to learn how ancient counting systems worked. From there, he moves on to operations like multiplication and division, and then to fractions, negative numbers, and then probabilities. I like how he provides clear examples, and also how he injects a small amount of humor into his writing. There is no reason at all that a book about mathematics should be boring, should it? I would recommend Paul's book to anyone who wants to know about counting systems and/or mathematical operations.

If you have a young child in your family who is struggling with the tedious and nonsensical math curriculum that is the "common core", you may find that reading this together at bedtime is helpful to grasp some basic ideas behind counting and comparing numbers. Myself and the little one I've read this with have truly benefited from the authors calm and basic way of explaining the world of arithmetic and gained a few tools to shrug off some of the white noise that is offered in the local school system. Have you ever wondered why your kitchen counter is called a "counter"?

This is one very fascinating, eye opening work. It will have you looking at numbers in a different way. I wish math class would have been like this but maintaining order comes first. Be sure to have pencil and paper on hand to work through the sample exercises throughout the book.

This is exactly the math book I was looking for for my organic-style, holistic, child-inspired homeschool. Lockhart tells “the story of arithmetic” as he puts it—the history of counting and number systems, and includes questions and activities for exploring ideas about numbers and quantity. He inspires you to fall in love with math. We love his book Measurement and A Mathematician’s Lament, too (a must-read before using this book). Some things in this book were too abstract/higher-level thinking skills for my 11-year-old, but we will revisit these questions and ideas when he’s a little older.

I really enjoy the story of Arithmetic as told by the author. And I now feel I closer to numbers than I'd have ever felt. This masterpiece forges a good relationship - nay friendship - between Arithmetic and the reader!

Este libro debería de ser recomendado como un fundamento. Al ser escrito en inglés nuestros niños puede que no lo alcancen, sin embargo, alguien mayor puede compartir con ellos estos puntos de vista

Great Book!

The book serves as a great introduction to mathematics, don’t expect something as difficult as a textbook on the topic. It serves as a great bridge towards more serious works. It is a great complement to measurement wrote by the same author. Used in combination, they give the foundation necessary to do great mathematics in the area you like.

Amazing read about what and why of numbers.