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Books Related to Algebra

For all readers:

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure
by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, illustrated by Rotraut Susanne Berner and Michael Henry Heim
Henry Holt & Company Reprint edition [May 2000]
ISBN: 0805062998

Mathematics Subject[s]: Algebra, Mathematical Analysis, Mathematical Reasoning, Number Sense

In his dreams, Robert meets the number devil, a magical and clever being who introduces and explains some of the most complex mathematical concepts in such an engaging way that they become crystal-clear to Robert (and the reader). Infinite numbers, Fibonnaci numbers, prime numbers, ands numbers that appear in triangles become more than the stuff of dreams in this international best seller. You may be afraid of the bogeyman but, after reading this book, you’ll love the Number Devil.

Spaghetti and Meatballs for All! A Mathematical Story
by Marilyn Burns, illustrated by Debbie Tilley
Scholastic [September 1997]
ISBN: 0590944592

Mathematical Subject[s]: Algebra, Measurement & Geometry, Number Sense

The Comfort family is having a dinner—with 32 guests! Just where will they sit? With Mr. Comfort in the kitchen, Mrs. Comfort carefully plans and determines that they’ll need eight square tables with four guests at each. But what happens when the guests arrive and want to put the tables together? Or what to do when only 31 chairs are delivered? By the time you finish reading, not only will you know the answers to those problems, but you’ll also be able to spell out the difference between perimeter and area as well.

For more experienced readers:

Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So
by Ian Stewart
Perseus Publishing [April 10, 2001]
ASIN: 0738204420

Mathematical Subject[s]: Algebra, Mathematical Analysis, Measurement & Geometry

Victoria Line (Vikki to her friends) is a perfectly ordinary teenager (even if she is only two-dimensional). Her great-great-grandfather was A. Square (of Flatland fame). When she uncovers his diary in the attic, she inadvertently steps into a far different world called Mathiverse—with its eleven dimensions—accompanied by a creature named Space Hopper. Traveling through this strange world and meeting such odd characters as Schrodinger’s Cat and Moobius the one-sided cow, Vikki explores the mysteries of modern mathematics and science, including time travel, quantum physics, and black holes. Part Alice in Wonderland and part modern mathematics textbook, Flatterland does great justice to its literary antecedent Flatland.

A Gebra Named Al: A Novel
by Wendy Isdell, Wendy Isdell [Editor]
Free Spirit Publishing [August 1993]
ISBN: 091579358X

Mathematical Subject[s]: Algebra

Julie is frustrated. Nothing in algebra class is going her way. Downhearted, she puts her head down on her desk and drifts to sleep. When she awakens, she’s in a much different place – the Land of Mathematics. Befriended by a gebra (zebra) named Al and horses whose names are scientific elements, she tries to make her way home—through the Order of Operations, Exponent, the contrasting lands of Multiplication and Division, Addition Mountain, and the Valley of Subtraction. But the door back to ordinary life can’t be found until she finds just the right equation. Readers learn—along with Julie—that numbers really are a powerful and useful part of every person’s life.

A Gebra Named Al: A Novel
by Wendy Isdell, Wendy Isdell [Editor]
Free Spirit Publishing [August 1993]
ISBN: 091579358X

Mathematical Subject[s]: Algebra

Julie is frustrated. Nothing in algebra class is going her way. Downhearted, she puts her head down on her desk and drifts to sleep. When she awakens, she’s in a much different place – the Land of Mathematics. Befriended by a gebra (zebra) named Al and horses whose names are scientific elements, she tries to make her way home—through the Order of Operations, Exponent, the contrasting lands of Multiplication and Division, Addition Mountain, and the Valley of Subtraction. But the door back to ordinary life can’t be found until she finds just the right equation. Readers learn—along with Julie—that numbers really are a powerful and useful part of every person’s life.

A Mathematical Mystery Tour: Discovering the Truth and Beauty of the Cosmos
by A. K. Dewdney
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [1999]
ISBN: 0471407348

Mathematics Subject[s]: Algebra, Calculus, Mathematical Analysis, Measurement & Geometry

Did we create mathematics, or did the laws of mathematics create everything in the universe, including us? That’s the primary question that drives this exploration, a theoretical world tour with visits to characters such as the fictional Dr. Petros Pygonopolis in Miletus, Pythagorus’ home and Professor Jusuf al-Flayli, an expert on ancient Islamic astronomy, who talks about the mathematical secrets of the night sky as the narrator and he travel through the desert by camel. Within the four stops on this tour, Dewdney, a computer science professor, finds that the quest of the answers is probably as important as the answers themselves.

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