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All the Math You'll Ever Need: A Self-Teaching Guide (3rd Edition)

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DOI: 10.1080/00401706.2022.2126673

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 Technometrics

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/utch20

All the Math You’ll Ever Need: A Self-Teaching

Guide (3rd Edition)
by Carolyn C. Wheater and Steve Slavin, USA: Jossey-Bass, 2022, 336 pp.,
$25.00 (PBK), ISBN: 9781119719182

Firdous Ahmad Mala

To cite this article: Firdous Ahmad Mala (2022) All the Math You’ll Ever Need: A Self-Teaching
Guide (3rd Edition), Technometrics, 64:4, 579-580, DOI: 10.1080/00401706.2022.2126673

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its brevity is very likely to attract much recognition and wider
reach.
Firdous Ahmad Mala
Government Degree College Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, India
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2023-8529
Stochastic Processes with R: An Introduction, by O.
Korosteleva, Boca Raton, FL: Chapman and Hall, CRC Press,
2022, x + 190 pp., $99.95, ISBN 978-1032153735.
This book is useful for simulating Markov chains, Poisson
processes, and Brownian motion. The book can be used as
supplementary reading for a first course in stochastic processes
at the undergraduate-graduate level. Datasets and R code can
be obtained from the book’s webpage (https://home.csulb.edu/~
okoroste/stochprocesses.html), and there is a solutions manual for
instructors. The book is interesting, but short in that much of the
material is R code and examples.
Chapter 1 discusses discrete-time Markov chains, and Chap-
ter 2 covers variants of the integer valued simple random walk
where each variant is a special case of a Markov chain. Chapter
2 also shows how to simulate two and three-dimensional ran-
dom walks. Chapters 3–6 consider the (homogeneous) Poisson
process, nonhomogeneous Poisson process, compound Poisson
process, and conditional Poisson process. Chapter 7 considers
birth-and-death processes as a type of a continuous Markov
chain, and Chapter 8 covers branching processes as a type of a
Markov chain. Chapter 9 covers Brownian motion. Each chapter
starts with definitions and theory for the stochastic process,
then gives simulations and applications using R, and ends with
exercises. Some of the applications are quite interesting.
Competitors include Dobrow (2016), which covers similar
topics plus stochastic calculus, and Ross (2019) which discusses
many stochastic processes but does not use R.
David J. Olive
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
References
Dobrow, R. P. (2016), Introduction to Stochastic Processes with R, Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley. [579]
Ross, S. M. (2019), Introduction to Probability Models (12th ed.), San Diego,
CA: Academic Press. [579]
All the Math You’ll Ever Need: A Self-Teaching Guide
(3rd Edition), by Carolyn C. Wheater and Steve Slavin,
USA: Jossey-Bass, 2022, 336 pp., $25.00 (PBK), ISBN:
9781119719182.
The authors are back with the third edition of the book after
catching dozens of errors in the second edition that had some-
how made it into the first edition. The book is a self-teaching
TECHNOMETRICS 579
guide that aims to cover all of the math you’ll ever need but may
not know.
Because it appears unlikely that you will return to your
elementary school and begin learning all of the math concepts
all over again, this book can be a lifesaver. Those who have
succumbed to calculators can now savor the taste of doing all
the calculations themselves by relearning the fundamentals of
counting and arithmetic, among other things.
The book covers a wide range of topics, including multiplica-
tion, division, geometry, business problems, algebra, numerous
word problems, and statistics. The concepts are not only easily
described, but also enriched with a large number of relevant and
enriching problems. Everything is exquisitely detailed and intel-
ligently balanced. Numerous self-testing activities are included
to encourage readers to actively engage with the book’s content.
Surprisingly, according to the authors, far too many Ameri-
cans lack fundamental mathematical literacy. Even college stu-
dents are not immune from criticism and struggle with simple
arithmetic sums. In its 24 chapters, the book offers a cure-all for
all basic mathematics ailments.
The authors create everything from the ground up. After
explaining the purpose of the book in a one-page first chapter,
Getting Started, the subsequent three chapters cover the funda-
mentals of addition, multiplication, and division. The authors
have dedicated an entire chapter, Mental Math, to faster multi-
plication, faster division, and other mental math tricks, includ-
ing several divisibility tests. Positive and negative numbers, frac-
tions and decimals, converting fractions and decimals, ratios
and proportions, and problem solving are all covered in detail,
in the subsequent chapters.
Arithmetics is not the only concern of the book. The authors
have addressed the readers’ fundamental geometric require-
ments in two distinct subsequent chapters, Area and Perimeter
and Circumference and Area. Aside from fractions, percentages
can be difficult to master, and so, a separate chapter, Percentages,
has been added for this purpose. Given the widespread fear
of math and equations, chapter 15, Solving Simple Equations,
makes an attempt to address this specific need.
If you have made it this far as a reader, you’re already
sufficiently enriched and equipped to tackle more involved
and advanced topics in elementary mathematics. And that is
precisely what the authors have done. Chapters 16 through
18, Powers and Roots, Very Large and Very Small Numbers
and Algebra Problems, discuss, among many other things,
concepts such as squares, square roots, cubes, cube roots, and
the concept and arithmetic of millions, billions, trillions and
beyond.
Chapter 19, Interest Rates, discusses the very important
day-to-day concepts of simple and compound interests and
discounting and is followed by a chapter on Rate, Time and
Distance. The subject matter of the next chapter, Personal
Finance, is very engaging. It discusses concepts such as sales
tax, credit cards, federal income tax and mortgage interest and
taxes.
All of us need mathematics. Mathematics is simply inevitable
at times. The subject of the next chapter, Business Mathematics,
is one type of mathematics that all businesspeople are concerned
with. It helps the reader understand and calculate things like
commissions, chain discounts, and profit.
580 BOOK REVIEWS
Chapter 23, A Taste of Statistics, gives what it says. It explains
both “what statistics is” and “what statistics are.” It talks about
distributions, measures of center (mode, mean and median),
measures of spread (median, quartiles, range, inter-quartile
range, mean deviation and standard deviation) and estimation.
The final chapter, Review, is made up of questions drawn
from the previous chapters, beginning with the third. It could
be viewed as a final examination to see how far the reader has
progressed in mastering the mathematics he should know and
understand.
Overall, the book is an excellent resource that attempts, in
the author’s opinion, to bring together all of the bits and pieces
of mathematics that we will ever require.
Firdous Ahmad Mala
Government Degree College Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, India
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2023-8529
Mathematical Modeling: Models, Analysis and Applica-
tions, 2nd Edition, by Sandip Banerjee, Boka Raton, FL:
Chapman and Hall/CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 2022,
433 pp., $130.00 (hbk), ISBN 978-1-138-49594-4.
The book presents a wide range of methods for mathematical
modeling of different problems and teaches how to formulate,
solve, and interpret the results of various techniques mostly of
differential equation kind, applied to numerous examples in
many areas of science and technology, biology and medicine,
economics and other fields of human needs and interests.
In comparison with the first edition of 2014, the material
is extended more than by a half, with new problems and
approaches, exercises and projects. The book is organized in
six chapters, each divided to multiple sections and subsections.
Chapter 1 “About Mathematical Modeling” introduces the
main concepts of mathematical description of reality and briefs
on the history of mathematical thought starting from ancient
civilizations and going through the medieval world to the mod-
ern developments. On examples from physics, it describes units
of measurement, dimensional analysis and scaling, discusses the
needed steps in a problem modeling and various mathematical
functions, for instance, logistic and Gompertz equations used
in growth modeling, and considers populational dynamics of
prey and predator in Holling’s models used in ecology. Miscella-
neous examples and multiple exercises are given, including the
damped Lotka-Volterra predator-prey model.
Chapter 2 “Discrete Models using Difference Equations”
describes the recurrent relations and sequences involving
differences, the linear and nonlinear, homogeneous and non-
homogeneous equations and their systems, possible analytical
solutions, stability and points of equilibrium defined by
specifics of the systems’ eigenvalues. Discrete-time models are
considered for the population growth, immigration, Newton’s
law of cooling, saving in bank account, drag delivery, Harrod’s
economic model, arms race, Lanchester’s combat models,
and tigers-deer model. Nonlinear techniques are presented
for density-dependent logistic and Richer’s growth models,
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learning model, dynamic of alcohol in a body, and a model
of two-species competition for black and grizzly bears. Cycle
points, 2- and 3-cycles stability, bifurcations and chaos, criteria
of chaos and Lyapunov exponent are described, and various
additional problems are given. Codes in Mathematica and
Matlab include Lanchester’s combat model, Lyapunov exponent,
two-species competition, saddle-node and Neimark-Sacker
bifurcations, and more. Four dozen exercises and two projects
are suggested, particularly, a discrete dynamic system of the
spread of infectious disease.
Chapter 3 “Continuous Models Using Ordinary Differential
Equations” (ODE) is devoted to the continuous in time model-
ing. Examples of rumor propagation, and predator–prey systems
of linear equations are given. Questions of steady-state solution,
local stability by Routh-Hurwitz and Lyapunov criteria,
Lyapunov’s condition for global stability, phase-plane diagrams
of linear systems with nodes, saddle and spiral points are
explained for different features of the eigenvalues. Continuous
models are formulated for carbon dating, drug spreading in the
body, growth and decay of electricity current in the inductance-
resistance circuit, mechanical damped and forced oscillations,
dynamics of rowing, and arms race models. Epidemic models,
including susceptible-infective (SI), susceptible-infective-
susceptible (SIS), susceptible-infective-recovered (SIR), and
susceptible-infective-removed-susceptible (SIRS) are described.
Lanchester’s combat models, such as conventional, guerilla,
and mixed models are presented. Strogatz’s love affair model
is described in detail featuring the exponential and steady love,
love–hate relationship and endless love cycle. Bifurcations in
one and two dimensions are considered, with characteristics of
saddle-nodes, transcritical bifurcation by change of fixed points,
pitchfork bifurcation, Sotomayar’s theorem, and Hopf bifurca-
tion. Chaos in continuous models is discussed using Lyapunov
exponents and Rössler systems. Other examples include the
generalized Verhulst population model, amount of glucose in
veins, chemical reactions, mechanics systems, sugar and oil
pricing, trees growth, species competing for food, Shroud of
Turin carbon dating, and more. Mathematica and Matlab codes
are given for estimating parameters for ODE models in the least
squares approach, and finding characteristics of bifurcation.
Ninety exercises and three projects are also supplied.
Chapter 4 “Spatial Models Using Partial Differential Equa-
tions,” (PDE) extends modeling to operating with derivatives
of at least two variables, combining time and space changes in
the processes going in a real world. The initial and boundary
value problems are described, including Dirichlet, Newmann,
Cauchy, and Robin boundary conditions for the second-order
PDE. Problems of the heat flow through a thin rod with a solu-
tion in Fourier series, two-dimensional diffusion heat-equation,
steady-heat flow in Laplace equation, one and two-dimensional
wave equations, vibrating string, fluid flow through a porous
medium, traffic flow, reaction-diffusion systems, crime spread,
and more are described via PDE. Mathematica and Matlab codes
are given for the problem solutions. Two dozen exercises and
two projects are suggested.
Chapter 5 “Modeling with Delay Differential Equations”
(DDE) are applied to the lagged models with the derivatives of a
present time depending on the independent variables at previ-
ous times. Questions of linear stability analysis and criteria are