Math for Grownups (35 page)
Authors: Laura Laing
Tags: #Reference, #Handbooks & Manuals, #Personal & Practical Guides
proportions and, 133.
See also
Proportions
yarn requirements and, 140-41
Recipes.
See
Kitchen math
Rectangular prisms
surface area of, 224
volume formula, 225
Refrigerator measurements, 87-88
Remodeling and decorating, 77-95
about: overview of, 77
carpet requirement calculations, 83-85
drapery measurements, 92-94
hanging pictures, 88-92
paint requirement calculations, 78-82
refrigerator measurements, 87-88
scale drawings for, 86
Retirement, 170-77
determining amount needed for, 171-73
estimating expenses, 171-72
importance of planning for, 170
income needed for, 172-73
lottery odds and, 175-77
Rule of 72 and, 174-75, 223
savings needed for, 173
Room sizes.
See
Area calculations
Rounding rules, 137
Rule of 72, 174-75, 223
S
Salary calculations, 159-60
Scale drawings, 86
Scrapbooking calculations, 148-50
Seam allowances, 143-45
Sewing calculations, 143-48
fabric requirements, 146-48
metric conversion chart, 147
seam allowances, 143-45
typical fabric widths, 148
Shopping.
See also
Estimating; Percents
bottled water vs. filtered water costs, 21
buying in bulk, 22
cost of groceries in cart, 2-8
coupon savings, 18-19
forecasting annual savings, 26-27
importance of units when, 22-23
per-unit cost and, 20-21
sales discounts, affordability and, 11-15
warehouse, as deal or not, 23-26
Solving problems.
See also
Equations
attitude and, 126
basic problem-solving skills, 95
common-sense approach to, 211
deriving formulas for, 207
multiple ways of, 4-5
myth about, 4-5
variables (dependent and independent) and, 110
word clues for, 134
Speed, estimating travel time and, 205-8
Spheres, surface area of, 224
Spreadsheets, 149-50
Squared numbers, 95
Square feet, 78-80, 83-84, 125
Squares, area of, 221
Square units, 129
Square yards, 84
Subscripts, 85
Subtraction
addition of negative numbers
and, 7
for calculating home equity, 58-59
doing same thing to both sides of equation, 41
estimating answers.
See
Estimating
of fractions, 88, 114, 117
inverse of, 44
negative numbers resulting from, 158
order of operations (PEMDAS acronym), 36
of time, 108-9
word clues indicating, 134
Surface area, 81, 129, 135-36, 224
T
Tablespoon conversions, 101
Taxes, 177-79
Teaspoon conversions, 101
Temperature conversions (Celsius/Fahrenheit), 110-12
Thanksgiving dinner, 106-10
adding/subtracting time and, 108-9
calculating how much to buy for, 109
turkey thawing time calculation, 106-8
variables (dependent and independent) and, 110
Thermometer conversions (Celsius/Fahrenheit), 110-12
Time
adding and subtracting, 108-9
converting minutes and hours, 203
of departure, calculating, 201-3
estimating trip length and ETA, 205-8
turkey thawing time calculation, 106-8
Tip calculations, 215
Total-payment formula, 66-67, 224
Travel
about: overview of, 201
to casinos.
See
Gambling
comparing packages to à la carte trips, 211-14
departure time calculation, 201-3
estimating costs and shares of costs, 208-14
estimating trip length and ETA, 205-8
speed calculations, 205-8
tip calculations, 215
units of measure and, 204-5
U
Units of measure, 129, 204-5.
See also
Converting
Units of merchandise
buying in bulk and, 22
importance of, 22-23
per-unit cost and, 20-21
warehouse shopping value and, 23-26
V
Variables (dependent and independent), 110
Volume calculations
canning jar requirements, 98
cones, 225
container garden containers, 126-29
converting measurements, 101, 116
cubes, 225
cylinders, 128-29, 225
formulas, 225
pi and, 128, 135
pyramids, 225
rectangular prisms, 225
W
Warehouse shopping, 23-26
Water, bottled vs. filtered costs, 21
Weed guard requirement calculation, 122-23
Weight lifting, 196-200
Weight loss
basic formula for, 181
BMI and, 182-84, 192, 222
BMR and, 185-88, 192, 222
calorie-intake scenarios, 190-91.
See also
Calories
eating less, moving more for, 185-88.
See also
Exercise
losing one pound, 188-90
reading/heeding nutrition labels and, 191-93
your ideal weight and, 182-83
Wire, for hanging pictures, 91-92
X
X
, solving for, 38-40, 99-101, 141-42.
See also
Equations
Y
Yards
converting cubic inches to, 131-32
of fabric, 146-48
square, 84
Yard work.
See
Landscaping
Z
Zeros, estimating and, 13
About the AuthorWhen people learn that Laura Laing has a degree in mathematics, it’s always the same reaction: Widening eyes change to a puzzled look and then, “But aren’t you a writer?” Laura contends that writing great nonfiction is not much different from proving a(b + c) = ab + ac, except she gets to use words that are a whole lot more fun.
After receiving her undergraduate degree from James Madison University, Laura taught high school math for four years in a rural town in eastern Virginia. She left the classroom in favor of marketing, public relations, volunteer coordination, and development.
She then made the transition to journalism, working as a content producer/editor for the country’s first online version of a regional, daily newspaper and then as a reporter for the regional, weekly business publication
Inside Business
in Norfolk, Virginia.As a freelance writer, she has written for regional and national publications, including
Parade, Parents, Pregnancy
, and Southwest Airline’s
Spirit
magazine. Her career has now come full circle, as she has taken on more and more curriculum development projects. She has served as the instructional designer for Algebra II and Probability and Statistics courses, as well as writing mathematics test items for state standardized tests.Born in Tuscon, Arizona and having spent most of her life in Virginia, she now calls Baltimore, Maryland home.
Math + Adulthood = Solutions to everyday problemsEver wish you’d paid more attention in math class? From third grade to senior year of high school, it went in one ear and out the other, didn’t it?
But now you’re staring at the new washer and dryer, trying to figure out the percentage of sales tax on the purchase price. You multiply something by something, right? Or you’re scratching your head, wondering how to compute the odds that your football team will take next Sunday’s game. You’re pretty sure that involved ratios. The problem is, you can’t quite remember.
Here you get an adult refresher and real-life context—with examples ranging from how to figure out how many shingles it takes to re-roof the garage to the formula for resizing Mom’s tomato sauce recipe for your entire family.
Forget higher calculus—you just need an open mind. And with this practical guide, math can stop being scary and start being
useful
.Laura Laing
graduated from James Madison University with a BS in Mathematics. After teaching high school math for four years, she became a staff writer for
Inside Business
. Her articles have appeared in
Parade, The City Paper, Baltimore Sun
, and
The Advocate
. She lives in Baltimore, MD.
