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Mathematics Reading List For High School Students?

Posted by timothy on from the flatland-to-hawking dept.

Troy writes "I'm a high school math teacher who is trying to assemble an extra-credit reading list. I want to give my students (ages 16-18) the opportunity/motivation to learn about stimulating mathematical ideas that fall outside of the curriculum I'm bound to teach. I already do this somewhat with special lessons given throughout the year, but I would like my students to explore a particular concept in depth. I am looking for books that are well-written, engaging, and accessible to someone who doesn't have a lot of college-level mathematical training. I already have a handful of books on my list, but I want my students to be able to choose from a variety of topics. Many thanks for all suggestions!"

7 of 630 comments (clear)

  1. How to Lie with Statistics by sando101x · · Score: 5, Informative

    How to Lie with Statistics, Darren Huff, 1954

  2. Flatland by Ponderoid · · Score: 5, Informative
    Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott. Higher-dimensional math packaged as a parody about Victorian culture. :)

    *** Ponder

  3. Martin Gardner's column in Scientific American by Lupulack · · Score: 5, Informative

    was full of the sort of stuff that's fascinating to inquiring minds. I read one of his collections many moons ago and was enthralled! Not common to find a math book that could be called a "page turner"

    Link is to a CD-ROM of all his books
    http://www.amazon.com/Martin-Gardners-Mathematical-Games-Gardner/dp/0883855453

    --
    The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
  4. moving outside of 'pure' math by cellocgw · · Score: 4, Informative

    Let them loose on The Feynmann Lectures on Physics. Quite readable and bound to get them interested in one branch or another of physics.

    The Golden Ratio -- or some other book on the same constant -- which goes into things like sunflowers and nautilus shells IIRC.

    Mathenauts: a collection of sci fi short stories in which (in most cases) the hero is a mathematician.

    --
    https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
  5. Bringing Down the House by c_forq · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you're trying to get kids interested in the possibilities of math I would suggest Bringing Down The House, about the MIT Blackjack team.

    --
    Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
  6. Simon Singh by Ian+Alexander · · Score: 4, Informative

    You might look at some of Simon Singh's stuff if you haven't already- there are some good chapters in The Code Book regarding the basics of public-key cryptography which don't require any more than a basic education in algebra.

    1. Re:Simon Singh by JuanCarlosII · · Score: 4, Informative

      I opened this post expecting every second person to be recommending Simon Singh's 'Fermat's Last Theorem'. I never met an UG mathmetician at my college (at a moderately well-known collegiate university) that hadn't read it at some point before admissions interviews.

      I am shocked to see it not mentioned even once.