Understanding Maths

Graham Lawler is an author, teacher and broadcaster - with a mission to do for learning what Jamie Oliver has done for school meals. After taking his B.Ed degree in biology from the University of Liverpool (for which he studied in Chester) he read for a BA in Mathematics and education at the Open University, followed by an MA in Education and then a PhD. He taught at Soar Valley College in Leicester before moving to Warwickshire, where he became Head of Department. He has also lectured on education at the University of the West of England and in 1999 he received online qualifications from the Institute of Education at London University and also from City University in London. He is now one of the few qualified online teachers in England and Wales. He has taught online for a number of years first with the Loughborough based Satellite Virtual School and later as head of mathematics for an online college. Graham is the author of BBC Bitesize Maths, joint author of Channel 4's Your Family Counts and Studymates Mathematics for Adults(introducing adults to financial literacy) and Algebra: basic algebra explained. He is a regular broadcaster on BBC radio, appearing regularly as 'Mr Educator' as BBC Radio and was formerly one of the establishing broadcasters on 'West Coast Radio' in West Somerset, now known as 'Quaywest Radio'. He has made programmes for independent tv and a training video on learning skills for adults. He is married and he and his wife are keen gardeners. This book is a new edition of Understanding Maths, with a foreword by Sir Arthur C Clarke. Dr Lawler tours the world as a guest speaker at a number of conventions.

Foreword by Sir Arthur C Clarke 1 Place Value 2 Dealing with fractions 3 Percentages 4 Working with decimals 5 Using a calculator 6 Angles, turning and Pythagoras 7 Area and Volume 8 Handling Data 9 Analysing Data 10 Algebra 11 Spreadsheets 12 Appendix: introducing personal development profiles Answers to questions Glossary Websites for mathematics students