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Author: Lindsey Fallow & Dawn Griffiths Publisher: O'Reilly, 2010 Pages: 368 ISBN: 978-0596808334 Aimed at: Those with an aversion to maths Rating: 4 Pros: Uses an approach that works Cons: Doesn't go very far Reviewed by: Mike James
2D geometry is basic to so many things, including any attempt at programming graphics. This book aims to introduce the basic ideas without frightening the non-mathematical reader.
It sort of works - but there are some reservations.
Following the usual form of a "Head First" title there are lots of photos, asides, quizzes, activities and so on - and it does help.
The ideas are all introduced as part of a "real world" problem - a fictitious homicide is used to introduce angles and properties of angles as you try to work out the CSI-take on geometry.
Later stories are similarly angled (pun intended) to capture the imagination of teenagers - skate boarding, designing a pattern for a screen graphic and so on. Again all of this mostly works even if you initially might feel a bit embarrassed by the cartoon-like characters - hey dude where's my angle. But if you stay with it you do get immersed in the problems and the geometry needed to solve them.
There are severn chapters:
Chapter 1. Finding Missing Angles Chapter 2. Similarity and Congruence Chapter 3. The Pythagorean Theorem Chapter 4. Triangle Properties Chapter 5. Circles Chapter 6. Quadrilaterals Chapter 7. Regular Polygons
The book really does start from the basic idea of what an angle is and doesn't get very far. You do learn Pythagoras via the usual geometric demonstration rather than by proof and both proof and algebra are down played at every turn.
It is about getting the student to really understand and imagine the geometric properties under discussion. This is geometry by feel and experience, rather than proof, and there is nothing wrong with the approach.
This is not a book that is going to be of any use to the student who has even the slightest grasp of, or aptitude for, math and geometry in particular. It is such a low level and such a low information density that it really is only for the maths non-starter or refuser.
So as long as you realise that this is very basic 2D geometry and it isn't going to be of direct help if you are struggling with a traditional course on geometric proofs then it's a good book.
HTML5 Cookbook
Author: Christopher Schmitt & Kyle Simpson Publisher: O'Reilly Pages: 282 ISBN: 978-1449396794 Aimed at: JavaScript programmers new to HTML5 Rating: 3 Pros: Introduction to HTML5 for the programmer Cons: Recipes too simple, lacks explanation Reviewed by: Ian Elliot
A cookbook on HTML5 sounds like a goo [ ... ]
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Arduino Projects to Save the World
Author: Emery Premeaux & Brian Evans Publisher: Apress Pages: 238 ISBN: 978-1430236238 Aimed at: Hardware enthusiasts Rating: 3 Pros: A great idea Cons: Not enough projects Reviewed by: Harry Fairhead
This book's message - all you have to do to save the world is create sensor packages that are cheap en [ ... ]
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