G Is for Googol: A Math Alphabet Book »

DAVID SCHWARTZ is the author of 50 children's books, including G IS FOR GOOGOL and Q IS FOR QUARK. He is a frequent guest speaker at schools in the US abroad. He lives with his wife-and co-author-YAEL SCHY in Oakland, California.
Marissa Moss was an honors math student and the only girl on her school math team. She is the creator of the Amelia's Notebook Series, RACHEL'S JOURNAL, and REGINA'S BIG MISTAKE, among others. She lives in Berkeley, CA.

B is for Binary, F is for Fibonacci, P is for Probability... even a small sample begins to give you the idea that this is a math book unlike any other. Ranging freely from exponents to light-years to numbers found in nature, this smorgasbord of math concepts and trivia makes a perfect classroom companion or gift book for the budding young mathematician at home. Even the most reluctant math student will be drawn in by the author's trademark wit, Marissa Moss's quirky illustrations and funny captions, and the answers revealed in W is for " When are we ever gonna use this stuff, anyway?" Download the G is for Googol Teacher's Guide(300K)

Children's Literature

Math teachers should be delighted because there just aren't that many picture books that feature math. (How Much is a Million, If You Made a Million also by Schwartz, One Grain of Rice by Demi and Math Curse by Scieszka are the ones that come immediately to mind.) The alphabet is used to provide order for a collection of mathematical words. F is for Fibonacci, who is responsible for the adoption of Arabic numerals in the Western World and also discovered the Fibonacci sequence. The book explains the sequence and its occurrence in nature. It is fascinating stuff, and once kids start exploring the book they will probably keep turning the pages. Readers can start anywhere that catches their fancy. If a concept is too difficult (and some are), just try another section and go back later after a few more math classes. There is even a glossary to help the mathematically challenged.

Contents

A is for Abacus . . . 5
B is for Binary . . . 6
C is for Cubit . . . 8
D is for Diamond . . . 10
E is for Equilateral . . . 11
E is also for Exponent . . . 12
F is for Fibonacci . . . 14
G is for Googol . . . 16
G is also for Googolplex . . . 17
H is for Hundred . . . 18
I is for “If” . . . 19
J is for Jupiter . . . 20
K is for Königsberg . . . 22
L is for Light-Year . . . 24
M is for Möbius Strip . . . 26
N is for Nature . . . 28
O is for Obtuse . . . 30
P is for Probability . . . 32
Q is for Quantity—and Quality . . . 36
R is for Rhombicosidodecahedron . . . 37
S is for Symmetry . . . 39
T is for Tessellate . . . 41
U is for Unit . . . 43
V is for Venn Diagram . . . 44
W is for “When are we ever gonna use this stuff, anyway?” . . . 48
X is for x . . . 50
Y is for y-axis . . . 52
Z is for Zillion . . . 54
Glossary . . . 55