Click the cover to order your copy!
Illustrated by Trevor Dunton
This book was
originally
published
in the UK as
Murderous Maths
by Scholastic Ltd 1997.

Murderous Maths Guaranteed to Bend Your Brain

Suitable for ages 8 upwards

This is the book that started the whole Murderous Maths series.

It contains a wide mixture of mathematical curiosities including symmetry, powers, time, and ..... it shows you some neat calculator tricks and a card trick that works all thanks to algebra! It even introduces you to some real murderous mathematicians.

Don't forget to click the EXTRA links for more details that we didn't have room for in the books!

CONTENTS:

Murderous Maths - are you kidding?

We meet the gangsters (Blade Boccelli, the Weasel, Chainsaw Charlie and co) fighting over a simple restaurant bill- and that shows why even the simplest maths can be murderous! There's also a maths experiment to get you into hot water!

The Basics

A quick look at how the signs work, what powers are, and How to Scare a Scientist.

Professor Fiendish's Fatal Fungus

You are given some tiles and have to completely cover a lethal patch of fungus or else....

The Best Invention Ever!

Why Roman sums were murderous and why the modern "ten" system relies on the Invention of Nothing!

Rubbish Things About Calculators

Find out why Murderous Maths fans think calculators are for wimps, learn 5 things to do with a dead calculator and watch out for Urgum the Axeman!

The Long and Short of It

Find out why you might end up with a traffic cone on your nose.

Time?

How time got started, why a sundial is the only clock you can really rely on and the case of Sheerluck Homes and the Duchess's diamonds.

The Quest for the Right Angle

...and how not to shoot yourself with a cannon.

The Hard Boys of Maths

Druid Priests, Pythagoras, Archimedes, Thales... you'd never believe what some of these people were really like. They really put the "murderous" into maths!

The Magic Square

How to make your own squares of numbers. This chapter explains the amazing 4x4 magic squares including the unbelievable upside down one.
EXTRA - How to make bigger Magic Squares - and the amazing "Knight's Square"


Short Cuts

Handy tips for multiplying or knowing when numbers will divide.
EXTRA - will a number divide by 11? Or by 7 or by 13?

A Really Good Magic Trick

All you need is a normal pack of cards, and with no great skill or preparation you'll astonish everyone! The amazing thing is that it all works thanks to ALGEBRA.

How To Handle Big Numbers

Make complicated numbers look simple by rounding off, and learn the easy way of writing massive numbers using the SI system. And what IS a googolplex?

Major Charles Ingram answered the question "What is a 1 followed by 100 zeros called?" on the U.K.s "Who wants to be a millionaire?" tv show to win £1,000,000 in Sept 2001. But since then he's been found guilty of cheating because somebody was coughing signals to him from in the audience! If only he had read this chapter in "Murderous Maths" he would have known the answer is a "googol" without help and he'd have got to keep his £1,000,000!

Symmetry and the Mindmashing Maze!

Reflective and rotational symmetry explained - which is just as well because you'll need it when Professor Fiendish locks you in his diabolical trap!

Also in the book...

There's the ongoing story of Thag, Colonel Cancel and the Valiant Vector Warriors who have to tackle everything from measuring the height of a castle tower to solving prime number code!



LINKS:

The Murderous Maths Bookshop

The Murderous Maths Books

Murderous Maths Main Index Page