The Student's Essential Formula Book

About the Book

Formulas, they seem to be the bane of every beginning mathematics student who has yet to realize that formulas are about structure and relationship-and not about memorization. Granted, formulas have to be memorized; for, it is partly through memorization that we eventually become ‘unconsciously competent’. This means we are a true master of our skill, practicing it in an almost effortless, automatic sense.  In mathematics, this means we have mastered the underlying algebraic language to the same degree that we have mastered our native tongue. Knowing formulas and understanding the reasoning behind them propels one towards the road to mathematical mastery, so essential in our modern high-tech society.

This book consists of three major sections. Section I-Formulas-contains most of the formulas that you would expect to encounter during the first year of college (and perhaps the second) regardless of major. In addition, there are formulas rarely seen in such compilations, included as a mathematical treat for the inquisitive. Section II-Tables-includes both ‘pure math’ tables and physical-science tables, useful in a variety of disciples ranging from physics to nursing. As in Section I, some tables (e.g. Magic Squares) are included just for curiosity and fun. Fun in discovery definitely should be a part of our learning experience in mathematics. Section III-Puzzles and Curios-is all fun! Here, I have pulled together a variety of mathematical wonders and puzzles collected over three decades of teaching.

About the Author

John C. Sparks is a career federal employee at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Dayton, Ohio) with over thirty years of engineering and management experience. Additionally, he is an award-winning—named the Ohio Association of Two Year Colleges’ 2002-03 Adjunct Teacher of the Year—twenty-year veteran of Dayton’s nationally recognized Sinclair Community College where he teaches mathematics on a part-time basis. Mr. Sparks is a native of Xenia, Ohio and is a graduate of Xenia High School (class of ‘65). He holds bachelor and master’s degrees from Wright State University, and a master’s degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology. John and his wife, Carolyn, have recently celebrated thirty-five years of marriage and have two married sons: Robert, living in Virginia, and Curtis, living in Nebraska.

A writer at heart, Mr. Sparks has participated as a technical writer for eight curriculum-development activities sponsored by Sinclair’s AIM - Advanced Integrated Manufacturing - Center. As early as 1985, he was ‘writing across the curriculum’ by requiring term papers in mathematics courses. Prior to coming to Author House, Mr. Sparks self-published two volumes of poetry in 1998 and 2000.  Author House currently has three of his latest books in publication: Calculus without Limits (Mathematics, 2004); Gold, Hay and Stubble (Poetry, 2004); and The Student’s Essential Formula Book (Mathematics/Reference, 2004).