Math (13-18) Archives - Classical Education Books

Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series Package

sarah — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 18:05:27 +0000

A Special Series of Books for Children Who Struggle to Read

The Night of the Paranormal Patterns Dyslexia Series is based on the premise that although dyslexic children struggle to develop their reading skills, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t bright or that they shouldn’t be challenged in other subjects such as math. In addition, dyslexic children enjoy a good story full of memorable characters and incidents just as much as children without reading difficulties.

The books in this series make up the Night of the Paranormal Patterns Dyslexia Pack. The series of seven books—all printed in a special dyslexia-friendly font—tells the story of Lennie Miller, who is visited by a variety of strange, paranormal creatures that expect her to solve their math problems. Together, the books form a single novel, with each part connected to the next by the characters and themes and by the sorts of math problems that run through them—problems that are there for readers to solve if they can.

A special feature of these books is that each two-page spread contains a QR code that links to audio of the book being narrated. Children can listen and follow along to help them learn the words that they are seeing.

Each book also contains lists of the proper nouns and of the words that a dyslexic child might find difficult that appear in the book. The challenge words are available as flashcards—also printed in the dyslexia-friendly font—so that children can study and work to learn them outside of the narrative of the story. The pack can be purchased with or without the flashcards.

The Night of the Paranormal Patterns Dyslexia Series offers a way for children with reading difficulties to enjoy reading and math in a rare and wonderfully accessible combination that they will treasure for years to come.

The post Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series Package appeared first on Classical Education Books.

Mathematical Lives Set

sarah — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 23:47:57 +0000

The Mathematical Lives Set includes all six of the Mathematical Lives biographies: Pascal and Fermat, Florence Nightingale, David Blackwell, Ada Lovelace, Benoit Mandelbrot, and Edward Lorenz, offered at a discounted price.

Useful Links:

Listen to Robert Black talk about the Mathematical Lives series in the Breaking Math podcast.

The post Mathematical Lives Set appeared first on Classical Education Books.

Mathematical Nights: Math Fiction Set

sarah — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 20:51:08 +0000

The Mathematical Nights Set includes all three of the Mathematical Nights novels: Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Night of the Frightening Fractions, and Night of the Eerie Equations, offered at a discounted price.

Useful Links:

Robert Black’s article about math fiction on our News page
Article on “MiddleWeb” by Robert Black about writing the Mathematical Nights books

The post Mathematical Nights: Math Fiction Set appeared first on Classical Education Books.

Night of the Paranormal Patterns

sarah — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 20:28:10 +0000

Sample

When seventh grader Lennie Miller moves to the tiny town of Bailey, Indiana, she’s convinced that life is both boring and unfair. What could possibly be interesting about a place in the middle of nowhere? But it’s not long before she learns that Bailey isn’t at all what she expected. It is located on the edge of the Mystical Realm, and Lennie has a gift for seeing the otherworldly creatures that cross over from that world to ours. What’s more, Lennie learns that those creatures consider her a “Pattern Finder,” which means that they come to her to solve their math problems. And they certainly have some unusual problems!

Soon Lennie and her new best friend Gil are calculating who would win a race between a vampire and a werewolf, how fast gremlins reproduce, how many different ways wizards can switch bodies with one another, and how much cargo aliens can take with them on their ship. Maybe Bailey is a little too interesting. But just as it looks like she’ll be a Pattern Finder for life, Lennie discovers a potential way out. Can she find the magical veil her ancestor stole and go back to being a normal kid again?

Author Robert Black mixes his narrative with a series of pre-algebra-level math puzzles in what he calls “mathematical fiction.” He says:

“I wanted to use storytelling as a way of communicating math concepts. Just as a good historical novel can introduce readers to different times and places, I’m introducing readers to ways of looking at the world through numbers. When Lennie and Gil try to solve a math problem, readers are right there with them. Math can be a collaborative experience. There are many different ways to look at a problem, and it helps if you can talk with someone and trade ideas to see which way is best. There’s a lot of trial and error involved, too. It’s okay to try an approach and discover that it doesn’t work. Lennie and Gil go through all of that. They make mistakes. They go down blind alleys and have to try again. And readers get to share in that experience.”

Useful Links:

Robert Black’s article about math fiction on our News page
Article on “MiddleWeb” by Robert Black about writing the Mathematical Nights books

The post Night of the Paranormal Patterns appeared first on Classical Education Books.

Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Seven: The Veil of Phrygia

CEBAdmin — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 21:05:58 +0000

Sample

This book is Part Seven of the Night of the Paranormal Patterns Dyslexia Pack. It tells the final part of the story of Lennie Miller and her adventures with the creatures from the Mystical Realm. It is not meant as a standalone book. The seven parts are meant to be read in chronological order to be able to enjoy the complete story.

Lennie’s father finds a map among his old family records, and Lennie immediately recognizes it as matching the one that she and Gil used to find the first clue to locating the Veil of Phrygia. Lennie is anxious to return the veil to the Cheshire Bat in exchange for the Mystical Realm leaving her alone as their Pattern Finder. She contacts Gil, and they use the same strategy that they used before to pinpoint a new spot on the map. Lennie and Gil hurry to the new location, where they find a round barn. To their surprise, hidden inside it is an alien spaceship!

The Cheshire Bat is already there, but not because of the veil; he wants Lennie’s help in calculating how much weight the aliens can carry and how much fuel they will need to carry it and still be able to get back to their mother ship. Once more, Lennie and Gil work out the problem, this time so that the aliens can be on their way. They are doubly motivated by the idea that the Veil of Phrygia lies somewhere in the barn, so the sooner the aliens leave, the sooner they can search for it. But what happens once they provide the aliens with the answer is a surprise, and Lennie discovers that her role as Pattern Finder is only just beginning.

Related Resources:

Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part One: The Redcoat Ghosts
Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Two: Who Would Win?
Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Three: The Cheshire Bat
Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Four: Nigel or Tony?
Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Five: The Map
Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Six: Body-Switching Wizards
Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Seven: The Veil of Phrygia

Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series – Flashcards
Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series Package

The post Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Seven: The Veil of Phrygia appeared first on Classical Education Books.

Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Six: Body-Switching Wizards

CEBAdmin — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 20:34:21 +0000

Sample

This book is Part Six of the Night of the Paranormal Patterns Dyslexia Pack. It tells the sixth part of the story of Lennie Miller and her adventures with the creatures from the Mystical Realm. It is not meant as a standalone book. The seven parts are meant to be read in chronological order to be able to enjoy the complete story.

Lennie and Gil are visited by two wizards from the Mystical Realm, but these wizards aren’t what most people would expect. Charlotte and Finley are teenagers, and they apparently haven’t been paying much attention in their math classes at Backrazor Academy, the school for wizards. Word has gotten around that Lennie is a Pattern Finder, and these wizards have come to her with a problem. They want to win a body-switching contest, and to illustrate their point, they switch bodies with Lennie and Gil—a feat that leaves Lennie angry and disoriented. However, the wizards talk Lennie into solving their problem for them, agreeing to be nicer in the future in exchange for the solution.

To beat the old record, Charlotte and Finley need to be able to switch bodies with several other wizards, but they need to know how many wizards must enter the contest with them in order to win. Lennie and Gil tackle the problem together and make some interesting discoveries, but they still cannot find the answer on their own. Their math teacher offers them a way to figure out the solution by using Pascal’s Triangle, a number pattern that enables them to find the answer they’re looking for. Math, it turns out, can be its own kind of magic.

Related Resources:

Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series – Flashcards
Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series Package

The post Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Six: Body-Switching Wizards appeared first on Classical Education Books.

Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Five: The Map

CEBAdmin — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 20:32:28 +0000

Sample

This book is Part Five of the Night of the Paranormal Patterns Dyslexia Pack. It tells the fifth part of the story of Lennie Miller and her adventures with the creatures from the Mystical Realm. It is not meant as a standalone book. The seven parts are meant to be read in chronological order to be able to enjoy the complete story.

Lennie is doing her best to lead a normal life, even joining the school’s soccer team, when the Cheshire Bat appears to explain to her the full extent of her role as the Mystical Realm’s Pattern Finder. An ancestor of hers stole a mystical shroud, the Veil of Phrygia, and the mystical creatures want it back. Lennie manages to negotiate a deal with the Cheshire Bat: if she can find the veil and return it, they will leave her alone. It’s a deal that Lennie certainly does not want to pass up.

The Cheshire Bat gives Lennie a map, which should help her discover the location of the veil, but the map is confusing, and Lennie struggles to understand the key. As has become her custom, she enlists Gil’s help, and together they figure out how to use the map by plotting points on a graph. Unfortunately, that leads them to a place that is just as confusing as the map had been. How will Lennie ever find the veil that will allow her to be free of the creatures of the Mystical Realm?

Related Resources:

Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series – Flashcards
Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series Package

The post Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Five: The Map appeared first on Classical Education Books.

Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Three: The Cheshire Bat

CEBAdmin — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 20:28:40 +0000

Sample

This book is Part Three of the Night of the Paranormal Patterns Dyslexia Pack. It tells the third part of the story of Lennie Miller and her adventures with the creatures from the Mystical Realm. It is not meant as a standalone book. The seven parts are meant to be read in chronological order to be able to enjoy the complete story.

It is almost time for the school year to begin, and Lennie finally makes a friend: a boy her age named Gil. Gil confesses to Lennie that he believes there’s something spooky happening in town. Initially, Lennie doesn’t want to disclose to Gil what she already knows about Bailey, Indiana, but when a creepy visitor appears and takes over Gil’s body, she demands that Gil be allowed to hear the truth. The visitor is a Cheshire Bat. He comes with the official business of the Mystical Realm, and he explains to Lennie her role as a Pattern Finder.

The first official business of the Pattern Finder is to stop a disaster in the making. A mad scientist has created a gremlin, and that gremlin has reproduced. Then those gremlins both reproduced. Every two hours, every gremlin reproduces, and it won’t be long before there are untold numbers of them running around and creating havoc. How much Gremlin-B-Gone should the bat purchase at the Mystical Co-Op when it opens at noon on the following day to kill all of the gremlins? The answer to this problem is important, the bat warns. But this time, Lennie has Gil to help her out, and two heads are better than one—unless they’re gremlin heads.

Related Resources:

Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series – Flashcards
Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series Package

The post Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Three: The Cheshire Bat appeared first on Classical Education Books.

Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Two: Who Would Win?

CEBAdmin — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 20:26:37 +0000

Sample

This book is Part Two of the Night of the Paranormal Patterns Dyslexia Pack. It tells the second part of the story of Lennie Miller and her adventures with the creatures from the Mystical Realm. It is not meant as a standalone book. The seven parts are meant to be read in chronological order to be able to enjoy the complete story.

Lennie hasn’t made any friends in her new hometown yet, but she does meet Donna Brown, a girl who is both older than Lennie and also gorgeous. Although she’s not a Pattern Finder, Donna can see beings from the Mystical Realm, and two of those beings are vying for her attention. Lennie is shocked to discover that one of the beings is a vampire, and the other is a creature much like a werewolf. In their human forms, Nigel and Tony are dazzlingly handsome young men, and Donna loves the way they dote on her. That they are mystical doesn’t bother her one bit.

The problem lies with Nigel and Tony. They argue with each other constantly about who deserves Donna’s affection, often nearly coming to blows. So Lennie proposes that they hold a race in their mystical forms; the winner will prove his worth to Donna. Donna is thrilled with the idea, but a new argument ensues as to the length of the race. Each boy can only race at a specific speed for a certain amount of time before he must take a break, also for a set amount of time, to rest before taking off again. The problem takes on a new level of difficulty when Donna confides to Lennie that she wants to know the results of Lennie’s calculations in advance, which will help her to choose a distance for the race—and therefore the winner. Lennie must figure out how far each boy can travel at the speeds they can race and the times they must rest in order to help Donna. Who knew that the fastest way to a girl’s heart was to race there?

Related Resources:

Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series – Flashcards
Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series Package

The post Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part Two: Who Would Win? appeared first on Classical Education Books.

Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part One: The Redcoat Ghosts

CEBAdmin — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 20:21:55 +0000

Sample

This book is Part One of the Night of the Paranormal Patterns Dyslexia Pack. It tells the first part of the story of Lennie Miller and her adventures with the creatures from the Mystical Realm. The complete story is told throughout all seven parts.

Lennie Miller has just moved to the sleepy town of Bailey, Indiana, and she’s not happy about it. Life was so much more exciting in Philadelphia—or so she thought. It turns out that Bailey is situated on the edge of the Mystical Realm, a place where otherworldly creatures can cross over into our world, but only a few people can actually see them. Lennie is one of those people. More importantly, Lennie learns that she is a Pattern Finder, which means that the creatures from the Mystical Realm can come to her for help with their math problems. And they need a lot of help.

The first beings that Lennie encounters are two ghosts from the Revolutionary War who want to know how long they’ve been marching from their fort in upper Canada to Indiana and back. The problem becomes complex when the ghosts inform Lennie that they march at different speeds when going up and down hills than when they march on level ground. Lennie must do some calculating to figure out the solution, and when she does, the grateful ghosts agree to stop marching through the walls of her house. But even without ghosts regularly passing through her home, Lennie’s life just got a lot more interesting.

Related Resources:

Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series – Flashcards
Night of the Paranormal Patterns: Dyslexia Series Package

The post Night of the Paranormal Patterns, Part One: The Redcoat Ghosts appeared first on Classical Education Books.

Benoit Mandelbrot: Reshaping the World

CEBAdmin — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 19:12:44 +0000

Sample

Most people have never heard of Benoit Mandelbrot, but it’s hard to imagine anyone who hasn’t seen the effects of his work. In fact, the movie and gaming industries and even smartphones would be very different today if not for Mandelbrot, a Polish Jew who escaped Nazism to become one of the most important mathematicians of the twentieth century.

Mandelbrot had a talent for envisioning geometric solutions to mathematical problems, but for the first part of his career, he seemed to his colleagues to be disorganized and unfocused. However, although Mandelbrot had been investigating topics in an array of different fields, he had begun seeing the same geometric functions and characteristics in all of them, from coastlines to financial trends to telephone signals to galaxies. His ability to find connections among such seemingly unrelated subjects led him to the discovery of fractal geometry. His work at IBM with the first computers enabled him to explore and expand upon his ideas, opening up an amazing new mathematical realm. Others took what he did and applied it to new areas, such as economics, telecommunications, medicine, biology, and even art, and his work was the foundation for the development of smartphone antennas, movie animation magic, and much more.

We have always lived in a fractal world, but Mandelbrot is the one who showed it to us.

This book includes a variety of color images that illustrate fractal figures and patterns to enhance the explanations and for greater visual enjoyment of the narrative. There’s also a “Doing the Math” section at the end of the book so that readers can try working out the math themselves!

Useful Links:

Listen to Robert Black talk about the Mathematical Lives series in the Breaking Math podcast.

Titles in Series:

Edward Lorenz and the Chaotic Butterflies
Benoit Mandelbrot: Reshaping the World
Ada Lovelace: Programming the Future
Florence Nightingale: The Lady with the Diagrams
Pascal and Fermat: The Probability Pen Pals
David Blackwell and the Deadliest Duel

Mathematical Lives Set

The post Benoit Mandelbrot: Reshaping the World appeared first on Classical Education Books.

Ada Lovelace: Programming the Future

CEBAdmin — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 18:52:45 +0000

Sample

In 1822, Englishman Charles Babbage designed a mechanical device for performing calculations that he called the “Difference Engine.” For years the British government poured money into the creation of the device, but it was never what Babbage wanted it to be. He was forever revising it based on new ideas and inspirations, and ultimately he designed a new machine that would be even more powerful, which he called the “Analytical Engine.” It would be, in effect, the first computer.

The problem was that Babbage had no way to build his machine, but his idea caught the attention of several scientists and other men of influence. One, from Italy, wrote about the Analytical Engine in detail, and a London editor wanted that information translated. For that he turned to a countess named Ada Lovelace. Lovelace had known Babbage since the dawn of his Difference Engine, and she had worked hard to study advanced mathematics at levels that were rare for women during that era. She understood the Analytical Engine, so she not only translated the information about it; she added detailed notes to the translation that explained the machine in plainer language. And, more importantly, she went even further than Babbage had and expressed some breakthrough ideas that are at the foundations of modern computer science.

Unfortunately, Babbage never built his Analytical Engine, but about a hundred years later, women picked up the torch that Lovelace had lit and carried it forward into computer science in ways that Babbage and Lovelace could hardly have envisioned. The women who worked on the first computers for the U.S. government during World War II and soon after were the first computer programmers and the first software engineers. The computer technology that we enjoy today is in large part the result of their efforts, and it is built on Ada Lovelace’s digital legacy.

There’s a “Doing the Math” section at the end of the book so that readers can try working out the math themselves!

Useful Links:

Listen to Robert Black talk about the Mathematical Lives series in the Breaking Math podcast.

Titles in Series:

Mathematical Lives Set

The post Ada Lovelace: Programming the Future appeared first on Classical Education Books.