Further reading

• *The Good Study Guide, by Andrew Northedge published by The Open University, 1990, ISBN 0 7492 00448.

  Chapter 4 is entitled – ‘Working with numbers’.

  Other chapters are ‘Reading and note taking’, ‘Other ways of studying’, ‘What is good writing?’, ‘How to write essays’, ‘Preparing for examinations’

• The Sciences Good Study Guide, by Andrew Northedge, Jeff Thomas, Andrew Lane, Alice Peasgood, published by The Open University, 1997, ISBN 0 7492 341 1 3. More mathematical and science-based than The Good Study Guide.

  Chapter titles are: ‘Getting started’, ‘Reading and making notes’, ‘Working with diagrams’, ‘Learning and using mathematics’, ‘Working with numbers and symbols’, ‘Different ways of studying’, ‘Studying with a computer’, ‘Observing and experimenting’, ‘Writing and tackling examinations’, followed by 100 pages of ‘Maths help’ on: calculations, negative numbers, fractions, decimals, percentages, approximations and uncertainties, powers and roots, scientific notation, formulas and algebra, interpreting and drawing graphs, and perimeters, areas and volumes.

• *Breakthrough to Mathematics, Science and Technology (K507) – only available from the Open University. Module 1, entitled ‘Thinking about measurement’, looks at mathematics in a variety of contexts, e.g. in the kitchen, on the road, in the factory, in the natural world. Module 4, entitled ‘Exploring pattern’, looks at geometrical and numerical patterns using everyday examples. The other four modules in the series have a greater emphasis on science or technology than on mathematics. Each module refers to The Sciences Good Study Guide.

• *Teach yourself basic mathematics, by Alan Graham, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1995, ISBN 0 340 64418 4. A book aimed at a more general (i.e. non-OU) audience is in two parts entitled ‘Understanding the basics’ and ‘Maths in action’.

• Countdown to mathematics Volume 1, by Lynne Graham and David Sargent, Addison-Wesley, Slough, 1981, ISBN 0 201 13730 5. This is a useful next stage after any of the above and includes an introduction to algebra.

• Investigating Statistics: a beginner's guide by Alan Graham, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1990, ISBN 0 340 4931 1 9. This is a more thorough introduction to dealing with data and statistics.

• Statistics without tears, by Derek Rowntree, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1981, ISBN 0 14 013632 0 is intended to support those people without a previous background in statistics, who may need it as part of a course that they are studying.

• The MBA Handbook, Study Skills for Managers by Sheila Cameron, 3rd edition, Pitman Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0 273 62812 7. Chapter 13, ‘Using numbers’ introduces the use of number in a management context.

Finally, all the topics are comprehensively covered in the Open University course MU 120 Open Mathematics. This course assumes you are already reasonably confident with the material covered by any of the books marked (*) or by Module 1 of Countdown to mathematics Volume 1. The course has been studied successfully by many students whose primary interest lies in the humanities or social sciences.