Useful Mathematics

Most of my useful maths books have been around for many years. I’m attached to them because the content is familiar and I have no trouble finding any particular subject. These are books that help you to solve everyday problems within your working life and on into retirement. Probably there are newer books which you may prefer to buy but these few have solved all my problems.

My old standby is “Practical Mathematics” by Louis Toft and A. D. D. McKay (Pub. Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons Ltd. It’s a 1950 reprint of the 1942 second edition. If buying later editions they may be published as two volumes.) This covered all the basics up to degree standard and it's approach will probably appeal to students engaged in engineering disciplines.

A more modern reference book is “Handbook of Mathematics and Computational Science” by John W Harris and Horst Stocker (Pub. Springer-Verlag, ISBN 0-387-94746-9). This is the book I pick up when I  think there is an equation but can't remember what it was.

There seems to be no possible future without statistics analysing every aspect of our work and lives. The classic introduction to this subject has to be “Facts From Figures” by M J Moroney (Pub. Penguin Books). Statistics has mostly moved from pencil and paper to the computer spreadsheet but this book explains what is happening and why. It will help you to make critical judgements about the value of information you are given by others.

Every business needs to know what the future holds. Forecasting is almost a matter of life and death. In the years BC (before computers) I used a hand written method of differences (made famous by Babbage’s difference engine) which produced excellent results in a market which appeared to have no logic. This was great for forecasting next months sales and reasonably accurate for a year if it was modified with a trend line. The real problem with trends is that they suffer from discontinuities introduced by macro market situations. In many respects the book I found most useful was “Business Forecasting : an economic approach” by Colin Robinson (Pub. Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, in 1971, under ISBN 0-17- 761009-3).

To get your mind round the concepts of  fuzzy logic you might want to start with “Fuzzy Logic” by DanielMcNeill and Paul Freiberger (Pub. Simon & Schuster www.simonandschuster.co.uk  ISBN 0-671-87535-3). There are several texts that delve into the nuts and bolts of programming in fuzzy logic but for an understanding of the processes involved this has to be on your bookshelf. This book is both entertaining and useful so I have included it in both my maths classifications.