Secret Life of Math, The

To answer all those questions of “What will we use this for?” McCallum looks at the history of math and why it has developed. Activities that invite youngsters to make Chinese counting rods, solve an ancient Egyptian math problem, and add Roman numerals help kids put math and its development into historical (read: human) perspective. Math is not a jumble of stoical numbers: it is a way of communicating and a very important skill to learn.