Mathematics Rebooted

Lara Alcock is a Reader in Mathematics Education. She earned a BSc and MSc in Mathematics and a PhD in Mathematics Education at the University of Warwick, then spent four years at Rutgers University and two at Essex before taking up her present post in the Mathematics Education Centre at Loughborough, where she is now Head of Department. She conducts research in mathematical thinking and learning, with a focus on the transition from school to undergraduate mathematics. She won the 2012 Mathematical Association of America Selden Prize for research in undergraduate mathematics education, and she has written two books for undergraduates, How to Study for a Mathematics Degree (OUP, 2012) and How to Think about Analysis (OUP, 2014). She has won numerous Loughborough School of Science teaching awards, and in 2015 was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy.

• 1: Multiplying 2: Shapes 3: Adding up 4: Graphs 5: Dividing

Attempting to write a text which introduces a range of ideas that build from arithmetic and go on to encompass number theory and geometry, for a broad and diverse audience, is a bold move. Yet this book does this rather well through an almost conversational style of writing, and one that allows the personal perspectives, experiences and opinions of the author to shine through... Throughout, examples are very well used to make links between the fundamental mathematical ideas and introduce the terminology that is vital to understanding our discipline.