All The Right Angles
From Gear Ratios to Calculating Odds: Mathematics in the World of Sports
by Joel Levy Firefly Books, 2013
ISBN 978-1-77085-196-2 (hc)
$29.95, 224 pp, index, glossary, age 12+
fireflybooks.com
168 kmh (105 mph): Fastest fastball ever pitched in MLB, by Aroldis Chapman of the Cincinnati Reds, in September 2010.
18.29 m (60 ft): The world record for the triple jump, achieved by Britain’s Jonathan Edwards in 1995.”
4.82 km (3 mi): Distance a cyclist can travel on 100 calories of energy.
All The Right Angles is a virtual feast of sport statistics, numbers, geometry and trivia. The connections between mathematics, science and sports is clearly explained in this colourful book with the use of text, illustrations and infographics.
Classroom Connections: This book offers an engaging and fun way to look at Mathematics and would be accessible to most fluent readers in the upper intermediate or secondary grades. Teachers could choose small chunks of the content as an effective focus of study for Math, Science or even physical education lessons. As the author says: “Athletes should be interested in the mathematics of sports for this simple reason it nothing else: the application of science can help them win.”
Review by Brenda Boreham.
This review is from Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Nov/Dec 2013 issue.
