65 Short Mysteries You Solve with Math (One Minute Mysteries)

Eric Yoder and Natalie Yoder
Science Naturally! (2010)
ISBN 9780967802008
Reviewed by Evan Weldon (age 8) for Reader Views (08/10)


“65 Short Mysteries You Solve with Math” by Eric Yoder and Natalie Yoder is a book of short everyday problems that can be solved with math.  Each problem is less than a page and the solution is on the next page.

The problems are mostly about things like cooking or what lawn mower to buy or what numbers you are most likely to get when you roll dice.  I wouldn’t really call them mysteries; I’d rather call them everyday problems.  A few of them were pretty interesting like the one about a kid who wants to make sure his rocket’s parachute will open.  He can’t throw it fast enough or bike it fast enough to make it open, but he can bike and throw.  There are a few pleasantly tricky problems about leap years, the number of days in the months, area and string.

I like math and I am pretty good at it, but I found this book kind of frustrating.  Sometimes the problems didn’t give all the information needed to solve the problem (it just said a regular sized can and bottle, not how many ounces).  The explanations were all words and never any diagrams which would have really helped me to understand the problem.

I would recommend “65 Short Mysteries You Solve with Math” to kids who really need more practice with math.  It might be a good way for kids to realize how math is important in every day life.

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