Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss

by Danica McKellar

Overview

With her first book, Math Doesn't Suck, actress and math genius Danica McKellar (The Wonder Years, The West Wing) made waves nationwide, challenging the "mathnerd" stereotype and showing students everywhere how to ace middle school math in her unique just-us-girls style. In Kiss My Math, Danica empowers a new crop of girls, taking on the next level in the math curriculum: pre-algebra.

Stepping up not only the math but also the sass and style, Kiss My Math will help math-phobic teenagers chill out and finally "get" negative numbers, variables, absolute values, exponents, graphing-concepts essential to algebra and beyond. Each chapter features:

Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions

Time-saving tips and tricks for homework and tests

Illuminating practice problems with detailed solutions

True stories from Danica's own life as a math student and actress

Kiss My Math gives girls everything they need to kick pre-algebra butt, including a unique "Math Test Survival Guide" to help students conquer jitters and excel at test-taking, and fun extras like personality quizzes, reader polls, and real-life testimonials. With Danica as personal tutor and coach, girls everywhere can stop dreading pre-algebra and watch their scores rise!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594630491
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/05/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.90(d)
Age Range:	12 - 14 Years

About the Author

Danica McKellar is a New York Times bestselling author of groundbreaking math books, including Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math, Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape, Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss, Hot X: Algebra Exposed!, and the Goodnight, Numbers series of children's books, and is a summa cum laude graduate of UCLA with a degree in mathematics. She is also well known for her acting roles on The Wonder Years, The West Wing, and multiple Hallmark Channel movies, and as a quarterfinalist on Dancing with the Stars. She lives with her family in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

What's Inside?

Acknowledgments x

Kiss My What? xv

Faqs: How to Use This Book xvii

Part 1 Number Stuff

Chapter 1 Breath Mint, Anyone? Adding and Subtracting Integers (Including Negative Numbers!) 1

Chapter 2 The Popular Crowd The Associative and Commutative Properties 20

Chapter 3 Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall ... Multiplying and Dividing Integers (Including Negative Numbers!) 39

Chapter 4 A Relaxing Day at the Spa Intro to Absolute Value 53

Chapter 5 Long-Distance Relationships: Are They Worth It? Mean, Median, Mode 62

You Said: Most Embarrassing Moments in School! 73

Poll: What Guys Really Think ... About Smart Girls No The Cover 75

Quiz: Are You a Stress Case? 77

Part 2 Variable Stuff

Chapter 6 The Blind Date Getting Cozy with Variables 83

Chapter 7 Backpack Too Heavy? Adding and Subtracting with Variables 99

Chapter 8 Something Just Went "Squish" Multiplying and Dividing with Variables 107

Chapter 9 Do You Like Him Like Him? Combining Like Terms 121

Chapter 10 The Costume Party The Distributive Property 130

Chapter 11 Didn't That Guy Say He Was Going to Call? Using Variables to Translate Word Problems 145

More Than 20 Ways to Beat Stress! On The Cover 159

Math ... In Jobs You Might Never Expect! 161

Part 3 Solving For X

Chapter 12 The Art of Gift Wrapping Solving Equations 166

Chapter 13 Nope, She Never Gets Off the Phone Word Problems and Variable Substitution 192

Chapter 14 Can a Guy Be Too Cute? Intro to Solving and Graphing Inequalities 210

You Said: Your Horror Stories About Procrastination! 226

Poll: What Guys Really Think ... About Talented Girls 229

Quiz: Do You Pick Truly Supportive Friends?On The Cover 231

Part 4 All About Exponents

Chapter 15 Champagne and Caviar Intro to Exponents 237

Chapter 16 Excuse Me, Have We Met Before? Intro to Variables with Exponents 254

You Said: Well ... That Didn't Work! 261

Do You Sudoku? 264

Part 5 Intro to Functions and Graphing Lines

Chapter 17 Secret Sausages Intro to Functions 265

Chapter 18 Creative Uses for Bubblegum Intro to Graphing Points and Lines 279

A Final Word 303

Math Test Survival Guide! 305

Appendix 312

Answer Key 318

Index 327

About the Author 332

Editorial Reviews

McKellar...may well have done more to encourage girls to stick with math than any government task force...the wildly enthusiastic response [her books] have received speaks to the effect that can be achieved by reworking the contents of standard math and science problems and countering the perception that boys won't like girls who are smart.”—Eileen Pollack, The New York Times

“A new pre-algebra survival guide.”—USNEWS.com

From the Publisher