Life of Fred: Trigonometry
Fred's Home Companion: Trigonometry
Life of Fred: Calculus
Life of Fred: Statistics
by Stanley Schmidt, Ph.D.
Reviewed by Elliot Robinson and Martha Robinson
Purchase details: Life of Fred: Trigonometry ($29), Fred's Home Companion: Trigonometry ($14), Life of Fred: Calculus ($39) with paper answer key ($6), Life of Fred: Statistics ($39) with paper answer key ($6). Available from the publisher, Polka Dot Publishing.
Life of Fred: Trigonometry
Reviewed by Elliot Robinson
Life of Fred: Trigonometry picks up where Life of Fred: Advanced Algebra left off. Fred is now six years and 5 days old, and is returning to his job at KITTENS (Kansas Institute for Teaching Technology, Engineering, and Natural Sciences) University by limousine. As has been seen in past books, Fred's luck turns bad very quickly, resulting in hilarious trigonometry-based problems.
Life of Fred: Trigonometry consists of ten chapters of new material, six "1/2" chapters entitled "Looking Back", and an additional "1/2" chapter enitled "Looking Forward to Calculus." Each regular chapter introduces new material relating to trigonometry, starting with the sine function and ending with the polar form of complex numbers. The "1/2" chapters (numbered 1 1/2, 9 1/2, etc.) are review chapters that cover material introduced in previous Fred books. No new trigonometry is taught in these chapters, so those with a full understanding of previously-taught concepts are capable of skipping these chapters without missing any new information; however, for those who have not completed the lower-level Fred books, or those who had trouble grasping the material the first time, these chapters will prove invaluable. The final chapter (10 1/2) provides a basic insight into the definition of calculus, and includes a detailed rundown of what students need to remember from pre-calculus courses in order to have an "enjoyable excursion" through Life of Fred: Calculus.
Trigonometry is laid out in the same manner as Algebra with "city" exercises, "Your Turn to Play" questions, and the A.R.T Summary at the end of the book. Once again, some answers are provided in the text; the rest can be found in the Home Companion.
Fred's Home Companion: Trigonometry functions in the same manner as the Advanced Algebra Home Companion. The text is broken into ninety-four daily lessons with additional problems and explanations. The Home Companion also includes the answer key for Life of Fred: Trigonometry.
Life of Fred: Calculus
Reviewed by Elliot Robinson
Life of Fred: Calculus does not continue Fred's adventures. Instead, it returns to the beginning of his life and his initial discovery of how everything in his world could be explained with math. Throughout the twenty-four chapters of Calculus, the text covers the first five years of Fred's life and the entirety of lower-division (college freshman and sophomore) calculus.
Although Calculus does not continue the storyline of the lower-math books, (It is essentially a prequel.) it does maintain uniformity with regard to assignment layout. The first section (and the bulk of the book) contains Fred's story, explanations of calculus concepts, and the "Cities" section. The "Cities," much like prior books, contain problems of varying challenge levels, of which about 1/3 have complete worked out answers. The second section is the "Your Turn to Play" lesson-related problems section. Questions are arranged by chapter and randomly numbered (so that you can look up the answer for one problem without seeing the answer for the next.) Following this is the "Further Ado" section which contains additional (read: more complex) information not found in the rest of the text. This section also has randomly numbered questions, with full answers in the last section, the "Answers" section.
Recommendation: Over a shorter time period and for significantly less money, Life of Fred: Trigonometry and Life of Fred: Calculus cover more material than other high-school level textbooks. Even though they add in additional material, they fail to pick up the dryness (and boring redundancy) present in most high-school/college books. For anyone interested in learning higher-level math with the least amount of stress and the most fun possible, I strongly recommend Life of Fred.
Life of Fred Statistics
Review by Martha Robinson
Life of Fred Statistics is the final book in the Life of Fred series, and at 542 pages, it is also the longest. The format of the eight chapters and four half-chapters continues in the same manner as the others with a narrative about Fred's adventures, "Your turn to play" problems, and city exercises.
After defining basic terms, the author proceeds with the study of inferential statistics. He groups statistical tests used to predict and make decisions about information into three categories: future, past, and present. What you already know and want to find out about a population and samples from that population dictate which category you will be working with. Here are Dr. Schmidt's definitions:
- Present: If you start out with a population, and you want to know what the samples will look like.
- Past: If you are given a sample and you want to know what was the population that generated the sample.
- Future: If you have two or more samples and ask how they fit together
In the following chapters, the author shows situations and solutions using various statistical tests. The "Emergency Statistics Guide" makes finding the right test very easy! Here, the author uses simple flow charts to help the student decide which test will meet his needs. Later in the book the "Field Guide" has summaries of each test with all the basic information about its use and implementation. The last forty-plus pages are devoted to statistical tables.
One of the items that particularly sets Life of Fred Statistics apart is the discussion of ethics that appears in chapter 4 1/2. Dr. Schmidt points out that statistics is "a profession in which the temptations are intense." Slanting results to prove whatever point is desired is really quite easy with statistics. Dr. Schmidt refers to this evil temptation as "the problem of what you do as a statistician when no one, except God, is watching." Using ten guidelines, he cautions students to be ethical in their use of statistics.
Recommendation: The study of statistics is actually something that would change the face of the U.S.A. With just a basic introduction to statistics, citizens would be able to call the bluff of politicians and recognize many of the marketing techniques used to coerce them into buying particular products. Life of Fred Statistics offers a solid and enjoyable study that will be beneficial to parents as well as homeschooled teens.
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