Avoid Silly Mistakes in Mathematics

Indian author Rajesh Sarswat is a Post Graduate in Computer Science and worked from a senior capacity under the Government of India until he retired to pursue his passion for writing and teaching, focusing on mathematics and research on various techniques and concepts of quick mathematics. His first book “Be a Human Calculator” was the result of his research in this field for the past 20 years. His other books include " How to Memorize Formulas in Mathematics Book 1 Calculus, and "How to Memorize Formulas in Mathematics Book-2 Trigonometry,” basic primer - “Avoid Silly Mistakes in Mathematics"Rajesh’s fine book is a workbook. As he offers his reason for writing the book in his Preface we discover, ‘As a Mathematics teacher, each year I am reminded just how crucial it is for all of my students to be familiar with the core elements of the topic. To bring all the students to the same level of understanding, I start the first three to four classes of every batch of Grade XI and Grade XII by teaching the primary topics of mathematics. These issues pertain to the early years of schooling and, focus on where the students may make mistakes. In these classes, it is common for even the most gifted students to be committing silly mistakes. It is the case that, year after year, students are confused due to their weak fundamental understanding of the core topics. What is interesting is that students are acutely aware of the numerous silly mistakes they make, but have no strategy to fix these problems. This book aims to provide students with the action plan they require to identify and fix the problems they have with core mathematical concepts. This book is not Mathematics textbook and will not teach students more advanced topics such as calculus, vector, and matrices. Instead, the book will assume that students already have a basic knowledge of these issues and are struggling due to silly mistakes made in more fundamental concepts. The students can use this book alongside other more advanced textbooks as a way to reinforce a student’s knowledge. My experience has shown me that while students may have a good grasp of more advanced topics; it is not unusual for them to have misconceptions of essential principles. In these cases, I have taken steps to provide a detailed and easy to understand- explanations that will help remove these mistakes.’This book is a teaching manual with accessible formats for learning basic techniques that apply to avoiding silly and frequent mistakes for students of mathematics. Rajesh offers down to earth advice, such as ‘Slow done a bit, Analyze the Errors/Mistakes, Deep breathing, Highlight important information, Stay well hydrated, Take movement breaks, Have a good night sleep, Eat light, Manage the time well, motivation from parents and teachers, keeping a record sheet that includes Date of committing an error, Type of mistakes: careless, computational, conceptual, reading error, sloppy handwriting, copying a question wrong, missed the unit, Summary of the question, Incorrect step(s) of the solution, Correct step(s) of the solution, and The previous occasion of occurrence of such mistake (write the date).‘Throughout the book Rajesh keeps the reader with him allowing the learning process to take place, reinforcing each ‘mistake recognition’ with supplemental practice examples. For students as well as for anyone who deals with numbers this book is an invaluable addition to the library. Grady Harp, August 18.

It is really, really easy to make mistakes in mathematics. All of us who are not particularly gifted in that science know that maybe too well. This book leaps to the rescue of us, mathematically challenged folks and it is really useful.The author patiently and methodically explains common mistakes in arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, calculus and other various branches of mathematics, using simple language and examples, like a true teacher. The book is written in a way so that practically anyone can follow it, there is no need to be afraid of it just because it is about mathematics. And like the author shows us through this whole workbook, there is no need to be afraid of silly mistakes in mathematics. Everything can be learned, and this book certainly helps a lot. I must say, there is a few language inconsistencies and errors along the way, but the quality of information is far superior to those little annoyances. Highly recommended.

Avoid Silly Mistakes in Mathematics by Rajesh Sarswat is another great example of this author's dedication to helping those who are math challenged to understand the subject a little more easily. As the author of several books on math, Sarswat knows his material well. Here he provides guidance to avoid some silly mistakes when doing math problems. He has even categorized the types of mistakes that are made from Careless or Casual Silly Mistakes to Calculation Errors, to Conceptual Errors. This book goes over 100 mistakes that are commonly made by students, and gives advice on how to avoid these errors. Overall, a good book for anyone who wants to hone their math skills, but particularly useful for math students looking to improve their scores. Highly recommend.

Rajesh Sarswat brings us a book that aims to help us in solving our mathematical problems by breaking down common misconceptions and mistakes that people make. Tackling the math subject or algebra, logarithm, trigonometry, mensuration and calculus, he covers the basics to give us a solid foundation upon which to further our skills. If you are a beginner, or even at the intermediate level, there should be helpful tips in here for you to explore.There are definitely good tips in here and step by step instructions to help you work through problems on your own, however, the spelling errors and editing leaves much to be desired. I understand that editing can be affected based upon the screen you are using, but the spelling mistakes should have been addressed before this was released. I would suggest that you buy this book in the print edition so that it is easier to reference as you are working on your mathematics work.

Went over all the common mistakes so far as I can tell, more thorough than I expected it to be, overall nice work

very fundamental in concept formation from childhood.It is the foundation in building maths in our physical world

Good book, tone was a little bit off putting but overall it is worth the price as an E-book.

This was a really good idea. You are paving the way to make it easier.

If you could not score well or could not get through some competitive examination despite hard working this book is for you as it makes you aware of the areas where one generally commits silly mistakes and it develops skill to avoid them. I could not resist myself from buying this book after going through some pages, for my son who struggles in mathematics due to such silly mistakes. Extremely good book for school students and aspirations of taking competitive examination to overcome mathematics phobia.

Many times despite working hard in mathematics , we don't score well just because we feel nervous and this makes us do loads of silly mistakes. But after reading this book you can feel that confidence for maths and calculations in yourself. The concepts are very well explained in this book. I would especially recommend that this to all the students.

I have earlier read writer’s book 'Be a Human Calculator' which is an excellent book. I purchased this book out of interest and find it extremely useful for middle school students, as also candidates appearing for competitive exams, who often develop math phobia. They will benefit from the well researched problem areas and suggestions given in the book.

Students will benefit from the well thought of suggestions given in the book. The book is well structured and written in simple language.

This book is really very good and a must read. Many students struggle to avoid silly mistakes in mathematics, they should definitely buy this book. It tells us very effective ways to avoid mistakes.