A Beginner's Guide to Finite Mathematics: For Business, Management, and the Social Sciences by W.D. Wallis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This second edition of Wallis’ concisely written textbook on finite mathematics can be a valuable resource for freshmen and sophomores. After opening with a brief overview of sets and numbers, counting arguments come in as part of probability measures, including the (unnamed) inclusion–exclusion principle leading to Bernoulli trials a section prior to truly basic counting principles. As a result, a student tackling the work sequentially confronts the probability of a netted butterfly being either striped or female two sections before meeting the much simpler ideal urn and its monochrome marbles. An economy of language lends elegance and thus hopefully clarity to this text which is unusual among comparable texts that I work with. However, the sequence presented convinces me it would be awkward in the classroom. Much additional lecture would be required as well as probably rerouting the students through the sections. Such situations, I find, often confuse and unsettle a student already on the margins of his or her confidence and works against encouraging students to read ahead and do independent study. However, I know of no better work to suggest as a study aid for parents or students seeking a second resource along with a required textbook during the first couple of years of pre-calculus college algebra...
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