Book Description
This book covers fundamental 3D math concepts that are especially useful for computer game developers and programmers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

Best Math book....period
The greatest problem for a lot of us that want to be great programmers is that we're terrible mathematicians. And the greatest benefit of this book is that it explains it in a way anyone can understand it! I absolutely love this book. Before you even start to think about DirectX, OpenGL, whatever - you should read this book COVER TO COVER.

Gets you up to speed very quickly.
This is a must read for anyone wanting to jump into 3D graphics programming, the book is full of content, full of useful source code, and very accessible to the average reader.
The only gripe I would have is that there is a steep learning curve a few chapters in, once you finish writing the vector class the content in the next chapter is much harder. It's not impossible to pick up, but there is a definite difference in difficulty.

READ THIS
Hi, i am a college student at Bozeman, Montana, MSU.If you do not know, the computer science course in Montana (of all places) is in the highest Tier in the nation.(That means our school competes with MIT).I can tell that this book is great.Sure there are some funny things about it, but for the most part, everything is good in this book.I really like how much stuff is covered on matrices.Not everyone gets to take Matrix Theory (Linear algebra) so this book does a decent job of explaining matrices.And especially explaining Quaternions.

Not good
Didnt learned too much from it, the explanations are very briefly specially in some chapters

For example, in the Collision Detection chapter (aka Geometric Tests, Chapter 13), he just throws the equations and miss important points to the complete understanding of the solution for the problem.

For example, in the explanation of Intersection of Ray and Plane, he just says that the parametric ray is p(t) = Po + td and the plane equation is p . n = d, then you need to solve (Po + td) . n = d, and the explanation is just it

He doesnt explain why a plane is defined by p . n = d, and why the dot product of all points in the plane and the plane normal will give the same number, and doesnt even explaning the meaning of that number (which is the plane distance from the origin along the normal, or in other words, the closest point in a plane to the origin)

All the others geometric tests explanations are made in the same way, he just throw the equations and some picture and you have to find out yourself. I was only able to understand the chapter cause i already had a good understanding of that subject, but for that guy with zero knowledge in the subject who bought this book for the first time imagining it would be a good introduction for geometric tests, he will have a hard time

Others chapters are the same way too, for example, i was hoping to understand barycentric coordinates from this book, but as always, he just throw you some equations

Maybe i misjudge the book, but thats my impression so far

If money is not your problem, buy it, but dont expect it to be your ultimate source for your doubts, you will probably have to look in another sources

great book for 3d math
great book for learning 3D math, probably the best on 3D math. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is because author rushed through some of the topics. Overall, great book. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Customer Reviews (2)

More than seventy 'kid friendly' math games
Featuring more than seventy 'kid friendly' math games, puzzles, and projects from all over the world, "Math Games & Activities From Around The World" by Claudia Zaslavsky is 160 pages of fun, math skill developing exercises that will have enormous appeal for children ages 9 and older. Children will engage in the use of geometry to design game boards, probability to analyze games of chance, logical thinking to devise gaming strategies, and more. From Tic-tac-toe (first played in ancient Egypt), to Nine Men's Morris (once played in England with living pieces), and Mankala - the oldest and most popular game in the world. From building a model pyramid to working maze-like African network puzzles, "Math Games & Activities From Around The World" is a unique and welcome supplemental addition to school math and logic skill development curriculums. Also very highly recommended for classroom and homeschool curriculums is Claudia Zaslavsky's companion book, "More Math Games & Activities From Around The World" featuring seventy more games, puzzlers and projects ranging from Mongolian 'Jirig', to Sudan's 'Little Goat Game', to the game of 'Achi' from Ghana.

A little math treasure to keep...
This is a very detailed book for ages 9 and up.It consists of games that correlate with some of today's districts standards.We have Native American patterning, Symmetry from Japan, Geometry from Kenya, Probability games from Mexico and Hawaii, and board games anywhere from China, Korea, and New Zealand.

This is a recomended book for those teacher or parents that want to make math a little more exicitng for children.Mathematics is not only about learning it from a textbook, but also from hands on experiences through games and visual aids.This books touched upon the idea that it's okay to make math fun for you and a child.

One or two games in this collection dates back about 3,300 years ago in Egyptian times.Symmetry is learned from making masks and faces from the U.S. and Native Americans.Islamic "POLYGONS" are also found in this book.You can learn to make "Hopi Flat Baskets" that dates back about 1,500 years ago when baskets were found in the ruins of Anasazi homes.These baskets show children about symmetry and design.Repeated patterns from Alaska show children that we don't only have patterns in designs but, we also have patterns in every day items all around us.

This is an excellent book that lets children view math from the fun and creative perspective.Teachers can have fun while teaching district standards and make sure that our youth isn't bored with the "textbook" syndrome as Harry Wong puts it.We need to show children that mathematics deals with every day life and that it doesn't only appear on the pages of a text every five days.Mathematics is the necessary means for survival in our complex and equative society.This books let's us step outside of the "textbook syndrome" and let children explore the "real-world" experiences. ... Read more

Book Description
At a time when the poor math performance of American school children has labeled us a "nation of underachievers," what can parents--often themselves daunted by the mysteries of mathematics--do to help their children? In Games for Math, Peggy Kaye--teacher extraordinaire and author of the highly praised Games for Reading--gives parents more than fifty marvelous and effective ways to help their children learn math by doing just what kids love best: playing games. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

The best book to help your child with math
My 1st grade daughter hates to study.She screams and rolls her eyes when I bring out the math workbook.Unfortunatly, I have to work with her beacause she's not doing well in math.After looking at a number of books on the subject, and not seeing much to my liking, I found this one.It's wonderful.You really can play these games with your child, help them with math, and they don't even know they're studying.This book (actually this whole series of books) would be great for any child.Those doing well in math will love these games, those doing poorly in math might actually enjoy math for the first time.I've started with a simple solitaire game to help my daughter with addition.This one takes a bit of time, about 10 minutes, but there are plenty of others that you can do any time, for just a couple of minutes.A few of the games are a bit more involved, but they're all fun and the author does a great job explaining exaclty how each game will help your child learn, how often it should be played and for how long.My 6 year old is at a good age for the book, and I can see that I will have some good games for later too.There are some games that my 4 year old likes as well. I wish I could give this book 6 stars.It's really great!

Great for Homeschoolers
Peggy Kaye is fantastic and homeschoolers should consider these books. The activities are easy to do. Most require little or no advance preparation. The author does a great job explaining the purpose of the activity and exactly what level of learner it may help. Some of the activities are so simple but so effective parents will wonder "hey, why didn't I think of that?"

I especially enjoyed the way the author introduces the activities. She tells of her experiences with the activity and how it helped one of her students. I always felt more confident and ready to do the activity after reading her introduction. Our child found many of the games really fun and asked to play them again and again. I feel like the books taught me a lot about how to make anything into a game. These books are a great alternative to boring workbooks and too much sitting still at a desk.

A good book for all grade levels
I bought this book based on the reviews I had seen on Amazon. I was hoping that it would be a book that was chock full of ideas for my Kindergarten classroom. I have gotten a few ideas, but it seemed to really focus more on grades 2-3.

Fantastic!
I took this book out of the library hoping it would have some fun ideas for my four year old. I was not disappointed! The games are lots of fun and I appreciate that the author takes the time to explain what they are learning. We're only doing section one because of my daughter's age, but flipping through the book the other sections look good too. I am definitely buying this one and intend to look at the other books by this author too. I highly recommend this for any child!

For Parents and Teachers!
This book is the best!The games and approach have worked very well with the Title One kids that I tutor, providing a fun way to work on skills.The author has an easy writing style that talks the reader through each activity, explaining variations and "what if's".She also provides information on the psychology of learning (such as, "What is a 6 year old's concept of number?") that is geared to the parent and a separate addendum that is geared to teachers. ... Read more

Product Description
Engaging and motivating games such as Five-Minute Flowers and Off to the Bank encourage students to practice and build automaticity and computational fluency in telling time in different increments, solving time word problems, adding and subtracting different coin values, matching coin combinations to money values, and more. Perfect for small-group work, centers, or send-home practice. Includes complete how-to?s, problem-solving strategy tips, and game variations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Pleased!
I use this book for the math fair each year.It has some fun logical puzzles that are not too difficult and easy for students to manipulate.It teaches them logical thinking similar to other types of puzzle games.I really use this book each year and the students love it.

Very Disappointed
This book was ok, but not what I expected.There is nothing in the book that you can't think up on your own or print off of the internet for free.Save your money! ... Read more

Book Description

Real learning can be fun with games for the brain!

The Engage the Brain: Games series offers practical activities that energize students, increase brain connections to content, and reinforce learning in a nonthreatening atmosphere.

Derived from tested, research-based strategies found in the bestseller Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites, this book provides activities that incorporate games aligned with national academic standards for math, including number and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis and probability.

You will find brain-friendly activities that can be integrated easily into your lesson plans to inspire enthusiasm and help students achieve. Each game provides learning objectives, a comprehensive materials list, step-by-step guidelines for playing the game, activities for extended learning, and required reproducibles such as game cards, game boards, and scorecards. Discover favorites such as memory match, bowling, rummy, and scavenger hunt applied to middle school math content in games like Bowling for Numbers, Gin Rummy Geometry, and Geo-Measure Scavenger Hunt. All games include a focus activity, modeling, guided practice, independent practice, and a closing. Students actively process content as they play existing games, and construct and design a variety of new ones.

Use these engaging activities to supplement your curriculum goals in

• Number and operations
• Algebra and geometry
• Measurement, value, and conversion
• Data analysis, probability, stock market math, and much more!

Watch your students thrive and grow with creative experiences that incorporate movement, teamwork, healthy competition, and interpersonal skills!

Book Description

The Complete Book of Math Games offers children in grades 1 to 2instruction and practice in key math skills!

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent education series...keeps the kids busy for hours!
This was the first book out of this series that I purchased for my 6 year old son who was bored in school. I now own over 13 books in this series, which I use for my 6 year old and 4 year old. The books are excellent education workbooks. They contain literally hundreds of pages of learning activites. The pages are very interesting (even I have learned some new things!),colorful and creative. My son particularly enjoys the many math board games included in this workbook. It is an excellent and fun way to practice math skills. My children sit for hours in the afternoon and on weekends doing these workbooks...they don't even realize that they are really doing "schoolwork"! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Anno's Math Games II
This is a beautifully designed book, very inviting to the eye.The book translates mathematical concepts into pictures and little stories which are, not incidentally, visually fascinating.The concrete and specific examples illustrated give children a pathway to the abstractions behind them, teaching them to think and use their native curiosity to develop knowledge.But didactic function of the book, as well thought out as it is, is almost secondary to the pleasure of taking in the beautiful designs and drawings.I think this is a book that a child will remember into adulthood. ... Read more

Product Description
Engaging and motivating versions of favorite games such as Go Fish, Tic-Tac-Toe, Checkers, Bingo, and more, encourage students to practice and build automaticity and computational fluency in addition and subtraction with fractions and decimals. Perfect for small-group work, centers, or send-home practice. Includes complete how-to?s and game variations. ... Read more

Product Description
Engaging and motivating games such as Five-Minute Flowers and Off to the Bank encourage students to practice and build automaticity and computational fluency in telling time in different increments, solving time word problems, adding and subtracting different coin values, matching coin combinations to money values, and more. Perfect for small-group work, centers, or send-home practice. Includes complete how-to?s, problem-solving strategy tips, and game variations. ... Read more

Book Description
Math Games offers a dynamic collection of 180 reproducible activity sheets to stimulate and challenge your students in all areas of math - from whole numbers to data analysis - while emphasizing problem solving, critical thinking, and the use of technology for today's curriculum! Each of the book's activities can help you teach students in grades 6 through 12 how to think with numbers, recognize relationships, and make connections between mathematical concepts. You pick the activity appropriate for their needs . . . encourage the use of a calculator . . . or provide further challenges with activities that have multiple answers. Designed to be user friendly, all of the ready-to-use activities are organized into seven convenient sections and printed in a lay-flat format for ease of photocopying as many times as needed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Exciting????I don't think so.
Looking for good ideas to help my students in math, I gave this book a chance and I was very much disappointed. It's pretty much a series of math problems with a FEW interesting worksheets thrown in.My students weren't "motivated" to do these.I almost considered writing an angry letter to the authors because I feel as though I was deceived.

Just another book of worksheets
Fooled again by the word "activities" in the title.Why do so many authors think that a worksheet qualifies as an activity?It is so frustrating and boring for the students. ... Read more

Book Description
Get kids fired up about math with this big collection of super-cool reproducible board games that build key skills: multiplication, division, fractions, probability, estimation, mental math, and more! Each game is a snap to make and so easy to play. Add ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good board games
This book is a guide on how to create the board games for the kids, the board games are not included.Good product.

Really great games to teach math
There's one game in this book that's worth the whole price--Skyscraper Runup, a kind of relay race for computation that students *love* to play. The Remainder Raccoon game is also a hit. The others are fun, too. I highly recommend the book. I've worn out my copy already! ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (4)

Makes math fun
Great book for making math fun and approachable...wish there more like it. I actually enjoyed and looked forward to helping my kid with math.

Classic problems just right for fourth graders
My fourth grade son recently purchased this book and he has been enjoying it ever since. He really likes the problems that appear to be magical, but are in fact simple applications of numbers. None of the problems are original, most would be considered classics, and some have been around for centuries. However, that does not detract from their quality, as they require a great deal of thought, some of it of the sideways variety. Like most good puzzles, successfully arriving at the solution sometimes requires that the obvious possibility be rejected in favor of a different approach.
A previous reviewer mentions that there is an error on page 69. That person is mistaken. The problem is correct as stated, the reviewer is simply not understanding that the numbers are not to be altered from their current alignment, which would mean the numbers that are left aligned are to be considered to have trailing zeros.
I enjoyed the book and my children are finding the problems to be challenging and educational. In no way do I regret allowing my son to purchase it.

7 Year Old Finds Math Error In Math Tricks Book
My 7 year old son found a serious math error in this book by Professor Numbers, aka, Ray Blum. On page 69, under "Mathematical Oddity", the author purports that the two columns of numbers have the same sum. The nine numbers in the left hand column of numbers are each greater than their counterpart in the right hand column. It goes without saying that the left hand column adds up to a higher number than the right. So much for basic math logic.

As an earlier review stated, this book basically recycles old math tricks. Not that this is a punishable offense, but the book fails to explain WHY the tricks work.

Mathemagic tricks quickly lose interest...
This book was written by copying existing well-known tricks. In my opinion this is a waste of money, and my worst online purchase ever. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (4)

Math's Little Book of Why
After reading some of the reviews on this book, I just had to respond with a review of my own.
This book reminds me a bit of "The Big Book of Tell Me Why" that children (and adults)love to read. I am a home schooling mom, not a math teacher. I am home schooling an accelerated second grader.For our "normal" math class work, we are use Singapore Math and the "Key To" series.For math enrichment, we are reading "Math on Call", A Mathematics Handbook and this one, "Math Games for Middle School". I find this book to be just what we need for answering my son's "why questions"."Where do numbers come from?""Why do we use base 10.""Do other people use another base?""Why do computers use base 2?""What is base 2?" As a home schooling mom, I love this book for its deep, yet managemable explanations to these questions.Terms are also defined.For example:base, exponent, decimal, decimal dot...both in terms and in examples.We are only on the first chapter (though I have browsed the first several) and my son only grasps some of the layers of the onion, but we are both enjoying the book.Our country relies too much on formulas and not enough on understanding.This book would bring joy to a class as an opening warm up to get them thinking. I wish we had more educators like the author of this book that excited his students to the joy of mathematics and not just to rote learning of rulesthat seemingly "dropped on us from the sky."The author taught on the faculties of Columbia university for 50 years and Princeton for 5 years.His earliest work was 8 years in his native city on the faculty of the University of Rome.Ph.D. in mathematics and in civil engineering.He has a center (I am not sure if it still exists as he died in 1997 at age 90) called the Salvadori Center that is dedicated to improving teaching in middle schools with emphasis on math and science.His words, "I have dedicated the last years of my life entirely to teaching the young, from kindergartners through high schoolers." Great book.

Math Games for Middle School
I teach middle school mathematics and I think the book is great to aid in cooperative learning groups.Using the information and developing work stations will enhance the students' knowledge of the material.As a lesson, the book would require the creativity of the teacher to add other material and/or adjustments to make it interesting. This book is best for reteaching or review of the topics being taught.

Just a bad math book!
I teach Middle School Pre-Algebra and One Year Algebra. Every summer I try and purchase books and magazines in order to find new and interesting lesson plans.I purchased this book thinking I could get at least something new and interesting to excite my kids.This book definitely didnt help.College students would be bored with the books writing style and exercises. And most of the ideas are old and rejected from years past.

Hand-outs and book assignments are not inspiring. A book titled "Math Games" should be just that; a book full of math games.Not one with mundane hand-outs.

Great "Daily Math" Problems
As a middle school substitute teacher, I'm always looking for things to use as daily problem to open the class with.This book is GREAT!!Problems are divided by topic so it easy to pick & choose.Answers are completely explained. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good intentions, poorly done
About me:I helped edit Arthur Engel's Exploring Mathematics With Your Computer and other math books.

I looked forward to seeing a book presenting to the very young simple math ideas which are outside the school curriculum.I leave it to librarians and teachers to say how children react to this book; what I wish to point out are two instances where the mathematical knowledge conveyed by the author, not to mention of the editors and translators, is below par.

On p. 16-17 we see perspective views of two walls of a house which have on them pictures whose true shapes are squares.One needs no expertise to see that something about these views is wrong. The laws of perspective enable one to say what it is.If you hold a camera straight and take a picture of a vertical square on a wall, the images of the horizontal sides can not be longer than the longer vertical side image. In the book they are much longer!

A written discussion of pespective is in fact too difficult for early elementary grades. The proper way to discuss images with young children is by producing images of objects with a camera obscura, a box with a pinhole or lens in the middle of one side and frosted glass on the other. The LCD screen of a digital camera could also be used, except that it is too small and delicate.

------------

A later section of the book is devoted to the following kind of puzzle.Can we walk in one stretch along every block of every street of a village exactly once?Leonhard Euler pointed out, first, that this is impossible if there are more than 2 junctions where an odd number of streets come together, and second, that it is otherwise possible.

The first statement can be derived in a way which even a third grader can understand. Every time we pass through a junction, two more of the blocks which meet at the junction become traversed. Thus, at a junction other than where we start or end our walk, we can finish off all the blocks only if the number meeting at the junction is even.

The author devotes a number of pages to this puzzle but misses the opportunity to present Euler's simple but ingenious argument. Worse than that, he misquotes Euler by saying the walk is impossible if there are more than 3 odd junctions.This is true but does not imply that the walk is impossible on Euler's original example, the figure on the left of p. 66, which has 3 odd junctions. ... Read more

Book Description

Using games as an instructional strategy in your classroom will makemathematics more inviting and enjoyable to students. Funtastic Math Games provides a wide variety of choices - card games, board games, dice games, and word or picture games - which will reinforce basic math skills and help students to develop a greater power over mathematics. Each game comes with an identified objective, materials needed, suggested number of players, and rules of the game. Gameboards can be laminated for durability or reproduced and given to each member of the class.

Book Description
Fundamentals of Math and Physics for Game Programmers teaches the fundamental math and physics concepts, principles, and formulas that are crucial for developing successful games. Covers topics such as trigonometry snippets, vector and matrix operations, transformations, momentum and collisions, and 1D/2D/3D motion. Concepts are taught in a step-by-step format in order to improve the level of game development. Includes case studies and hands-on projects allowing students to experience the application of essential concepts. End-or-chapter review exercises are provided for additional content reinforcement ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Good book, but lots of errors
This book was my textbook for a class. The book is well written and the author explains the concepts pretty well, my biggest problem is the errors. A lot of the answers in the back of the book are wrong. Since this was for aclass we focused on the problems that did not have answers in the back of the book, but when you are trying to work through one of them as an example it can be difficult. We found at least 2 every week. Since I had a teacher it was not a big deal, but for those who are buying this book to study on their own it could be a bigger problem. I've seen other reviewers mark this up to human error, but when you are writing a book to educate you have to try to cut out errors like this and if it was maybe one or two fine, but there are a few.

Average book with nice demos
The book can't be pointed as bad or good, the title tells everything, like the author says in the Introduction this book isnt the last one you should read for this field, its just a starting point, anyway I found it simple and you need to know some math and physics to get it all clear, besides that you have 6 nice demos with full code you can study and run for better understanding. Who wants to get a simple and clear basic concepts should get the book, others may prefer most complete titles.

VERY bad
I bought this book hoping it would explain some of the math related to games, like vectors, quaternions, matrixes etc. and operations with them, the reason I chose this book was that I wanted one which didn't present advanced math in the first chapters.

The book fails at explaining anything at all and it doesn't just start at a WAY to basic level (I wouldn't have been surprised if the author explained multiplication).

In the chapter about trigenometry the author tries to apply what you have learned with an example of an flying arrow, (s)he doesn't even tell why it is like that just that if the arrow is shooten 50 units some way the shadow will be 25 units away from the shooter.

At first I thought it may be better later, but when the author says the following:
"Anything from a char, which can hold values from -128 and 127, to an unsigned long, which can hold values between 0 and 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 (or 2 to the power of 64)"
Here are two problems, first it is up to the compiler to choose whether char is signed or unsigned, this means it can also go from: 0-255, but the biggest mistake is to say that a long is 64 bit! How many bits a long is isn't defined in the standard and on most current compilers(MSVC++ 2003 .NET included) sizeof(long) is 32 bit.

I can't comment on the physics, matrixes etc. since I put down this book when I came to the chapter about vectors since it was just SO bad, this is why it didn't get 1 star.

For people want an alternative I recommend 3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development.

some human errors, but priceless theory review!
I had read some of the reviews for this book and they focus on parts where almost all books have human errors,code or math examples,but the explaination of the theory is very well reviewed. This book is very well organized and explains very well the topics. This book is a very good book for begginers on games physics and math, its not a book for learning math, physics or programming, and by reading the reviews of the book you'll see what I meant, seems a lot of people misundestood the book title.

Don't buy this book.
I was looking for a book with Math and Physics formulas and explenation how to use them in game programming. I saw this book and took a glance in it in the book store and it looked verry nice.
But it have been a big disappointment. The first two thirds of it is either verry simple (points and lines) or "strange" stuff like 3D rotation. If you are intrested in 3D game programming you proberbly don't buy a book for beginners. Also the structure of the book is verry wothless, it takes time to find what you are looking for.
I wold not recomend this if you are choosing between this book and another. I'll give it 2 two stars, and thats a high grade for it. ... Read more

Product Description
Many dice games have been pased down through the centuries. A few of the games have even been modified an then marketed by commercial vendors. Unfortunately, few resoures are available provide a link betweenthis powerful motivational tool and mathematics instruction in grades 2-8. That is the purpose of this resource book. It is our hope that you are children/students will not only be able to relive the excitement of playing dice games but that hey will also sharpen their math skills. The games and activites usually stimulate a discussion as a follow up to each session. These discussion are important becaue tehy enhance students vocabulary development, speaking skills, links to the math content, and provide opportunities to suggest imporvements to a game or to design a new games. Some games pages 5,13,15,21,39, 42, 47,55 are generic in nature and designed to be modified by teachers/parents or students. The games and activies are also useful ideas to send home to families, or as summer fun. ... Read more