Using Maths - win a Grand Prix

by Riccardo Monza on Jan 20th, 2010

Hands up who's struggling with their times tables, decimal fractions, and metric and imperial systems of measurement? Hmmm... I see, most of the class. Well, you've all got extra homework to do starting tonight! But here's the good news, to help you, is a book called Using Maths - Win A Grand Prix! Wendy and David Clemson along with Autosport's Jonathan Noble have put together a variety of numeracy questions and activities that claims to make maths fun!

I'm sure we'd all like to win a Grand Prix given half a chance, and this book lays down a path to victory so long as we get our brains in gear and do the sums. Using statistics from the 2003 F1 season, we are tested on our ability to do calculations, handle data, measure, work with number systems, and investigate shape and spacial awareness. Blimey, if all this sounds terrifying, try to stay calm, take a deep breath and remember that all this mental strain is towards your goal of winning the Monaco Grand Prix and er, fighting for the World Driver's Championship!

Of course in the real world, things are a little different, but in our case, we get things started by using a data box to work out our air mileage to races during the season; we have a pictogram to calculate how many laps certain circuits have during a race; and we have a table of downforce settings to work out what's the quickest set-up during a three sector lap. Come the race day, we have to organise driver activities into time slots; calculate if necessary car repairs can be completed before the race starts; and work out fuel consumption for the optimum pit stop strategy during the race. If you get stuck on something and feel an urge to put your arm in the air to attract a teacher but find that there isn't one available, there's a Tips For Maths Success section included that's really helpful. But don't be tempted to take a sneaky peak at the Answers section on the very next page before you've had a good go at solving the puzzles!

All the mindbending conundrums are interspersed with Car Facts, Race Facts, Team Facts and even Champion Facts, giving us little tasters of need-to-know stuff like how much a driver is fined for each kmh over the pit lane speed limit, or how many people are employed to look after an engine during a GP weekend. Come on admit it, how many maths text books at your school had this much high octane excitement?! We even get action photos oozing from the 32 full colour pages displaying the likes of Coulthard, Schumacher and Montoya -drivers that are in all probability, quite good at maths! They're not quite up there with Archimedes, Newton or Pythagorus, but let it be an incentive folks!

Perhaps you're revising for exams, or you're a parent with offspring who needs a bit of guidance in all things numerical, or maybe you skived a lot of maths lessons at school and would like to brush up your skills, and need something to grab your attention. Well, these exercises could be just the tonic. Later you can impress your teacher and mates when you get rumbled for reading what looks like this week's Autosport in class, when in fact it's a respected maths practice book for age 8-12+ that supports curriculum work taught at Key Stage 2 no less! Now, who said that maths was boring?!

• Published by Ticktock Entertainment Ltd 2004.
• Hardback RRP £9.99. Paperback RRP £4.99.
• Buy it now from Amazon: