The Handy Math Answer Book

Significant digits, 49

Simple derivatives, 223–24

Simple interest rate, 389

Simple probability events,

246–47

Simple random sampling, 257

Simplification, 76

Simpson, Herbert, 310

Simulation, 268–69, 300,

327 (ill.), 327–28

Sine, 201

Singh, Simon, 454

Singular solution, 233

Siple, Paul, 309

Sirotta, Milton, 73

666 (beast number), 386

Sixty Million Trillion Combi-

nations(Asimov), 455

Skewness, 262

Skolem, Albert Thoralf, 127

Slash, 96

Slide rule, 146, 356–58

Slope measure, 196

Smith, Lane, 456

Smith, Woollcott, 454

Social sciences

computational sociology,

380

demography, 380–81

life table, 382

numbers frequently used

in, 380

population pyramid, 381

(ill.), 381–82

sociology, 380

U.S. census, 382

Society for Industrial and

Applied Mathematics, 443,

447

Sociology, 380

Socrates’ paradox, 121

Solar-based calendars, 60–61

Solar days, 297

Solar system, 387

Solid geometry, 165. See

Analytic geometry; Geo-

metric measurements;

Geometry; Plane geometry;

Trigonometry

definition of, 184–85

Euclidean geometry, 168

Platonic solids, 186

polyhedron, 185, 185

(table)

solids, 186–87

spheres, 187

spherical geometry, 187

Solstice, 61

Solution, 136

Sophie Germain primes, 84

Soroban, 349

S.O.S. Mathematics(Web

site), 460

Sosigenes of Alexandria, 62

Sosigenes the Peripatetic, 62

Speed of convergence, 215

Spheres, 187, 481

Spherical geometry, 165, 187

Spherical polygons, 187

Spherical triangles, 187

Sports

baseball, 434–35, 435

(ill.)

basketball, 436

football, 435–36

horse racing, 437

point spread, 436–37

sabermetrics, 434, 435

(ill.)

Square (multiplication of a

number by itself), 97

Square (quadrilateral), 183,

479

Square root, 97

Standard deviation, 261

Standard royal cubit, 43

Star polygon, 180

Stars, 292, 293 (ill.)

Statistic, 257

Statistical mechanics, 279

Statistical process control,

343

Statistical quality control,

343

Statistical test, 263

“Statistically significant,”

263

Statistics. See alsoApplied

mathematics; Probability

arithmetic mean, 259

average deviation, 260

baseball, 434–35, 435

(ill.)

book about, 454

chi-square test, 261

computers, 368–69

cumulative distribution,

262, 263 (ill.)

definition of, 255–56

descriptive, 258

engineering, 342–43

frequency table, 263–64

geometric mean, 259

independent and depen-

dent variables, 136

inferential, 258

measures of central ten-

dency, 259

median, 259

mode, 260

normal distribution,

261–62, 262 (ill.)

percent, 265

population, 256, 256

(ill.), 257

presentation of, 263–64,

265 (ill.)

qualitative variables, 258

quantitative variables,

258

quota sampling, 258

range, 260

sample, 256, 257

sample statistic, 257

sampling, 257, 258

skewness, 262

standard deviation, 261

statistic, 257

statistical test, 263

“statistically significant,”

264

symmetry, 262

variables, 258–59

variance, 260–61

Steiger, Otto, 358

Stepped Drum, 355

Stepped Reckoner, 353

Sterling, Bruce, 455

Stifel, Michael, 95

Stochastic, 248–49, 249 (ill.)

Stock market/exchange, 390^503

INDEX

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