Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Retired teacher Pamela Raylene Henderson-Monsef aims to help motivate and inspire the young and old to enjoy and master mathematics.
And, for those who don’t know their algebra from their elbow, or platonic solids from true romance may find Magical Mathematics offers a helpful solution.
Pamela’s book promises to unveil amazing mathematical patterns, shortcuts, discoveries and spectacular ideas.
“Getting it all accurate and colourful and flawless was painstaking work,” Pamela, 69, admitted. “My intention is to generate a sense of curiosity, of mastery, and hopefully help create a renewed interest in the wonderful world of numbers.
“Mathematics can be intriguing, fun and confidence building. Unfortunately, so much of our traditional learning is strict and misunderstood. Hopefully, this eye-opening book will allow readers to absorb, enjoy and learn to respect those staggering things called numbers.
“It shows unusual processes, different ways of looking at numbers, multiplying and dividing them. There are lots of things that we can do in our heads and the book is full of examples and diagrams. It’s not like a text book, it’s an information book on processes that will hopefully encourage many readers to be curious about numbers.”
The former Ibn Khuldoon teacher, who lives in Hamala Beach Resort with her husband Stanley, the director of operations at CPS Arabia, created the book to help put the joy back into studying mathematics, a subject she taught for decades and still loves to this day.
Pamela said: “Maths is addictive, logical and immensely satisfying. I still love studying it. It is everywhere and can take you anywhere. It is ingrained in everything in life.
“As well as in careers in which a good understanding is crucial, there are many personal reasons why maths can be magical - from confidence building to brain development. Problem-solving steps used in mathematics can be transferred to so many other areas.”
Pamela first co-authored a mathematics book in Australia for distance learning back in the 1990s and this ‘whetted’ her appetite to produce another.
It took her a year to pen this latest work, with helpful diagrams designed by Alpha Graphics in Bahrain and she says it will be particularly helpful for all ages from Grade 5 students to adults.
She said she always found her pupils would sit up and take notice when she introduced amazing patterns and processes into the equation and she’s hopeful many schools will use the book as part of a study unit or as a maths club resource.
“I think it sparks a renewed interest and curiosity in mathematics. Mathematics is fun, joyful and this book shows so many unusual and wonderful ways to master it,” she added.
Pamela, who originally is from New Zealand’s South Island, where she obtained her Trained Teaching Certificate in 1967, later achieved a Bachelor of Education from Queensland University of Technology.
She started work as a mathematics teacher in Bahrain in 2001, becoming the sole curriculum writer for a Grade 6 maths programme.
Not quite retired, she stays busy as a volunteer consultant to the Bahrain Trust which is working to set up micro-schools, primarily in Syrian refugee camps, and some private tutoring.
Magical Mathematics was published through Amazon’s CreateSpace and can be bought from the Words Bookstore Café at Palm Square, off Budaiya Highway, for BD12. For more details, Pamela can be contacted on 39862437.
