Chemical calculations at a glance
Paul C. Yates
Oxford: Blackwell 2005 | Pp208 | £14.99 | ISBN 1 405 11871 7
Reviewed by Paul May

There has been much made recently about the declining standards of mathematics among science students, so it is heartening to find a book that directly addresses these issues. Chemistry is a mathematical science, yet most UK universities now allow students to study chemistry without having the prerequisite of A-level maths. The solution often adopted is to provide remedial maths courses, which run alongside the chemistry courses. However, until recently there have been few books designed specifically with these classes in mind - lecturers made do with A-level textbooks, which were often too abstract and contained information that is not relevant to a chemistry degree. Chemical calculations at a glance, therefore, is a timely arrival because it addresses these mathematical deficiencies from a chemistry perspective.  

The book contains all the maths a typical undergraduate chemistry student requires and covers it at a pace they should be able to follow, starting with basic concepts such as fractions and the meaning of an equals sign, and going on to more complex problems such as partial differentiation and integration by parts. The book has useful sections on the correct use of units, error handling and scientific notation, but it is lacking a section on simple differential equations, which would have been useful for teaching kinetics, for example. The book's main selling point is that every new idea is explained using real chemical examples, so the student can appreciate that they are learning something directly relevant to their chemistry lectures. The problems and worked answers at the end of each section are excellent, and a valuable aid for both the students and lecturers.  

The book succeeds in all its objectives. Students will be able to work through its content at their own pace, without feeling overwhelmed by the difficult sections or patronised by the simpler ones. I would not be surprised if Chemical calculations at a glance  became the standard recommended textbook for the remedial maths classes in most UK chemistry departments.