Under The Microscope

WOMEN WITH MATHS MAKING A DIFFERENCE; NZ Statistical Association, 1995; 116 pages; $19.95 inc P&P from NZSA; $24.95 retail

Reviewed by Vicki Hyde

If your image of a mathematician is of some "brainbox" scrawling arcane equations on a blackboard, this book will make you think again. It's a collection of profiles put together by the New Zealand Statistical Association as their contribution to Suffrage Centennial year. They are to be commended for the delightfully diverse range of people and occupations they have covered in this salute to the many and varied places that mathematics can take you.

From analysing architecture to teaching the equations of weather forecasting, maths knowledge provides a valuable skill that has enabled these women to find successful, interesting jobs. The unusual combination of card and wire spiral binding draws the eye when the book is on the shelf and makes it easy to browse through the 40 short items. The vignettes cover not only the professional lives, but also provide a glimpse into the different experiences in upbringing, family life and other interests that demonstrates there's more to a mathematician than meets the eye.

One of the women says, "Trying to change people's negative attitudes towards numeracy is not a trivial problem!" If this book goes even a little way to showing school students -- whatever their gender -- the value of numeracy, then it will have achieved an important aim.

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.