From reviews of the first edition: '... a friendly book written in an engaging style ... It also contains very full, worked solutions to the exercises, which will greatly aid self-study. The introduction contains wise guidance on how to study and understand mathematics and the author's experience as a teacher comes out through her warnings of pitfalls and common errors ... it will be valued particularly by those who need to make up a deficiency in a specific topic or to remove the rust from their mathematics ... working through a few sections from Olive may be the prescription to cure the problem in many cases.' Nigel Steele, Times Higher Education Supplement
'... designed as a self-study guide, and allows students to make as much use of sections of the book as they need ... An important feature is that for every concept, the book returns to basics, giving clear and entertaining explanations of the background to maths ... this book is a fine example of its kind and I shall certainly use it with my students in the coming year.' Geoff Auty, School Science Review
'... excellent value, and certainly worth recommending to the strugglers in your maths class or tutorial group.' Andrew King, The Observatory
'The text is unusually friendly for a book on mathematics ...' Education in Chemistry
'Mathematics books are often written by mathematicians for mathematicians, which can make them inaccessible to non-mathematicians. This one, however, is not, and consequently will be accessible to Earth Science students and would be useful addition to their book collection.' Jo Scott and Charlie Bendall, Teaching Earth Sciences
'Do not let the thickness of this volume put you off exploring its contents! Between its covers is a carefully constructed progression through the major mathematical concepts required by the new college or university student of science or engineering at an affordable price. Gone ... is the stuffy approach of many mathematics text books.' Journal of Biological Education
'... this is a very good book of its kind for the simple reason that the author gets across the really essential message of any teaching approach - that she is there to help the students, thinks about their needs and find ways to address them. there are some nice little 'human' touches that raise a smile ... many students will warm to this book because the author clearly cares for their interests.' The Mathematical Gazette
"Essential for every library...especially useful to students returning to school or to mathematics after some hiatus." MAA Online
