Andrew Ferrari, author

I have a confession—I was one of those kids who liked math. I liked it so much, in fact, that I went on and earned a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D., and have been teaching and writing mathematics ever since. One of the amazing things to me about math is how intimately it’s connected to the real world and real life. Virtually every area of life is simplified and better understood using the power and precision of mathematics, from the highest reaches of science, business, and finance, to ordinary everyday life. The problem is that math is so difficult and scary to so many folks that they don’t take real advantage of this powerful tool. The reality, however, is that most of us already use simple math every day with hardly a thought, such as for balancing our checkbook or calculating the tip after a meal. And these same basic math skills can actually help with many other tasks in life as well.

Like making decisions! I discovered that by using simple grade-school arithmetic one can make just about any decision in life. The process is very simple. You need only answer a few simple questions about a decision, assign numbers to those answers, then plug them into a very simple formula—from which the correct decision is clear! Decisions are made with complete mathematical precision, yet based completely on your own personal values, priorities, likes, and dislikes.

This was just too good to keep to myself—so I wrote The Little Mathematical Decision Formula. It can help you to make just about any decision in life, whether big or small, simple or complex. It has certainly helped me with my decision-making in a big way, both in understanding the decision process and in making actual decisions. Even when I don’t use the formula per se, the understanding of decision-making I’ve gained from it has helped me immensely. I feel that it will help you too!