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I'm a private tutor of High school & pre-engineering level mathematics. Obviously, only those people who have some trouble with maths take tuitions. Most of my students are actually good. I mean they are not dumb. Its just that they are "don't like", "hate", "scared of", "bored" (these are their own words) of mathematics. They feel maths is very abstract.

I don't blame them. Its their teachers and the books they follow. Most of the mathematics books just tell the mathematical concepts either bluntly or in an abstract way. I'm looking for some books which teach mathematics in "fun", "interesting", "intutive", "thought provoking" way. Of course, as a tutor I'm doing my best to make maths simple & intuitive but books also help me in getting new ideas. I really like http://betterexplained.com

These are the topics covered in my tutions

Set theory (Sets, Relations & Functions) Trigonometry Complex Numbers Linear Algebra Number theory Geometry (st.lines, triangles, circles, parabola, hyperbola, 3D: spheres, cubes, etc.) Calculus (Limits, Differential & Integral calculus) Probability (permutations & combinations) Statistics 

I'm looking for any kind of resources books, papers, websites, videos, softwares, simulations or even suggestions. I need to cultivate interest at the same time make them good at mathematics.

  • 2
    Since this question has no "right answer," it should be community wiki.2010-10-06
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    Do keep in mind that "fun" for one can and will bore someone else to tears. That you're a private tutor puts you in a good position to "personalize". Exploit that, Know their "tickle". Having said that, see what you can squeeze out of Gardner books.2010-10-06
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    You should remember that they feel math is very abstract because, well, it is.2010-10-06
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    Yeah but it hasn't been built out of nothing, you always can provide analogies, examples, etc to make what you're teaching more concrete. You just can't do anything good if you don't have a mental representation of what you are dealing with. Of course, they have to keep in mind that analogies/examples only represent a fraction of what the object/concept really is, but that's definitely helpful!2011-01-25
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    A site on mathematics teaching has just entered the commited state on Area 51, see [here](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/64216/mathematics-learning-studying-and-education).2014-03-04
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    A slightly flippant comment. Teaching math in the "intuitive and thought provoking way" is teaching math in the way 90 percent of kids *hate*.2014-03-04
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    @GEdgar: not 90% of kids, its `90% of geeky kids hate`. Otherwise, khan academy wouldn't have got that kind of popularity2014-03-04
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    I strongly disagree that KA teaches math in a thought provoking way. (I also disagree that teaching math in a thought provoking way irritates substantially more geeky kids than kids as a whole, but I'm less confident that I could come up with a defense of that on the spot.)2014-12-20
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    See [3blue1brown](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw)2016-12-01

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