Life of Fred offers a Complete Math Education
         from addition through two years of calculus . . . and beyond.
            ---------more mathematics than any other curriculum we know of.

(It is recommended that the books be enjoyed in the order they are listed here.)

Go to the LOF Store to order our books. Visit the Where Should I Start page to choose a book.

Getting Ready for High School Math

(often done during the middle school years)

Do these three pre-algebra books in this order: 0, 1, 2. They are stories, and each builds on the previous book. The books cover important material needed for beginning algebra, with a strong emphasis on word problems, including a second method of attack for translating English into equations (called "six pretty boxes"). They also include bonus physics, biology, and economics that many adults don't know.

(All the answers are given in each book. No need to buy answer keys, teachers' editions, or anything else.)

Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 0 with Physics (Sample Pages)
Numerals, Making models, Nineteen conversion factor problems, Area of a rectangle, Friction independent of speed, Constants of Proportionality, Exact speed of light, Continuous and discrete variables, Story of the meter, Pendulums, Oblate spheroids, Krypton vs. kryptonite, Square roots, Pilgrims in Massachusetts in 1620, Hard c and soft c, Normal forces, Coefficient of friction, Solving d = rt for r, How ducks pronounce mu, Graphing points, Ordered pairs, Why rocks stop falling, Hunch-conjecture-theory-law, Simultaneity doesn’t exist, Inductive and deductive reasoning, How fossils and astronomy are connected, Hooke’s law, Four ways to stretch a spring, Three meanings of plastic, Static vs. kinetic friction, Nine forms of energy, Energy Cards game, Calamari spaghetti, Poetry of Christina Rossetti, Most filmed spot in the world, Getting grass stains out of pants, Experimentally finding the coefficient of static friction without knowing the weight of the object, How you know you have a liver, Resolving a vector into its components, Addition of vectors, Similar triangles, Slope, Physicists think that there isn’t any work in holding a bowling ball, Kelvin temperature, Law of conservation of energy, Perpetual motion machines, Kilowatt-hours, Photosynthesis, Metric system, Gregorian calendar, Two ways to measure mass, Definition of pi, Inertia, Newton’s first and second laws, Why cramming doesn’t work well, Definition of pressure, Exponents, Density of neutron stars, Computing the mass of an iron atom, Cavalieri’s principle, Pressure at a given depth, Special glass in auto windshields, Buoyancy, Finding the volume of a desk lamp, 80-pound rubber ducky, Official rules of golf, Advantages of cerebrospinal fluid, Air has mass, Why 35-foot straws don’t work, You are alive because ice floats, Gedankenexperiments, How water fountains work, Elliptical constructions, Galvani and dead frogs that twitch, Birds sitting on high-voltage power lines, How to buy a cafe, Placing question marks at the end of a quotation, Schematic drawings in electrical circuits, Electrons per second in an ampere, Why we wear clothes on days ending in y, Ohm’s law, Batteries in series, Computing resistance in parallel circuits, Dangers of electricity—Thomas Merton, Museums in New York City, History of the atom: Democritus, Isaac Newton, Henri Becquerel, J. J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, Niels Bohr, Principal quantum number, Arnold Sommerfeld, Louis de Broglie, C. J. Divisson and L. H. Germer, Orbital quantum number, Orbital magnetic quantum number, Spin magnetic quantum number, Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac, Carl David Anderson, Positron.
ISBN: 978-1-937032-22-7  hardback, 288 pages

Zillions of Practice Problems Pre-Algebra 0 with Physics (Sample Pages)
This book is keyed directly to Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 0 with Physics. Each of the chapters contains both exercises on the current topic and review questions from the beginning the book up to that point.  All the problems have completely worked out solutions. The problems are fun with lots of stories about you (the reader) and your three-year-old sister, her pet alligator, and why you built a kitchen in your bedroom.
ISBN: 978-1-937032-58-6  hardback, 208 pages

Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology (Sample Pages) 
Definition of Life, Sets, Fractions, Germination of Seeds, Area of a Rectangle, Volume of a Cube, Ordinal Numbers, Diameter and Circumference of a Circle, Definition of π, 2% of 500, Four Ways Plants Make New Plants, d = rt, 20% Discount, the Five Kingdoms, Phyla, Classes, Orders, Families, Genera, Species, Your Brain, Conversion Factors, Where the Non-Water Mass of a Plant Comes From—Plants Don’t Eat Dirt, Subsets of Sets, Digestion, Eyes, Negative Numbers, Dominant Genes, Genotypes, Phenotypes, Blood, Staying Alive, Solving Algebraic Equations, Volume of a Cylinder, Word Problems, Breathing, Chlorophyll vs. Hemoglobin vs. Hemocyanin, Avogadro’s Number, Stoichiometry, the Whole Numbers, a Proof that Division by Zero is Not Permitted, Bones, the Integumentary System, Epidermis and Dermis, Meiosis and Mitosis, Chromosomes, DNA, Alleles, Changing Your Phenotype.
ISBN: 978-0-9791072-2-1, hardback, 288 pages

Zillions of Practice Problems Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology  (Sample Pages) 
This book is keyed directly to Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology. Each of the chapters contains both exercises on the current topic and review questions from the beginning the book up to that point.  All the problems have completely worked out solutions. The problems are fun with lots of stories about Jan's acting career, Ivy's ice cream store, and Cassie's genotype.
ISBN: 978-1-937032-59-3  hardback, 240 pages

Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics (Sample Pages)  (Has a new approach to doing word problems that will make Beginning Algebra a bit easier.)
Domain and codomain of a function, Conversion factors, Steps in Solving Word Problems, How Not to Bore Your Horse If You Are a Jockey, One-to-one Functions, Unit Analysis, Key to a Successful Business, Five Qualities that Money Should Have, the Tulip Mania in Holland, Definitions of Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism, Payday Loans, the Tragedy of the Commons, Partnerships, Cardinality of a Set, Four Ways to Kill Competition, Freedom vs. Liberty, Why We Have a High Standard of Living, Tariffs, Demand Curves, Venn Diagrams, Ricardo’s Law of Comparative Advantage.
ISBN: 978-0-9791072-3-8, hardback, 288 pages

Zillions of Practice Problems Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics  (Sample Pages) 
This book is keyed directly to Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics. Each of the chapters contains both exercises on the current topic and review questions from the beginning the book up to that point.  All the problems have completely worked out solutions. This book contains the years Lucy spent in her attempt to create the largest railroad in the United States—the Lucy Railroad—a heart-warming story.
ISBN: 978-1-937032-60-9, hardback, 208 pages