Maths books with a story

This page exists mostly so that I can fill it with the impossibly brilliant Math Girls series, but I’ll also add other books as I find them. These books are all very mathematical, and are books where there is definitely a story, but the main point of that story is the characters discovering maths or learning something about it.

Math girls – Hiroshi Yuki

These are really incredible books – super interesting maths puzzles are weaved into the story of students and their teacher learning about maths. Great examples of teaching through dialogue.

There are two sets of books – the Math Girls 1-4 that all have some pretty challenging maths in but great for A-level students. The Math girls talk about… (below) books could be more suitable for keen GCSE students.

Math girls talk about… (a little easier than the main Math Girls books):

The Number Devil – Hans Magnus Enzensberger

A story, also beautifully illustrated, about a twelve year old who hates maths, meets the number devil in a dream, and learns the ways in which numbers can be fascinating and amazing. Would be accessible for students earlier in secondary school.