Danica McKellar figures high-profile antics hold little absolute value.
Which is greater? The average amount of time socialites spent in jail this year, or the median number of days rock stars attended rehab? One bright chick has calculated how to get even, more or less.
Math Doesn’t Suck, a new book aimed at young women by numerically gifted actor and author, Danica McKellar, flashes hip examples to encourage math achievement while it teaches that A-list misbehavior amounts to less than zero.
“When girls see the antics of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, they think that being fun and glamorous also means being dumb and irresponsible,” said McKellar, 32, who famously portrayed Winnie Cooper, the nerd-friendly but sexy girl next door on the hit late 80s dramedy, The Wonder Years. “But I want to show them that being smart is cool,” she explained to Newsweek.
Math Doesn’t Suck, to be published this Thursday, subtracts from teen rags like Tiger Beat and Seventeen to impart lessons and tips through personality quizzes, horoscopes and profiles of attractive mathematicians. McKellar, no Ugly Betty herself, majored in math at UCLA, where she coauthored a theorem that bears her name. She claims that as a student her role model was child star turned scholar and adult celebrity extraordinaire, Jodie Foster.
If an equation’s got you stumped, or you’re just plain hot for teacher, McKellar fields questions on exponents, factoring and other operations at her fan site, minus the mug shots.
