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FLORA LICHTMAN: Up next, math books get a makeover. You may remember my next guest from her acting roles on "The Wonder Years." Winnie Cooper may ring a bell or "The West Wing." But for thousands of girls today, she's the writer and personality behind a bestselling series of books that aim to teach girls about math. First, there was "Math Doesn't Suck," then "Hot X: Algebra Revealed," and now we're onto geometry. Actress and author Danica McKellar's latest book is called "Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape," and she joins me here in our New York studio. And I should also mention that Danica is on the board of the Science Friday Initiative. Thanks for coming in today.
DANICA MCKELLAR: Oh, thank you for having me.
LICHTMAN: Welcome back.
MCKELLAR: Thanks.
LICHTMAN: So the title of this book, "Girls Get Curves," is pretty sassy for a math book.
MCKELLAR: Yeah. Actually, you missed one other title: "Kiss My Math."
LICHTMAN: Oh. So they have a sassy - the whole history of sass.
MCKELLAR: They tend to be sassy. Well, kind of the point of the books is to present math in a way that's different from what we usually see. Math can be dry and boring when taught in certain ways, and it can also be very interesting. And so I teach math in the context of things that preteens and teenage girls are already thinking about, like shopping and makeup and pizza and puppies and - you know, I'm a big believer of the more education feels like kindergarten, the more you retain. So why not teach math...
LICHTMAN: Make it fun.
MCKELLAR: Yeah. Math is a language. You can talk about anything in the language of math. You can talk about boring things. You can talk about fun things.
LICHTMAN: Do you feel like your books have a larger mission beyond just teaching girls the subject at hand?
MCKELLAR: Absolutely. I would love to inspire the next generation of mathematicians and scientists, but my main goal is to give girls the confidence that comes from feeling smart and the confidence that comes from knowing that they can handle challenges. So whether it be a difficult math problem or something else, they can...