And I'd like to recommend Prof. Strogatz's book "The Joy of X" as a wonderful sampling of a number of basic math topics. It's very easily digestible. https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Guided-Tour-Math-Infinity/dp/0544...

Going back to the "breadth" recommendations, if someone wants a real appetizing sushi sampler of the breadth of Mathematics, I would highly recommend "The Joy of X" http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Guided-Tour-Math-Infinity/dp/05441... It covers a number of topics in Mathematics and makes them really easy to follow for someone with no background in Maths. I especially liked how in a few pages I succinctly understood div, grad and curl from vector calculus. For anyone wanting to start out on a full course meal of Mathematics this would make a very appetizing sampler.

Given my screen name, one would suspect that I like this article. :-)

Math should be a joy. I wish I had heard of this book sooner. I certainly added it to my wish list in Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/The-Joy-Guided-Tour-Infinity/dp/054751...