There is a linearity in the topics studied and I can see a logical follow up. read more. Solving quadratic equations, graphing parabolas and completing the square occur in the last chapter. Using Safari on a Mac works fairly well, but I was not able to view the videos in Chrome or Safari. The book's relevance/Longevity is one of the strongest features. Although there were some areas where topics delved a little more deeply than students may be ready for; however, an instructor could easily pick and choose what they feel their students need. I did not notice any grammatical error. Additionally unclear are the lack of accessible content due to the missing alt tags on numerous images throughout the text, which frequently contain all the steps for solving a particular problem type. I'm hoping to adopt this book for my algebra courses so viewing it from this perspective, I would have to figure out how to make the interface of the book much more friendly and usable to the students. read more. There did not seem to be one application through which I could access the full, correct version of the book. Some of the notation and examples may be a bit advanced and confusing for this level of student (for example: the description of factoring by trial and error uses p, q, m, and n, in addition to the expression’s variable, x). It can create confusion to the students. Other than that, the text seemed pretty error-free and unbiased. There's no signup, and no start or end dates. If you need Acrobat , get the latest free Reader . The book has really good consistency throughout sections and chapters. I am impressed by the learning objectives as well as the sample review exercises and sample exams at the end of each chapter. For example, the number of Americans over 65 or a period of recent years is presented. One non-modular aspect: students will see examples involving functions at the ends of many sections. This would make re-ordering or omitting sections a bit more complicated, and would likely necessitate significant editing. In Chrome, the exercise sets at the end of each section were virtually empty of content. Any student who was taught from this book and covered all chapters would have a good grounding in the subject matter. The AIM Editorial Board has developed evaluation criteria to identify the books that are suitable for use in traditional university courses. Viewing the book using the PDF version is not helpful, especially when it comes to mathematical symbols being not readable or lost. In addition, textual notation is introduced as a means to communicate solutions electronically throughout the text. Free textbooks (aka open textbooks) written by knowledgable scholars are a relatively new phenomenon. Precalculus / College Algebra, 3rd Edition For each section the text includes a student activity, narrative text with examples, and exercises. The book does not have that much text, which is very good for fast learning and reading. Using Flash Player is outdated, and results in videos not playing in mobile browsers or browsers where Flash Player is not installed or blocked, which includes an increasing number of browsers. All terminology was used appropriately and accurately among the book. There is no glossary, but a table is given. The text was very consistent in it's framework. As mentioned by another reviewer, at minimum, this book can be used right now as a reference/problem bank for the instructor. This book provides very clear and comprehensive coverage of the usual Elementary Algebra topics, as well as some Intermediate Algebra material. There is a major problem here with type size in the problem bank. As such, the way the laws are currently written, it is my understanding that using the text in a course, even as a resource, is not allowable by the Federal government (unless equitable accessible materials are also provided). The .pdf file I was able to download contains no such links or otherwise. The book provides plenty of examples and very robust, well-constructed exercise sets. Therefore I had to page through the whole text to see where everything was located. The presentation is not highly rigorous. This is the area in which the book stumbles, somewhat. David Lippman, Melonie Rasmussen. At the risk of making math seem like a collection of memorized steps, it does clearly show what needs to be done. The book is very comprehensive. Lastly came a Sample Exam along with the solutions to the Sample Exam. This, in addition to robust and diverse exercise sets, provides the base for an excellent individualized textbook instructors can use free of needless edition changes and excessive costs! Use better content: Continuous, data-driven improvements make OER content more effective at supporting learning. The lack of the usual apparatus of a textbook (table of contents, glossary, index, etc.) There is no index or glossary that I could see. The clarity of this book seems in line with most other mainstream elementary algebra books. The book has a lot of potential to it. Additionally, while the subsections are numbered in the text, they are not listed in the table of contents and it is also difficult to determine which section you are in while in the midst of the text. Chapter 10 is not really a chapter but a short appendix with some area and volume formulas. There is inconsistencies on the PDF version of the book. No enrollment or registration. Pre-Algebra: Order of Operations (PEMDAS): Pre-Algebra Practice Problems with Step-by-Step Answers, Middle School Math Workbook - 9th grade - Ages ... – Easy Learning Worksheets - With Answer Key ... Algebra I For Dummies Book + Workbook Bundle Mary Jane … It makes is easy for teachers and students as well. It does not hurt (actually would be more helpful) to have this method listed again in this section as this is where the method is really needed. I would say that the best part of this text was the use of Learning Objectives, Key Takeaways and the large problem bank. Some are peculiar to this book. Common mistakes were also shown side by side the correct mathematical steps. There is no way that an instructor could cover all this material in one semester. Mathematical ideas are everywhere most carefully stated, with only one exception that I found. For example, blue boxes make finding exercise sets fast and easy. Some are peculiar to this book. I was using a Mac, and viewed the book using both Chrome and Safari. the book is written so it is easily understood. The typesetting issues are so numerous that the text is actually unusable in its present form (for students, anyway). Section 2 – Adding and Subtracting Integers, Section 3 – Multiplying and Dividing Integers, Section 4 – Exponents and Order of Operations, Section 2 – Multiplying and Dividing Fractions, Section 3 – Adding and Subtracting Fractions, Section 2 – Adding and Subtracting Decimals, Section 3 – Multiplying and Dividing Decimals, Section 4 – Exponents, Order of Operations and Square Roots, Section 1 – Variables and Combining Like Terms, Section 5 – Solving Percents with Proportions, Section 6 – Solving Percents with Equations, Section 1 – Graphing in the Coordinate Plane. Another small lacking is the absence of a 'review' chapter or appendix which is typical for this level of a course. If students encounter any or all of these issues, it could certainly be a significant barrier to their learning. This is a strong aspect of the book in my opinion. I felt that the book slightly lacked a variety of races and ethnicities. Ideas are stated precisely, as in any other mainstream math text. It is a thoughtful book that includes many key features that I find useful: key take-aways, discussion board topics, note section, video solutions, and incorrect v.s. Navigation is very easy and the charts and images are simple but powerful. The sequence in which the... A variety of names, occupations and locations made the problems seem relevant to a variety of cultures. There was a lot of "a man," "a woman," "a student." This book has a lot of potential and I hope to see improvements in the future! The book covers a wide variety of topics, in detail that I cover in my current Algebra Prep 1, Algebra Prep 2 and Algebra Prep 3 course. ISKME's digital librarians have curated collections of Open Textbooks and full courses to help leverage OER in your classroom. For example, certain topics, like functions, can be covered or omitted without compromising the overall flow of the text. The only way to view the video for me is to right click in Chrome and choose “open link using a different tab or window”. Choose affordability: Low cost to students. Then again, most examples and so on are quite clear about "do this, then do this, but don't do this." He is now a professor of mathematics at the College of the Sequoias, located in Visalia, California. For example, in factoring trinomials with leading coefficient being not 1, the AC method is referred as ‘described before’ but it is not listed as to where ‘before’ is. The book concludes with a... Precalculus: An Investigation of Functions (Includes Trig) 1st Ed. Most of the examples and word problems in this text are very factual and seem to intentionally avoid the common, “real world” set-up, hence avoiding most cultural context and references. But my next question would be: where are the embedded video examples promised in the preface? There is a really nice interactive ebook version. Additionally the efficient use of text results in short worded problems. The book's English grammar is good and mostly at an appropriate reading level. It is essential to lay a solid foundation in mathematics if a student is to be competitive in today's global market. "At the moment" this material seems timeless. There are almost no proofs or demonstrations of the truth of what is being presented, but this is not a higher level book so that does not really detract from the overall presentation. This book covers the following topics: Pre-Algebra, Solving Linear Equations, Inequalities, Systems of Equations, Graphing, Polynomials, Factoring, Quadratics, Rational Expressions, … A teacher using this book would have numerous options in choosing easy or difficult problems to do. However, in the “Applications of Linear Systems” section, the “Topic Exercises” use the following set of Anglo-sounding names: Mary, Sally, Joe, Millicent, Jerry, James, John, Dennis, Billy. The book’s organization makes it easy to adapt to a variety of course syllabi. The PDF version of the book needs to be significantly revised or it should be removed from the site so that users can focus on the web-based version, which is more accurate. Each unit and subsection of each unit is broken down in such a way that as a teacher teaching 3 different 8 week courses, I could pick and choose what I need to cover for each course to meet the objectives easily. 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