Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45606 in Books
• Published on: 2000
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews

A Real Algebra Book
This is one of only a handful of books that actually covers Algebra 1 in detail, and in an order that builds a strong foundation along the way. Sure, there will be students who find this book hard to understand -- they are the ones who are not really ready for algebra and should be either taking pre-algebra or one of the many "algebra lite" books that are available. Well-prepared students will find this book a great resource, and should find themselves extremely well-prepared for future classes in mathematics.

It is arguably one of the best algebra books available, and is one of the top algebra textbooks as rated by Mathematically Correct, a group that is concerned with the quality of mathematics instruction in California (and beyond).

Far better than most others
This is a well thought out Algebra textbook. I started teaching from it earlier this year and have grown to appreciate it very much. I am especially pleased the more I compare this to other books. Most math books these days are little more than pretty colors, crazy fonts, neat pictures, lots of distractions, and very little actual math instruction. This book, on the other hand, actually focuses on the math, explains it reasonably well, and has great sets of real example problems and practice problems of all difficulty levels, including lots of practical problems that aren't forced or contrived. It is not perfect, but it is the best I have seen.

Pros:
*Lots of math rather than lots of silly distractions
*Appropriate difficulty level - not "dumbed down"
*Good examples worked out and explained
*Good problem sets for homework and practice

Cons:
*Some explanations are just a bit short, although most are good
*Factoring, the hardest topic, is early in the book, which makes it difficult for some students

Math Blast
I think overall, the book, Algebra Structure and method is wonderful. The book provides the odd answers to the problems, in the back, which is nice, because it gives me sense of if I'm getting the problems correct, without telling me all the answers. I also like how the difficulty of problems is catagorized, with "a" problems being the easiest, "b"problems, in the middle and "c" problems the hardest. Sometimes the explanations of how to do the problem are a little confusing,though. All in all, this book is a good teacher.