Customer Reviews

Algebra Workbook For Dummies

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm 35 and studying for a COMPASS test (college entrance exam for those who never took the ACT/SAT). I failed Algebra in High School, skipped classes alot, and remembered absolutely nothing, but I have a good head for numbers and logic, so I've found myself able to understand most of the concepts in this book so far. If you have no head for numbers, or feel that you aren't good with logic problems/eyeballing math questions, then you may want to also purchase the "Algebra For Dummies", as this book only *briefly* goes into each concept.

Also, as a side note: please don't give an item a review of 1 star simply because another dealer fell through on delivery: it can mislead people who just look at the overall rating of a product. :-)

I have gone back to college after 20 years and need to take a College Algebra course. This workbook has been very helpful in reviewing things I went over a very long time ago and making sense out of them. I highly recommend it.

I purchased the Algebra for Dummies to help me in my Algebra class. Though it is a gret book and explains everything in a very easy to understand way, I felt I needed more practice with problems. This workbook did the trick!
It correlates with the first book and you can use them together to fully understand the rules and concepts. A+++

The emphasis is on workbook, there is only the bare minimum of explanation of the concepts before you move on to the example problems and then the problems to be worked. In general the explanatory material is a few paragraphs in length. The details of how to carry out the specific operations are given in the two or three worked problems. An occasional "outlier" is also thrown in here. For example, on page 84, there is the question:

What's the state bird of Alaska?

The problems are standard for the subject matter and the solutions are presented in a step-by-step manner. The topics covered are:

*) Manipulating signed numbers
*) The manipulation laws of algebra
*) Manipulating fractions
*) Manipulating exponents
*) Manipulating radicals
*) Manipulating algebraic expressions
*) Manipulating polynomials
*) Multiplying and factoring trinomials
*) Solving linear equations
*) Solving quadratic equations
*) Solving radical equations
*) Solving inequalities
*) Working with basic geometric shapes
*) Geometric story problems
*) Linear story problems
*) Mixture story problems
*) Graphing

If you have a good grasp of algebra and need a quick review, then this book is ideal. However, if you do not know algebra, then this book is at best a supplement to your studies.

Having had to retake Algebra in high school, I considered myself worthy of this book's title. I bought the book and workbook (after sampling both at the library) and put in about 3-4 hours daily for 10 weeks. I went through the book and workbook once and then through the workbook again and I was able to pass through a college-level algebra exam. I knew exactly when those two trains that left Kansas City at different times and at different speeds would be 870 miles apart. I was no longer intimidated by x. The boost that this gave to my confidence is priceless.

This book is a very good teacher. I'm going back to school after 20 years and this book helped prepare me for the College Placement Test.

This book is great for not only the beginner in algebra but also for those who need a brush up. I purchased these books to help me review algebra since I'm heading back to college. I like the workbook; after you do the work you can check the answers at the end of the chapter and she even explains how the answers were worked out.
Both books are worked together so you can read over a whole chapter before you work in the workbook or just work in the workbook then read through the book when needed.
Over all this is a great set of books for learning algebra.

This book is easy to understand and makes learning fun and easy. I used it to help me brush up on math skills to be able to take college entrance exam. I passed with flying colors! I highly recommend it to everyone of any age.

After being away from college for many years i will soon be heading back to take some math classes. I thought I would get a head start before my classes started by reviewing Algebra with this workbook. I've found it a worthwhile reference and book to practice with. The key to really understanding Algebra is being able to practice with as many problems as you can until you get it right. It's alot like learning to play the piano, from my experience.

Anyway, with that in mind, here are some areas of improvement that I would like to see in this book:

(1)The graphs are so tiny. It's very hard to draw on them. Bigger graphs would sure be helpful.

(2)More problems to solve would be a big help. The book says that it comes with 100's of problems to solve which is true. The problem is though, that some concepts it will review and then give you only one or two problems to practice on. If you get those two wrong, you will feel like you really haven't learned the concept yet.

(3)More detail on the Working with Inequalities Chapter - (Chapter 16) I still don't feel like I have a grasp of that chapter after spending many hours trying to understand it.

(4)More details on Chapter 21- Getting to the Point With Graphing. The problems in this chapter give no clear explanation as to how the results came about like in the other chapters.

Other than that it's a good book and worth a purchase.

Both books by Sterling are excellent for anyone wanting to study algebra. But it is obviously necessary to have both books, Algebra 1 and the Workbook in order to get full benefit. Without the exercises in the workbook, it is impossible to know if you really "get it" or not. The books build skills in a logical sequence. I wish I'd had these two books back in high school. I could have mastered the subject on my own!