Customer Reviews

Basic College Mathematics (4th Edition)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The text 'Basic College Mathematics' is used at the college where I tutor in mathematics as the foundational course for mathematics in all programmes. While many students test out of this level into algebraic topics, for those students whose mathematics is decades old, or was never perfect in the beginning, this book offers a fairly clear and systematic approach to mathematics topics.

The chapters cover the broad topics in this order: Whole Numbers, including the basic arithmetical functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), was well as basics of exponents and rounding; Fractions, including the basic arithmetical functions as well as beginning to deal with mixed numbers and order of operations; Decimals, including the basic arithmetical functions as well as continuing with order of operations and decimal/fraction conversions; Ratio and proportion ideas; Percentages theoretical and applied; Basic Measurements and conversions of units between British/American units and metric standards; Geometry at the most basic level of shapes and arithmetical formulas dealing with those shapes for area, perimeter, etc.; Statistics at a very elementary level, such as reading charts and graphs, histograms, and the three concepts of mean, median and mode; Signed and special numbers, including the negative numbers, as well as scientific notation; and finally a brief introduction to Algebra, which introduces the basic concepts of variables, like terms, and equations.

Each of the chapters deals with things in a mathematical as well as an 'English' way - explaining in words the concepts and operations being carried out in the numbers. Each section of each chapter covers only a few key concepts, with enough problems for solving that reinforce the principles thoroughly. Each section also as word problems (story problems) to test the real-world applicability of the numerical/mathematical concepts being presented, so when students ask (as they always do and shall), 'When am I ever going to use this?' there are examples drawn from typical situations.

Tobey and Slater have also worked to make various connections with geometry, graphs and charts, tables, as well as internet resources to provide the most up-to-date and useful text. There are specific problems along the way that assume the use of calculators (as most of real-life mathematics now involves calculators).

The book's design is interesting from a graphic-design standpoint, but from the standpoint of clarity to the students, the pages are a bit `busy'. While I appreciate the need to reduce the number of pages in an effort to keep the costs down (text-book prices are typically higher than popular-book prices, and this text is no exception), more white space on the pages would probably help the accessibility and make it a little less intimidating.

This book serves as a good foundation for students to proceed at our college forward into Beginning Algebra (another book by Tobey and Slater on this topic is used for the next-level course), and then further into Intermediate Algebra and beyond.

This book offers great examples which clearly illustrate how to work out a problem from the beginning to the end. I was very impressed with this book and wished that I had this book when I was in high school. I found it to be a wonderful book with good examples. I was especially impressed with the chapter organizer at the end of each chapter. I routinely would copy these to and use these to study before a test. I have maintained an A average in that class the entire time. For anyone having trouble with basic math.... get this book! You will be glad you did.

Basic Mathematics is an informative textbook teaching the basics of mathematics. It has good examples and easy to understand explantations of fomulas. I would recommend this text as a refresher before jumping into a more complex subject.

The text itself was helpful; however, both my original purchase and it's replacement both had defective DVD's to accompany the text. I was very disappointed in this.

I ordered these books for a program at a community college. They cost less than a quarter of the cost of buying used books through the campus bookstore. They arrived quickly and were in great condition. I encourage all our students to check out Amazon for great deals on textbooks.

Good book with a prefect coverGood book with a prefect coverGood book with a prefect coverGood book with a prefect cover!

I received this book very quickly and am pleased with my purchase. I will certainly buy from you again. The book was in the condition as described and am very happy with my purchase

I order with amazon for used textbooks as I am a student. This paticiular order I placed was the worst expierence I have had.
I'm taking it as a lesson learned. Always have a tracking number available. Do not use buyers with Media Mail as no tracking number
is available.

to buy this book at my school it would have cost me the better part to $200. to find this for the price that i did was a just a life saver. plain and simple.

clear easy to understand for people who are not good in math. The book gives excellent examples on how to slove the math problems