Customer Reviews

College Algebra Demystified

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was lucky enough to have the writer of this book as my instructor for college alegbra. The math department here requires the course to be taught with a very poorly-written book that often jumps around and expects you to know things that it doesn't cover until later chapters, skips many steps in solving example problems expecting you to figure them out yourself, and is extremely difficult to read. I have severe adult ADD and I can rarely remember to pay attention in class and, I was struggling because not only did I find myself missing major parts of her lecture and having to fill in the gaps with the terrible required textbook and a reading disability but, it had also been 6 years since I last took any form of math. I was badly in need of a supplement and set out to my local major bookstore chain to grab some Starbucks and peruse the math books. I finally came upon Dr. Huettenmueller's book after having carefully looked through every other book in the store. All of the other books that I had found seemed to either insifficiently cover the material I was struggling with or they were very difficult to understand (very often both). I had actually given up on my search when I was walking out and happened to spot College Algebra Demystified. I didn't really have great hopes for it as all of the other books had failed me but, I figured I should at least take a quick look. As soon as I cracked it open I realized that this was the perfect book for me.

This book explains things in a very clear, logical manner. If you read the book and follow the examples that she works for you then by the time you get to the practice problems you should whizz right through them. However, even if you get stuck her explainations of the solution should get you back on track in no time. The book was extremely easy to read even for someone who normally reads at a pace of about 1 page per 13 minutes. The book is full of examples complete with graphs, equations, and and explainations that you will find easy to follow along with however, one of the greatest resources is the final exam at the end. Taking this short practice exam will very quickly help you identify anything that you have forgotten and you should be able to flip back through the book to get up to speed in only a few moments. The night before the final when it comes down to crunch time this book will save you a lot of wasted time and effort by taking you through all of the material neccesary to succede in a concise but effective manner.

So, how did I do in the class? I reviewed with this book up to the moment she started handing out the final exam. I missed only a single problem on the lengthy department final and, after miserably failed the placement exam on the first day of class, I finished the course with a magnificent A.

I felt this book was written with clarity.
Much of it was a review for a subject that I had studied years ago and had forgotten. Its written much better than the book I had back then.

However if you intend to purchase "Pre-Calculus" by the same author, buy that book and by-pass this book. Most of the material is duplicated in "Pre-Calculus" plus the additional material you will need for calculus.

Pre-Calculus is also a well written book.

I plan to become a high school math tutor. I took algebra over 30 years ago and forgot a lot. I used this book as a refresher course and ended up liking it very much. The topics were presented in a very clear and understandable way. One excellent feature was how the author gave step-by-step solutions to all of the homework problems. When doing math problems, it can be very frustrating to find that an answer is wrong and then try to find the error. With this book, one could quickly find the error by checking the author's solutions. In my case, I found out that many of my errors were due to careless mistakes and I have to work slowly and be careful. Also, the amount and difficulty of the work problems were just right. It was enough that after finishing the book, one could feel competent with the subject matter. The author is said to be a popular teacher. I agree. Anyone who writes a such very user-friendly book has to be. A definite five-star book.

I'll be honest. I didn't make it all the way through this book. All of the material within was stuff I had learned in high school and was trying to brush up on before taking a college exam to try to test out of having to take algebra at the college level. I made it through graphing lines and parabolas without a hitch, and the chapter that followed about nonlinear inequalities was a breeze. But I didn't think that the section on functions was all that well written. I have to admit, even after three years of algebra in high school where we covered all of this stuff, I began to get lost.

But the important thing is that I passed my college algebra exam.

Now I have to make one very important recommendation. To those who are considering buying this book because you need to brush up on your algebra skills, buy this books predecessor, Algebra Demystified, first. If you don't understand factoring polynomials, solving linear equations, or simplifying polynomial fractions, you will never get this book. I found that 90% of the first book was simple stuff that I already knew, but the 10% of the stuff I didn't know was absolutely essential to understanding this book.

Originally, I couldn't figure out what the difference between this book and her other title, "Algebra, Demystified" was. I personally own this one, and examined the the other title in order to help out other shoppers.

The first title, Algebra Demystified : A Self Teaching Guide (Demystified) is simply what I would have called "Algebra I." Many people take it in high school, but many did not- I am one of those people! If you've never taken algebra, I recommend it.

Now for this book, College Algebra Demystified. It assumes you have already taken a basic Algebra I course, and right on page 1 it starts with a great big quadratic equation and shows you how to do the dreaded "Complete the Square." The great part was, the author broke it into little parts and I did it one step at a time. When I finished Chapter One, I was absolutely surprised that I now considered this form of equation solving to be EASY!!! I couldn't believe it. When I originally took an Algebra class years ago in college, I remember bursting into tears trying to figure it out. After her explanation and thorough practice sections, I am not breaking out into a sweat (literally).

My only negative feeling is that it doesn't seem to cover all aspects of everything I have found to be taught in my College Algebra class in college. Some classes require basic Trig to be taught, and if you're in that situation you'll have to look somewhere other than this book. For pure algebra and its concepts, this book (and the other one) make a great combo.

This book was very helpful. I was in a 5 week college math class online. Our ebook nor our hard copy book offered as much insight or help as this book. It was totally worth the money I spent on it to get me the "A" I needed!

I haven't taken a math class in years and I would have tanked had I not bought this book. It is well written and covered most of the topics that my online College Alegbra class covered.

I used this book to study for the College Algebra CLEP Exam. Having not taken a math class my senior year of high school, I was surprised at how fast this information came back to me. I'm not going to say that memorizing this book will guarantee a pass, but it definitely helped me; and I'm nowhere near a math genius. Unlike other math books, College Algebra Demystified only applies one new concept at a time. All of the solutions are shown and easy to follow. I basically used this book as a bible a week before my test (haha procrastination at its finest) and managed to pull a 59. The only thing about the book that I didn't like was the fact it doesn't included sequences, matrices, summations, or combinations and permutations, but those were easy to learn over the internet.

This is an excellent book for those trying to get a refresher in Algebra. I've been using this to study for a accuplacer math placement test. I feel very confident taking the test now.

Good companion manual to go along with college algebra course, however, does not cover vertical/horizontal asymptotes, a difficult subject for most students.