College Algebra [Hardcover]

James Stewart (Author), Lothar Redlin (Author), Saleem Watson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0534373526 | ISBN-13: 978-0534373528 | Publication Date: December 21, 1999 | Edition: 3

Jim Stewart, author of the worldwide, best-selling calculus texts, along with two of his former Ph.D. students, Lothar Redlin and Saleem Watson, collaborated in writing this text to address a problem they frequently saw in their calculus courses: many students were not prepared to think mathematically but attempted instead to memorize facts and mimic examples. College Algebra was written specifically to help students learn to think mathematically and to develop true problem-solving skills. Following the success of the most recent revision of Precalculus, the Third Edition shows how the authors have refined their approach to make it work even more effectively for today's students.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Stewart received his M.S. from Stanford University and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He did research at the University of London and was influenced by the famous mathematician George Polya at Stanford University. Stewart is currently Professor of Mathematics at McMaster University, and his research field is harmonic analysis. Stewart is the author of a best-selling calculus textbook series published by Cengage Learning--Brooks/Cole, including CALCULUS, CALCULUS: EARLY TRANSCENDENTALS, and CALCULUS: CONCEPTS AND CONTEXTS, as well as a series of precalculus texts.

Lothar Redlin grew up on Vancouver Island, received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Victoria, and a Ph.D. from McMaster University in 1978. He subsequently did research and taught at the University of Washington, the University of Waterloo, and California State University, Long Beach. He is currently Professor of Mathematics at The Pennsylvania State University, Abington Campus. His research field is topology.

Saleem Watson received his Bachelor of Science degree from Andrews University in Michigan. He did graduate studies at Dalhousie University and McMaster University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1978. He subsequently did research at the Mathematics Institute of the University of Warsaw in Poland. He also taught at The Pennsylvania State University. He is currently Professor of Mathematics at California State University, Long Beach. His research field is functional analysis.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 700 pages
• Publisher: Brooks Cole; 3 edition (December 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534373526
• ISBN-13: 978-0534373528
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #896,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Another pathetic college algebra book, April 28, 2006

By 

maky m. (Miami FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: College Algebra (with CD-ROM, BCA/iLrn(TM) Tutorial, and InfoTrac) (Hardcover)

The marketing machine for Stewart's books is working wonders, but the books aren't. Too many colleges and universities are duped into adopting these books while students and conscious instructors exploit minimal benefit from them, specially in the problem sets, which are quite poor.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stay away from this book if possible, March 8, 2007

By 

S. Eng (san francisco, california United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: College Algebra (with CD-ROM, BCA/iLrn(TM) Tutorial, and InfoTrac) (Hardcover)

This book is the worst math book I ever had. I had to buy this for my class, but I barely take a look at it because the explanations are so messed up. They do things the long way and do thing more complicated, but the thing that bothers me the most is that their explanations can confuse you more than clarify things. This book has some bad editing because some of the answers in the back are wrong and they don't show the process of the problems. I only use this book for the homework assignments. I usually just jog down what the teachers says, which gives out better explanations which are shorter and clearer ways to do things.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't like this book, July 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: College Algebra (Hardcover)

I had this book in my college algebra class, and non of the students liked it. It didn't explain things well enough to enable you to do the chapter problems. The teacher explain everything in class using her own notes and only used the book for us to practice the math problems. If anyone missed a day of class, they were in trouble because they missed the teachers notes, which was the only way to understand the problems in the book. I hope the school stops using this book. I'm sure there are other better college algebra books out there.