Customer Reviews

College Algebra (Lial/Hornsby/Schneider Series)

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4 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(6)

 

 

I just got done with taking my final in College Algebra using this textbook. I was extremely frustrated and stressed during the whole course because I just couldn't get it! This book did not explain enough and just quickly glossed over or assumed that you knew the info already. Definitely not written for students, but for professors already gifted in algebra!! Needless to say, I struggled through this whole course. I had to buy three other algebra books just to understand what this textbook left out. I would not recommend this textbook at all!

This text is a pathetic excuse for educational material. It gives meager examples and many are not even applicable to the chapter exercises. By far this is the poorest written text I have encountered in three years of college.

If you're hoping to do well in your mathematics course or just learn math on your own time, you've chosen the wrong book.

The sections provide very little lead-in, and are filled with a few examples, which may or may not help you do the homework problems at the end of the section. Many times you will find formula notation different from the standard that all other textbooks use, so if you move onto the next level of math, you will see entirely new (Easier) ways of learning the material.

This book only works sufficiently if you've been through precalculus/calculus sequence already and are looking for just a quick cheap refresher on some algebra, which is probably why it is appealing to college professors. If purchasing a different book is an option for you, go for Blitzer or Larson's Precalculus text.

I am by no means a math wizard. I am, however, able to learn things on my own fairly well. This book makes that nearly impossible though. This book gives very few examples, and the few that they do give rarely give any clues to what needs to be done to solve the equations. It also fails to really teach anything. It's by no means for a student that is going to be going through an online course where they won't be interfacing with an instructor. I would not have enrolled into the course for online schooling if I had know this books was going to be this terrible. I strongly don't recommend this book!!!

Perfect book for what it was designed to do - get you though Algebra. Not a lover of Algebra, I found this book to be helpful with a lot of additional information to make understanding of the concepts less painful! I keep it around as a reference book now for those times that you actually do need Algebra in the real world!

I am teaching from this book this summer, and I have not had the problems that other reviewers have described. This book is written for people with a pretty good understanding of high school algebra - after all, it is a college algebra book. It is not watered down at all, and the material is presented in some depth. However, I have found that this book does a really good job of warning students about common mistakes. I have found it clear (I can't say that for every algebra book I've used.) and my students have not complained, either. I would use this book again.

After reading the previous reviews for this book, I realized one question kept surfacing. Why? Why did my instructor choose this book?
A very likely answer is this book could have been chosen based on the margin of profit the school bookstore makes off of it. I don't know this for certain, but I have encountered similiar problems with texts chosen when I was in college. A useless, high-priced text book was often a sign of a greedy college bookstore. I would tend to suspect this when we were required to spend quite a bit for inferior texts--esp. ones that changed editions often (requiring you to buy the 'newest' book). The instructor may have had little to do with the choice.
I don't have much to say about this particular book, but when in this type of situation there are a few steps you can take. Attend every class and take good notes. If you notice most of the other students don't understand a particular concept, go to the instructor and ask that the lesson be repeated. Use the book only to work the assigned problems- use your notes for the methods.
Hope this helps!

I was extremly pleased, with my purchase. The book was in great condition and arrived quickly.

I'm getting ready to take Intermediate Algebra using a text by this author. I will be required to take College Algebra next term and am hoping, after reading your reviews, that this is NOT the book that will be required for the class. Did anyone get value from "math help" websites? Thanks!