Customer Reviews

Discovering Geometry

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Whoever wrote this book has a great idea in having students actually working things out to find solutions, but to expect students to discover in an hour what geniuses discovered after many years is unrealistic. There are little to no examples, no glossary, and the hints are useless in helping the student understand the concept. All in all, a very poor book.

I have taught HS and college level Math for many years. I have never encountered a less user-friendly text. It is only with complete arrogance that an instructor or district would adopt this text. No examples to speak of, no odd-numbered answers in the back, no glossary (!), hints that don't help. How would anyone say that this is a good way to teach? Instead it sets up students for failure. If you are looking for a supplemental resource instead of a text, keep looking. There is no value to this text as a supplement since there is nothing that is self-explanatory.

I am an eighth grader taking Geometry, so it is obviously advanced. However, this book is not helpful AT ALL in learning. It is so frustrating to not even have a glossary in the back to find definitions, and the book does a very bad job of explaining tough concepts. If you are a teacher, please try a different book.

I am an AP Geometry student. This book does not have a glossary...though the point is to learn by yourself, what is the harm in having a reference to go back to later on in the book when you can't quite remember what a certain term meant?

This book is appropriate for highly motivated middle school students whe have studied algebra in the seventh grade. The text uses a guided exploration approach to discovering the facts of geometry. For students who take any pleasure in math, this book can be fun. It is attuned to the 13 year old mind. Proof is introduced in a systematic way in the last two chapters.

The teacher must compensate for the fact that the book is not self-contained and is not useful as a reference (no glossary for example). Students must develop a notebook to organize what they learn and for future reference. Students who are left on their own to "construct" their knowledge of geometry through group activities and reflection could find it very tedious. The teacher has to be both a "sage on the stage" as well as a "guide on the side".

The book would not be appropriate at the high school level unless aggressively supplemented with a systematic treatment of Euclidean synthetic geometry. Some high school students would find its comic book style childish and unappealing.

I would recommend the book to math teachers and those studying to teach math as a rich source of ideas, activities and problems.

This book was the bane of my existence throughout 9th Grade Geometry. Having had a year of a real math book this year I am finally able to realize just how stupid the book was. It treats the student like he or she is about two years old, does not provide the information necessary for exam review, and is far too colloquial in general. In addition, it has no answers in the back, just "Hints" in the back of the book that either do nothing at all to help or solve the problem completely without explanation. It also says "SHAME ON YOU" if one looks at the hints without first trying the problem. Personally, I don't enjoy being chastized by a math book, especially one with such a bad approach to Geometry,

I taught geometry for a year and was burdened with having to use this book. The level of the book never is challenging enough for a regular level high school geometry class, let alone an honors one. It does virtually no reinforcement of principles of algebra--something that is very important at this level. I ended up creating vaast supplements to make up for the books weaknesses. Run away from this book as fast as you can.

This is by far the worst text book i have ever seen or had to use. Unless you are an expert at geometry or have a great teacher this book will be useless to you. It gives no anwsers to the odd problems and there is no glossary. Because of this i dont know if my answers are right or wrong. I usually try to find the way to solve problems myself but since this book gives no examples on how to do anything i cant. I feel sorry for any other person who is like myself, and is forced to use this sorry exuse for a text book.

While I personally did find this book difficult, I did not find it nearly as bad as some of the other reviews are saying it is. I am a 16-year-old going to college to take my math courses; my first experience with geometry was this book. While I do agree that the "no glossary" factor made it difficult not to be able to research things, I have found that the Notebook it requires makes up for that. It also made me remember the terms and definitions for myself, which I probably would not have if the book did have a glossary. My teacher also had us do projects aside from the book, which helped the class to comprehend the material and give it an even better "life application" ((with the book does fairly well, with applications to many career's and other daily activities that require geometry)). Since I have never even looked at another geometry book, I am not an authority on how good or bad this one was. I know that the over-emphasize of learning the terms do to continual use has helped me personally in my Trig class. I would recommend it to a first time geometry student who truly wants to learn.

This book was obviously not written by somebody with a background in math or engineering. The touchy feely approach of having students sit in small groups and figure out what is going on by talking about it is ineffective. The book is full of questions, but few answers. Given unlimited time, students may eventually "discover geometry", but in a difficult and inefficient manner.