Customer Reviews

HarperCollins College Outline College Algebra

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I could go on about the frustrations errors in teaching materials induce in students. Or how the rigorous precision of mathematics demands carefulness in presentation. Or how the authority of a Ed.D. does not cross into mathematics. Or how errors in math texts may be responsible for unnecessary math anxiety in students.

I won't but, but I will point out a repeated error in the section of Sequences and Series. r, the common ratio is mis-printed twice. On page 352 it is shown as r=(a sub n)/((a sub n) -1) = 2. It should be r=(a sub n)/a(sub n-1)=2. It's obvious the typesetter copied the expression and mis-typed it again on page 353. How much of my time was wasted finding this mistake? It's more than the cost of the book.

The lesson here is to not completely trust math texts, and trust even less first editions. And trust even less Ed.D.s.

I give two stars for effort and the text does cover topics not covered in other algebra outlines I've seen. But given the audience this text is targeted for, errors like these simply are not tolerated (or shouldn't be).