Customer Reviews

Intermediate Algebra: A Graphing Approach

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Book needs more explanations on problems and less "Study habit reminders" and other fluffy stuff that I just skip over. What student has time to read the "extra optional stuff"?
In my humble opinion, this book doesn't explain problems well.
It doesn't explain WHY. It assumes you know WHY problems are solved in certain ways.

For example, on page 110, she throws a property at you:

"If A is a positive number, then | X | < a is equivalent to -a < X < a."

It would really help me understand this property if I knew WHY| X | < a is equivalent to -a < X < a.

The answer book should explain more also - especially for problems that are different from the examples.

I do like the idea of concept checks though.

My book came in a package with the Student Solutions manual and a one time use access code for Course Compass.

First off, there is a huge disconnect between this book and Course Compass. For instance, in section 3.5 (starting page 181) the author introduces Standard form but never goes into how it works. There is no section devoted to putting equations in that form, or why that form is important. In Course Compass, the section 3.5 homework contains many problems with Standard Form. The problems in the 3.5 section online are also far harder than the ones in the book. So if you practiced the book homework and then went online to do the homework for class in Course Compass, you still may not be prepared. Often the book has easier problems to work than Course Compass.

Martin-Gay seems to assume that everyone who uses this book will have a really good math professor, because a lot of concepts are not explained. This is infuriating for someone taking the class online through their college. Sometimes I felt like Martin-Gay was hinting at "just do this and this" rather than "this is why this concept is important." This is annoying.

The Student Solutions manual is not divided into sections. It is a pain to look through as each section is hard to find. Oftentimes the solutions are not explained. I could have sworn that was the point of a solutions manual--to explain the process of solving a problem. Apparently I was mistaken. In some instances the solutions manual is no better than the back of the book.

Course Compass, the online component of this text, is buggy and slow. Even worse, Course Compass is not compatible with Mozilla Firefox and Course Compass is barely compatible with Internet Explorer 7. There are so many glitches in IE 7 with Course Compass that it is embarassing. Course Compass works best with IE6. The help with solving homework is oftentimes pointless and sometimes I have had a hard time understanding what the computer wants, because if it is not put in just right the answer is wrong.

Overall, this textbook and the package it came with are a less than complete set for Intermediate Algebra. The textbook needs to explain more. The solutions manual needs to be easier to search through. And Course Compass needs to be compatible with Firefox and IE7. I cannot fathom why my college still uses this textbook.

The chapters are divided up well. The vocabulary is very clear. The end of chapter exercises are the best part of the book. they are a great way to test yourself before the exam. they are ordered progressively based on difficulty, so you can work your way through them quickly.

This book is very hard to follow in my opinion.
The main problem is that the actual information is lost in the middle of plenty of examples making it very hard for the student to synthesize the topic. To make matter worse, the example seems to stick out more that the remaining of the text due to too much colors in the titles. Most of the text of each chapter could fit in just a couple pages highlighted by a couple of judicious examples and demonstrations.

This book was exactly what I expected it to be. I just finished up with Elementary Algebra and am going straight into Intermediate and a lot of the beginning chapters are review over what we discussed in Elementary Algebra. I like to be given the opportunity to remind myself of all the rules and how things are done. This book allows a person to do just that.
I give the book five stars because it is exactly what I expected the book to be.

This book is ok. Algebra is not my favorite subject though. There's plenty of practice problems and reviews for the test. Overall I don't think you could find a better algebra book. This book and my teacher are keeping me passing so I am happy with what this book has to offer.

I am not reselling my Basic and Intermediate Algebra books by the same author. These books explained algebra better than any book I've ever attempted to muddle through in the late 80's that's for sure!

This book is the bomb. I have been studying from it for a couple of months now preparing for a teacher's examination. I am self-studying only and have found this bood to be very user-friendly. There are a lot of sample problems and as well as practice problems. There are review problems from previous chapters in every section of practice problems. I also like that the order of the equations and problems are not necessarily in increasing difficulty order. An easy question/equation/prblem (whatever) are mixed in with the harder ones. There are also a lot of "real-world" kind of applications. So, if you are wanted a little more of a broader view of Algebra (besides just "how can I pass the test" material) I think this would be a good choice.

When I ordered this book, it was shipped a few hours after and it came in a few days.Overall good doing bushiness with.

Obviously this is purchased as a text. It is a great text! Has a CD in it that explains everything very well. Highly recommend!