Customer Reviews

Mathematics with Applications (8th Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

...that is the attitude of the lazy author. It assumes too much prior knowledge of math and especially algebra. Granted, prior to taking a class that requires this book, you should have some. Well, I do. Nonetheless, it should still cover it as a review since it is so difficult. For example, in chapter 8, graphing equations is covered. It goes right from the equation to the graph. It skips all the algebraic steps inbetween needed to get from one to the other and gives no explanation of graphing. I know...the author is thinking we should already know that. But if we do, why do we need this book? This author seems to be tremendously lazy. Since she assumes we know so much already, what purpose does this book serve? Maybe a review for those already well versed in math. Many have criticized it for lack of examples. There are plenty of examples, what there is not, is detailed explanations or examples which repeat a concept to get it to sink in. Many times she will list only one true example which gives a full explanation of how to solve a problem (ie simplex method). All subsequent examples in the same or other sections or chapters that rely on using the same method of problem solving will skip that key step and jump right to the newly presented material. Perhaps a mention will be made to solve the first few steps as "we did before". Yeah, lets hope you understood where and how that key step was done before in the ONE example where it was actually explained. In the case of row operations involved in the simplex method, a good portion of the book builds on that method of problem solving. So you are working from one decent initial example since she is too lazy to repeat row operations in the simplex method chapter. An even better example of the mindlessness of this book is the example of instantaneous rate of change in 12.2. No explanation whatsoever - heres the problem, heres a bunch of unexplained nummbers, heres the answer, dont ask how we solved it because...again...you should already know this.

To get through parts of this nightmare I used another book called Mathematical Ideas by Miller, Hereen, Hornsby. That book is what this one should strive to be. Good details and assumes little knowledge. I had to read quite a bit from it fill in the gaps left out in this. Unfortunately, it doesnt cover everything in this one. My advice would be to get a more elementary level math book covering algebra, calculus, graphing, finance, etc. to assist with this one, since this author is too lazy to explain how she got from point a to b. It would be better if you didn't have to use this one but sadly, professors make that decision for us. However, they will regret it in the end when we bug them for help since the book they chose is useless.

If you think mine is the only bad review, read the many similar reviews of previous editions of this book.

I will say, the student workbook that comes separately is pretty good. It gives the solutions to, in most cases, the odd numbered problems from the book.

I'm an engineer. Although I'm not a mathematition, for twenty years, I have used math in my work. This semester, my wife enrolled in a class at the university in which this was the assigned text. I was totally astonished how this author could take the simplest concept "the function" and make it utterly uninteligible. This is not new material. We honestly don't need a new book for it. The book my father used back in 1940-something would be better than this mush - and far cheaper too. This textbook is worse than useless.

I am currently taking a math course where this book is used. It is useless and expensive! While I don't consider my instructor particularly adept at teaching, he is a valuable resource in understanding many key points in the book. Whatever language the author writes in, it's not the language of math nor the English language. Any points the author tries to emphasize get lost in a garbled mess of words. All of the assumptions made by the author are unfair to students who have simply tested out of other math courses and are unfortunately stuck taking this one. This text is awful, and even worse for someone trying their best to study this stuff and do well. I'm stuck...

This book explains concepts well. My college professor was Russian and I never understood anything he taught.. this book saved my grade in that course.

My teacher for calculus was so bad and couldn't teach. The only way I understood the concepts for the class was through this book. I was expecting a confusing book from what the reviews said, but this is one of the best math books I've used.

Indeed, the author doesn't show much examples for most of the
problems. The author assumes students know how to solve the problems, therefore, she skips most of the details. This type of math is not very useful in today's society. It's really stupid!
This is also an expensive book and it certainly not worth leaning when the author didn't show much details especially for the more difficult problems. She is a stupid, lazy author!