Customer Reviews

Practical Business Math Procedures w/ DVD, Business Math Handbook, and Wall Street Journal insert

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

 

 

I am teaching a business math class and was issued this text book by the college. While reviewing the book I found it to be more confusing than helpful. I found the majority of the ideas presented in the book to be of common knowledge. Rather than presenting the concepts in the book in an analytical manner, the author uses a personal narrative to convey the ideas. The author introduces new concepts with successive chapters, but does not explain how these concepts are derived. The author explains concepts at face value, rather than explaining how the concepts come about and how to apply them to other situations outside of the ideal situation. The first 6 chapters or so, out of a total of 22, are a review of basic math skills starting with addition and subtraction of whole numbers and continue to basic uses of percents. In addition to those 6 chapters, more of the successive chapters become redundant and are not presented in a logical order. Integrated into the text are numerous amounts of extraneous articles that are meant to reinforce the underlying point, but instead simply add bulk and distraction to the text.

I found that the concepts of the book are poorly presented and are not explained thoroughly. I would STRONGLY recommend not using this book, especially for a college level business class. A person with little to no everyday business experience would find this book to be very simple. In my opinion this book is primarily geared to a 9th grade level education in a public school system and not a college level class.

Math is my adversary. I took a lower class which uses this textbook hoping to come out with a reasonable grade. (I did pass.)

The book starts off with elementary math, fractions, multiplication, and division before veering off into payroll and taxes. I didn't like this book because I tend to be an analytical person when it comes to accounting and basic math. I like to have answers for the "Why" questions that pop up continuously. This book doesn't explain a lot of things to my satisfaction. Particularly when it gives me formulas and doesn't explain them well enough for me to figure out problems.

A lot of the math included in this book is now being done by computers with specialized software. Having to halt my thinking and do manual math such as stocks, bonds, and mortgages, I found the book to be muddy in its explanations. Like I said, maybe it's just because I expect thorough explanations for why this formula is used when the author used a different one half a page previously for the same problem. Errors were rife throughout the book from wrong amounts to some formulas that were incorrect.

Luckily, my friend had the teacher's edition so I ended up working a lot of problems backwards before I finally learned it. However, I don't recommend this book if you want things explained.

I used this book in a business math class and I found it to be confusing and hard to follow. I have a good grasp on business concepts and this book left me feeling more confused after my class than when I began. The approach to this class certainly is not one I would reccomend for college level (for any level for that matter).

I used the 7th edition in the business math class I took. The class was listed under the BUS designation, and was not intended for those above the 096 level in math. I took it at a community college as part of a certificate program. The first 4 chapters were review and the balance was the class. The chapters were well written and the practice problems useful. There are many problems for each chapter.
I use the formulas and concepts in my work. I am co manager of a grocery store. I use the things I learned each and every day.
Many people do not have a good grounding in math. Business math classes are designed to build a foundation and give skills that can be used right away.

This book is more of what I think a "text" book should be for learning. It has nice colorful graphics [drawn, photocopied, and photographed] to arouse one's interest and learning. There are "real" companies given as factual examples and links to explore. The Teachers editon would be the best [it not only gives all the answers to the problems, but shows the step by step formulas to use]. I also found that by going to the book companies online resorces, you can download and print PowerPoint slides to help guide you through some of the more complex areas.

item recieved as described. item took to long to get to me.