Customer Reviews

Pre-Calculus Problem Solver (Problem Solvers Solution Guides)

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

 

 

This is the book to go to to remember how to do all those mathematical things, before calculus, we used to know but either forgot, took for granted, or shortcut and circumvented. Perfect example: solving inequalities involving absolute values -> the method I was using was producing right answers, however it was 'shotcutting' rather than solving the problem properly and robustly. Had a look inside...found an example...instant recollection and on my way again, the right way!

As far as I can tell there are not obvious mistakes (the review further down obviously has a really old copy or is just mistaken) and the coverage is quite comprehensive (though there are no problems for you to solve...as the title says, it is entirely solved problems and LOTS of them!). This isn't a book to teach you everything (though, I think if you worked through every example in whatever section, you would be a significantly better mathematician then when you started). As Einstein said, learng by example isn't just a way to learn...it's the only way to learn! It is a fine supplemental text and reference. The solutions are very clear, explicit and step by step. There are no logic jumps that can leave you wondering how the hell did they get from here to there? It is very systematic (even with explanations of what operation they are doing along the way- like a good teacher explaning how to do something without jumping steps).

Personally I regard the $18 as money well spent. It is an enormous book for the price, rich in content and extremely helpful. And given the price, what more could you want? It's a very useful addition to your library, if only as a reference work. There are basic attack strategies at the beginning of each chapter and masses of problems! Sure, the theory it covers is contained within the problems, not explicitly...hence you may need your course book along with this (or maybe as I said earlier: just try to learn from this book, which might be kinda weird and fun).

In all: well worth 5 stars! YOu can't expect a magical panacea for all your mathematical woes to be found within...but it tries! And it does deliver a great deal...

Happy Mathematics!

As a previous reviewer pointed out, some rather simple mistakes on the 10th problem (not corrected in the 1985ed, btw) cast a shadow on the reliability of this book. Many other problems seem to be worked out correctly, but it's beyond me to check every one. The book is helpful in spots, but the fact that they answered "105%" for "What percent of 100 is 99.5?" leaves me more than a bit unsure of their subsequent answers. As a math teacher, I would suggest a basic textbook instead of this (you'll have graphics anyway, which are critical to understanding math well).

This book is not a tutorial or self-teaching guide, it's more of a reference book. If you are not familiar with intermediate algebra and trigonometry this book will not be useful to you. But if you know the basic concepts of alg/trig you will find this book useful for that one difficult problem that is in every workset of your textbook. So, if you don't want to spend time concentrating on one problem, you can spend time searching for a similar problem in this book that will get you started on the original problem. But if you need the entire problem worked out with explanations this is not the book for you.

If this book helped me, it also can help you!

This book provides numerous examples that aid in understanding the complex world of precalculus.

What can you say about a book whose answer to the 10th problem, "What percent of 100 is 99.5?" is 105%, and to "what percent of 4 is 200" is 2%?

sure it is somewhat helpful but in limited terms.I have come across solved algebra and precalculus books sold for Turkish college students. I recommend these excellent books written by Nesime Aydın, Kerim Yeniay, Hasan Özer, Mevlut Gündoğdu, Emrullah Eraslan to math-lovers all around the world because the math language is universal and the books are written an easy fashion to follow the steps in any way.