5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's a good text, but there are probably better ones., September 11, 2009
This review is from: Precalculus, Seventh Edition (Hardcover)
I'd say that probably the only flaw I found with this book is that the word problems should be included in the solution's manual because those are quite difficult even starting out in the first chapter.
My Pre-Calculus instructor picked one out and basically it was a Physics problem, which is a class I haven't taken in some time and I think she filled like a board and a half trying to explain it to us (which she didn't do a very good job of). It would help if there were more applications relevant to the word problems in the textbook.
Most of the exercises at the end of each section aren't complicated, but I've noticed that sometimes things that should be in there are not listed as far as I know. Like converting DMS to decimal degrees and all that (it was listed as problems to do but they didn't go over that in the section). Luckily I had already learned that in a previous class and had kept that textbook to see how you'd do it again. I haven't noticed any errors (unless I'm getting the same errors) with the problems in the book. I think they give you a wider scope on what there is to do with what you've just learned, but I think a few more examples would go a long way in furthering the student's knowledge and make it a lot easier to tackle the homework. It'd be good to see the problems done in all sorts of different ways so you can apply what you know to the homework. The graphing ones especially. *Two or three general examples aren't majorly helpful.
Apart from that, I find the book to be a great help in understanding Pre-Calculus. I wouldn't say it'd be one of those books that are a fantastic thing to hold onto if you really enjoy math though like Calculus by Michael Spivak. It will, however, teach you a lot of the technical stuff.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad, use it and learn, September 2, 2009
This review is from: Precalculus, Seventh Edition (Hardcover)
When it come to the subject of pre-calculus mathematics you could do a LOT worse. It's a textbook worth learning from without the need for any supplemental material. It gets helps you learn each concept fairly well and doesn't given you any unnecessary headaches while still being accurate. A nice mix of abstract and practical problems that are well set-up for each topic. The chapters are arranged in a logical order for learning each topic unlike some textbooks I've had to deal with over the years.
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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Beware, no passkey for EduSpace is included, May 12, 2008
This review is from: Precalculus, Seventh Edition (Hardcover)
I bought this for two of my classes. Although the description talks about accessing Eduspace you should know that the passkey is NOT included with this product. You will have to spend an additional $67 on the Eduspace site to buy that passkey.
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