Customer Reviews

How to Solve Word Problems in Algebra, (Proven Techniques from an Expert)

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You can be good at algebra and still fail at all the word problems that are set up to test your algebra skills. Word problems require their own study and practice separate from the usual daily algebra lesson. Usually, students are accustomed to learning one algebra concept in a day's lesson and then they go on to drilling through algebra equations that are already set up for them. The lesson and drill focuses on the algebraic operations, so that's all the students are learning. Word problems require the student to perform logical reasoning in setting up the equations before they can apply their algebra skills, and therein lies the problem. Most students spend all their time developing algebra skills solving equations and no time developing the logical reasoning skills that are needed to formulate an equation in the first place. Once the algebra lesson is over and they drill through several exercises, a few word problems are thrown at them at the end and they're told "you should be able to do this." WRONG!

In my opinion, the best way to develop the skills necessary for solving word problems is to treat it as a separate lesson and drill. This book does exactly that and does it better than any book I've seen in my life! For the first time in my life I actually enjoyed doing word problems. This book makes solving algebra word problems as fun and addicting as solving a jigsaw puzzle, and you develop great reasoning skills along the way without even realizing it.

This is a great book and I hope the authors continue to expand on it adding more problems, colors, diagrams, detailed explanations, etc.

I recommend this book HIGHLY to anyone who has to deal with solving algebra word problems.

I bought this book (and about ten others) this summer to help my children improve their algebra word problem skills. The book does a great job of providing a structure by offering mini-algorithms for solving common algebra problems such as mixtures, time and distance, coin mixes. Each problem is superbly explained with a system that child can at first use to solve the problem even though he/she is not actually "getting" it. However, they do get it soon enough. I did each chapter with my children and then had them do the test problems. The exercise problems are a bit tough and could have been simpler. In fact I ended up making supplementry problems to help them ease into the concepts. But no matter, I still consider this book heads above others. This book is a must even if your child is doing well in math.

Charan Langton, Author of The Reading Lesson - Teach your child to read in 20 Easy Lessons.

I have taught Algebra and Algebra II to high school and middle school students now for five years. Many teachers I know have simply skipped many of the word problems because they are too difficult to teach. That practice has never set well with me, yet I have not been able to do better at teaching this difficult subject. My own difficulty in explaining the procedure stems from the fact that Algebra comes so easily to me. I sometimes unknowingly skip steps, or I will solve a similar problem in a different manner because I see a shortcut.

I bought this book last year, hoping that I can find a systematic way of explaining how to solve common algebraic word problems. What this book has enabled me to do is put a consistent, algorithmic, logical structure to common problems in Algebra. Many, many more of my students have been able to tackle word problems successfully.

I was so impressed with this book that I shared it with colleagues who have now embraced it with enthusiasm.

Wow, I wish I had this in high school. Word problems are so challenging because you are trying to represent the numbers and their relationships, and then set them up in such a way to be able to solve for an unknown. Each problem is designed with a solution in mind, you just have to set up the appropriate equations.

Well, this is not necessarily easy, and that's why word problems can be difficult--if you tend to have trouble with rate/time/distance, mixture, or work problems, you tend to have problems with most problems of that type. Just knowing r x t = d hasn't helped me master these problems!

This book shows a table approach for r/t/d problems which makes things very clear, and a circle approach for mixture problems. This makes solving all of the easy and intermediate problems very clear. A very simple diagramming concept that makes all the difference in the world!

If you are looking for help in understanding algebra problems then I definitely recommend this book. Inside you will find helpful hints and practice that will help you tackle a wide range of problems from distance, coins, finance, quadratics, work, numbers, etc. The Supplementary problems after each chapter are helpful, and are well explained. So if you make any mistakes in doing them you will be able to go through step by step and see where the mistake was.

I do have one complaint. While the book does a great job with explaining the answers throughout the the text, the authors unfortunately decided that no explanations were needed in the last (Miscellaneous) section. While some of the problems shouldn't be too hard, others are, and without explanation you will learn little. This wouldn't be much of a problem, except people who buy this book are most likely not very good or comfortable with word problems to begin with. Therefore, the most explanation possible should be included, and in this section it is not.

Still, if you want a good introduction, I would reccomend this book.

I am a math phobic. Unfortunately, I had to take Algebra I as a basic requirement last semester. Every word problem on the final exam could be answered by studying the examples in this book. After doing a few, you'll actually find that you're LEARNING how to do the problems on your own, without having to constantly refer back to a textbook. I never thought I'd say this, but I hope there are more word problems in my next Algebra course!

This little text is an excellent introduction to solving word problems in algebra. The concept is based upon translating a problem to it's visual counterpart and then coming up with the appropriate equation. I suspect this book will be specially helpful to students whose mother tongue is not english. Terms such as, "twice the amount of A but fourth as much as C", are often confusing to non-english speaking students. If you have been away from algebra for a while this book will serve as a fine refresher. If you are new to algebra this book will definitely help. If english is not your native tongue, then this book will help you tremendously.

A note of caution. The book has a tendency to imply that all word problems follow the same language, such as "twice as much as C", etc. Therefore please be cautious not to fall into the trap of memorizing phrases and their corresponding algebraic connotation.

Easy to Read. Easy to follow. Very helpful for those who fear algebra word problems. A must buy, and worth every penny!!

This book will give you the basic understanding for word problems. It however doesn't have complex examples of word problems that you are bound to encounter in text books or on exams. It would be good for pre-algebra or possibly a 1st year high school algebra class. It won't help disect intricate word problems involving multiple actions that need to be addressed.

I was very disappointed by this book, as I was expecting one that actually covered Algebra I and II, not pre-algebra. In reality, it covers just the easy part of pre-algebra, that is, with strictly one variable. Compared with the excellent Math, Grade 7: 70 Must-Know Word Problems (Singapore Math), this is at least one grade lower and much wordier.