Roads to Geometry (3rd Edition) [Paperback]

Edward C. Wallace (Author), Stephen F. West (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0130413968 | ISBN-13: 978-0130413963 | Publication Date: July 27, 2003 | Edition: 3

This new book clarifies, extends, and unifies concepts discussed in basic high school geometry courses. It gives readers a comprehensive introduction to plane geometry in a historical context. Chapter topics include axiomatic systems, axiom sets for geometry, neutral geometry, Euclidean geometry of the plane, analytic and transformational geometry, non-Euclidean geometries, and projective geometry. For anyone in need of a refresher course in geometry.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book provides a geometrical experience that unifies Euclidean concepts generally discussed in traditional high school geometry courses with various non-Euclidean views of the world. It offers the reader a "map" for a voyage through plane geometry and its various branches, as well as side-trips that discuss analytic and transformational geometry. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

This new book clarifies, extends, and unifies concepts discussed in basic high school geometry courses. It gives readers a comprehensive introduction to plane geometry in a historical context. Chapter topics include axiomatic systems, axiom sets for geometry, neutral geometry, Euclidean geometry of the plane, analytic and transformational geometry, non-Euclidean geometries, and projective geometry. For anyone in need of a refresher course in geometry.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 510 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 3 edition (July 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130413968
• ISBN-13: 978-0130413963
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, not great, February 16, 2004

By 

Mark D. Schnittman "mschnit" (Rocky Point, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Roads to Geometry (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

I am currently using this book for an advanced Geometry class. The book works well in conjunction with a well taught class, which I thankfully have. The text contains a lot of information, although not all of the mathematical subtleties are brought to the readers attention, and are either left as exercises or for the student to ponder further. Greater analysis of deep and complex concepts would have been appreciated, and some answers to the problems would have been helpful as well -- the book contains none, which is a shame because the exercises are pretty good and are a requirement to master the material. I can understand why my professor likes this book, but it can be difficult to learn from if you haven't been exposed to the material before, and especially if you need to rely on it as a primary source of information.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Confusing and overly-condensed, August 6, 2003

By 

Leicester Dedlock (Ames, IA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roads to Geometry (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

*Note: this refers to the second edition.

Author: CS/Math double major at Cameron University.

This is the book I unfortunately got stuck with for my College Geometry class at Cameron. Thankfully I had a great teacher and I enjoyed the class in addition to getting an 'A', but that was no thanks to this textbook. Our class and the textbook were proof-oriented and designed to introduce the student to the basic axioms, theorems, and developments of several geometries. The book doesn't go extremely in-depth into any geometry but it was only designed to introduce the basic logic and principles of the geometries anyway. The problem is the extreme conciseness and unclarity of the material. Chapter 1 is written well enough, giving the reader a good foundation in axiomatic development. From then on, each chapter starts with a list of axioms and explanations and then it's the traditional theorem-proof-theorem-proof format. Unfortunately, the proofs are condensed into as compact a format as possible. The way the proofs were written, it kind of made the book feel like 1000 page book crammed into 400. The drawings are somewhat helpful but even those are lacking. Also, a series of exercises are given at the end of each section yet no answers are given in the back. And, like most geometry books, there's no available study guide. On the plus side, the exercises have a nice range of difficulty, from trivial to virtually impossible and everything in between.

Avoid if you can or pray you get a good teacher like I did.

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Roads To Geometry Review, October 2, 2005

By 

A. Rafoss - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Roads to Geometry (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

I'm using this book for a math elective (Survey of Geometry), and I think the book is awful! I was expecting something more like a textbook and this is just about the furthest thing from that. Even my professor is having a difficult time teaching out of it. Probably the biggest problem with it is that there aren't any answers in the back of the book like most math books have. Also, my professor couldn't even obtain an answer key because it doesn't exist.