College Algebra

Reviewed by Jamie Wirth, Assistant Professor, Valley City State University on 1/7/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 5

The content of the text is quite comprehensive and certainly includes the relevant content that would be expected of a college algebra text. Some might argue that trigonometric functions should be included in a college algebra text, yet I have found that most do not.

The table of contents (in both the online and PDF versions) is very useful, considering it provides links that allow you to jump straight to a specific section. The section numbering system, however, is not consistent between the online and PDF versions, causing slight confusion (e.g. in the PDF version, "Quadratic Equations" is section 2.5, but in the online version it is section 2.6). This is because the online version assigns section 1 of each chapter to the introduction, whereas the PDF version assigns section 1 to the first section of actual content, thus causing the two versions to be one section "off" from each other.

The index at the end of the book is also very useful, utilizing the links to quickly jump to specific pages where key terms are referenced.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The text appears to be very well done concerning accuracy. Furthermore, the author provides instructors with a quick and easy way to report any errors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Typically, the main "content" of a college algebra text is not going to change over time, therefore the content in this text is up-to-date, relavent, and will not become obsolete any time soon. The authors do include multiple instances of modern examples within the technology and real-world applications sections of the exercises.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is pretty straight-forward with providing relevant content without excess dialogue or commentary.

Consistency rating: 5

The structure of the text is quite consistent. It is easy to navigate. From an instructor's point of view it should be easy to work through examples with students and provide ample opportunity to assign exercises.

Modularity rating: 5

The text provides a nice flow of commentary, figures, examples, etc.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The layout/order of the various sections within the text is definitely clear and logical.

Interface rating: 5

As previously mentioned, there is a confusing inconsistency with section numbers between the online and PDF versions. Otherwise, the navigation is quite user-friendly. The links within the text that allow the user to jump to specific locations in the text (as opposed to excessive scrolling and manual searching) are quite useful.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text appears to be grammatically sound.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I found no instances of culturally insensitive or offensive content.

The authors appear to have gone to great lengths to make this a user-friendly, comprehensive text. Furthermore, the inclusion of a wide variety of ancillary content for both instructors and students is much appreciated. I look forward to adopting this text for my college algebra sections.