College Algebra
I did not see specific coverage of scientific notation, and the text seemed weak in applications, particularly for lower level topics, like linear and quadratic functions, which are quite important for a college algebra class. I believe it would benefit from a more extensive index.
Content seemed accurate.
Content was somewhat lacking in applications, but generally would not date quickly.
I found the language used to be too technical for our typical college algebra student. I personally enjoyed reading the text, but I think the style will be alienating for the student. I feel the level of exposition is more appropriate for a pre-calculus class than for a college algebra class. Also, the density of the text on the page, and the rather dry layout is also off-putting for the math-wary student.
I saw no inconsistencies in the text.
The modularity of the text was useful; it would be fairly easy to use only parts of the text.
The organization was clear, and the logical structure of the text was good.
I had no interface issues in dealing with the text, however, while the TeX formatting is familiar and clear for mathematicians, I think it is stark and unfriendly for the college algebra student.
The informal, conversational tone they use for much of the text tends to introduce a variety of extremely common and minor grammatical errors, which will not be noticed by most people. I saw no egregious grammatical errors. I would like more commas, but I believe they are currently out of grammatical fashion.
The names used in exercises seem to be largely of European extraction, so more diversity might be helpful.
The text is out of Washington State, and many of the examples are local to the area. This makes them still pretty local for the lower mainland of BC, and I like that. Examples and exercises primarily use imperial units; I would prefer to have a better balance of imperial and metric questions.
This review originated in the BC Open Textbook Collection and is licensed under CC BY-ND.