College Algebra & Trigonometry

Reviewed by Sara Rabieh, Math Department Chair, Midlands Technical College on 7/13/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

Good explanation of some topics, but other topics could use more details (chapter 4, and piecewise functions). This textbook may not be representative of all the topics that are traditionally taught in trigonometry and college algebra. In our curriculum, there are topics missing that students are required to learn. It is missing a section on vectors, matrices, systems of equations and inequalities. There needs to be more details on logarithms, piecewise functions, real zeros of a polynomial, rational functions, and complex zeros of a polynomial. The unit circle needs to be introduced. This is super important in trigonometry. You do not see any word problems until chapter 3.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content is basic. I wished that there were more challenging examples. There are step by step directions on how to solve a problem, and this textbook should be an easy read for students.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

I wished certain sections had more details or more challenging examples for students.

Clarity rating: 4

This should be an easy read for students, and the information is organized.

Consistency rating: 3

Like I mentioned previously, there are some sections missing that are super important in college algebra and trigonometry.

Modularity rating: 4

This should be an easy read for students. The sections are short, and this is something that the student can read in a short period of time.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

It is well organized.

Interface rating: 4

The graphs and charts are well presented and easy to read and understand.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammar issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

This is not relevant in the textbook.

Reviewed by Swati Kelkar, Associate Professor, Bunker Hill Community College on 6/29/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This textbook covers most topics expected in a standard College Algebra and Trigonometry course. A brief coverage of Matrices would have been ideal in a textbook like this. It could use some treatment of Partial Fraction Decomposition as well.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is accurate and on point.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The textbook is relevant by the very nature of the content. The arrangement is linear and topics do not run in. Edits therefore will be easy to make.

Clarity rating: 5

The style of this textbook is highly conversational. It appeals to an inner dialog a student may have while reading it. It works at the reader's pace and meets the reader where they are at.

Consistency rating: 5

Textbook is internally consistent with terminology. A connection is made between the interval notation and open and filled dots on the number line. Here students could use a correspondence table showing the equivalence between the two systems of notation.more explanation

Modularity rating: 5

The text is sectioned out appropriately into right sized modules which make the transition easy.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Topics are in a natural logical order.

Interface rating: 5

There are no interface issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There are no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

There is no culturally insensitive material in the textbook.

Comments

This textbook will meet most students' needs in College Algebra and Trigonometry. It can serve as reference reading or as a main textbook. It has an Answers section as well.

Reviewed by Michael Costa, Adjunct Instructor, Bristol Community College on 6/18/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Chapters 1, 4, and 2 would cover the College Algebra Portion of Precalculus at our college. Chapter 4.7, 4.8; chapter 3, chapter 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3; chapter 9.1-9.5; chapter 10.1 and 10.2, and chapter 11.1 and 11.3 would cover our Precalculus course. Chapter 6 would have to wait until Calculus 2. Chapter 5 and 7 are nice extras.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book matches our college outcomes for both courses. One typo on page 133: 2x^3 -3^2+2x-8=0 is missing the letter X next to the -3.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The longevity of College Algebra holds. As for relevance, I would like to see more applications or word problems, and be sure to put answers to odd number word problems in back of book.

Clarity rating: 4

The examples are written with a word processor as opposed to using math software such as Latex, Tex, Mathlab. As such, some problems make for slow reading--see pages 12, 24, 74. The word problems on page 83 do not have solutions posted for odd problems. Page 88 needs more examples to solve number 11. Page 93 says solve using technology, but no specific software such as Desmos is listed. More examples for 2.5 would be nice. Page 119 is a bit difficult to follow.

Consistency rating: 4

Trigonometry 8.2 usually has the angle theta on the bottom left, adjacent side is along the x-axis, and the opposite side is vertical: known as "with respect to x". Not all triangles in 8.2 are oriented the same way and makes understanding difficult.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is broken into chapters and the chapters are broken into sections. The sections be taught in different order as needed and so can the chapters. Some modules such as 2.5 could use more examples.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

For our college I would teach chapter 1, then 4.1-4.6, and finally chapter 2 for College Algebra. For the second course, I would teach 4.8, 4.9, chapter 3, chapter 8, chapter 9, chapter 10, and chapter 11, but not all the sections. Organization of the book is good, other than chapter 4 should come before chapter 2. As an instructor, I might cover 4.5 toolboox functions -- the most commonly seen functions first before I cover 4.4 transforming (move up or down, left or right) those functions.

Interface rating: 5

The book College Algebra and Trigonometry by Richard W. Beveridge is monochrome -- black and white, but I do not miss the colors. The graphs are easy to read and not overcrowded.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Grammar is correct in the book with only one minor typographical error on page 133.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Math is sometimes referred to as a language. As such, there are no questionable or problematic topics covered.

Comments

I could see myself adopting this textbook; maybe add my own supplemental material, and maybe skip some sections due to time constraints.

Reviewed by Clilfton Webb, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College on 1/13/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text book provides a very uniform platform for the topics included in a most Community College Algebra and Trigonometry class. Topics are organized in the increasing matter of difficulty ending at an intermediate level of learning. Most important is the glossary of terms making it simple for students to use to find the topics.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content for this book matches the learning outcomes with two exceptions for our community college Precalculus and trigonometry classes. Having taught the courses for many years, upon a close observation, I did not find any inaccuracy.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

For now the problems in the book are up-to-date and relevant however as newer edition are printed, I would like to see some inclusion of real world problems relating to climate change such as calculation of wind power , savings on using the solar panels etc. Also a chapter on Systems of Linear Equations; Using Matrices and Partial Fractions Decomposition

Clarity rating: 5

Language is simple yet effective and easily understood. Math terms can be hard to explain and understand especially for the community college students, videos are ok but they can be supplemented by other easily accessible video sites especially for an online course

Consistency rating: 5

Topics are easily built upon each other and easy to refer back to without having to click a lot.

Modularity rating: 5

As stated above, a streamlined flow of the topic lends to building the modules with closely related topics. Objectives listed at the end do match our objectives so it is easy to refer to without taking anything out.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Like topics are closely arranged so they can be grouped into learning units or modules without jumping back and forth makes it easy to create a streamlined course.

Interface rating: 5

For an online course, book provides an easy ADA approach to build the course using the QM guidelines.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not find any such errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This Algebra and Trigonometry text book does not offend me, nor any of my students, some have even stated that it cleared up certain questions they had.

Comments

I look forward to additional up dates to this text which I know will be a great help to three future OER courses and online courses here at the Community College.

Reviewed by Ed Dillon, Math Instructor, Century College on 6/30/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The author has covered everything that is in the standard College Algebra scope and sequence, the standard College Algebra that does not include trigonomtry. An Answer Key is provided at the end of the book covering the answers to all odd numbered problems.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I read through the entire PDF text and did not find a single error. Note that I did not work all examples, but at least one from every section in the book.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

It should indeed be easy to make updates, though I do not see it as being very likely that this will be necessary. The author has very nicely integrated the history of mathematics into the narrative explanations of problems. It makes for pretty good reading actually. Beveridge does a nice job of also including programming in some sections - for example, a short program on the TI calculators for finding solutions using the quadratic formula.

Clarity rating: 5

The writing is clear and concise. The text is a bit dry containing almost no diagrams, but the author has written all sections very much like one would lecture using scaffolding to make each progressive concepts more complicated to get the student to the level needed to do algebra in calculus.

Consistency rating: 5

Again, I looked through all sections of the book. Not only is the author consistent with terminology, but he does a very nice job of show students how the algorithms we have all learned in K-12 grades also apply to the algorithms in College Algebra. One such example, of many, is in Section 2.6, teaching polynomial division using a model from integer long division.

Modularity rating: 5

Although the sequence Beveridge uses is a bit unconventional, his division of the topics into sections that nicely build on each other, and are not overwhelming. A student should be able to sit down and read any given section, working through the examples, in an hour or so. He is very consistent in show steps within problems, and remarking on skills that were covered earlier in the book.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

As mentioned above, Beveridge's scope and sequence is a bit different than most College Algebra text books, but I like it, and can see why he has arrange the topics in the order he did. It works.

Interface rating: 5

No problems what so ever. The graphs are simple, but beautifully not cluttered.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I only found a couple small typos in the entire book. It seems very well edited.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Nothing insensitive or offensive. The author has done a wonderful job of bringing math historical references into the instruction from a large variety of cultures.

Comments

I have been thinking about making an OER adoption for my College Algebra classes. I can see using this book and creating a successful learning environment for my students.