Elementary Algebra

Reviewed by Loretta Waldroupe, Math Specialist, Cowley Community College on 5/14/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Our college uses the same textbook for Elementary and Intermediate Algebra. This book is missing some of the Intermediate Algebra content that we cover. However, as just an Elementary Algebra book I feel the book covers all the necessary material. There is no glossary/index which I feel would be very helpful.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

The accuracy depends on the version you use. In the PDF version the fractions are not displayed correctly. They do appear correctly in the online version. However, for those students who prefer the physical version of the text this could create some issues.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The thing with math is the concept does not change. Even in updated versions of book the content stays the same. The only thing they change is updating some word problems to more current data. So, I feel the relevance of the book is excellent and is not something that will change quickly like some subjects do.

Clarity rating: 4

The book is clear and easy to understand. I love the key take-aways idea. The graphs are nice and clear. I feel for clarity purposes some of the inconsistencies between the online and PDF versions should be take care of. The explanation are clear and easy to understand. This is important for this level of math student.

Consistency rating: 4

For the most part the consistency of the book is good. There are some places that need fixed where the equation is sometimes quite a bit smaller than the text in the PDF version. This occurs even if it is right next to the text and could be a hindrance to some students. Other than that I like the consistency.

Modularity rating: 4

I love how the book is broken down into short sections. The graphs are big enough to actually see without feeling like you need a magnifying glass to read the points on the graph.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization of the book is great. I feel it covers the topics in a good order making sure they build on a solid foundation. I really like the odd answers being at the end of the section so that you do not have to keep flipping to the back of the book to check your answers. There are a good variety of questions to choose from and the teacher can choose some with the answers given so the student knows if they are right and some without so that the teacher knows the student is actually working out the problems and not just giving answers.

Interface rating: 4

I did not have any problems with navigating through the textbook. The table of contents made it easy to navigate to whatever section I wanted to go to. I like the idea of getting there quickly and efficiently. I wish there was a glossary/index to help the student find the page of certain terms more quickly.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

I found several errors in the PDF version of the text. Fractions were displayed correctly and would look like a whole number instead of a fraction. This can cause confusion for the students.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I did not see any issues with the cultural relevance of the book.

Comments

I feel if the PDF version did not have the grammatical errors it would be a good text for any Elementary Algebra student.

Reviewed by Jesna Nissam, Instructor, Hawaii Community College on 3/18/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Online Version:
A great book for the beginners in Algebra. Provides a very clear picture of the common elementary algebra contents. Also covers few intermediate algebra contents needed for the students of that stage. The exercise set is well defined and legible. There is no glossary but the table of content is available in orderly manner. I like the way how the examples are presented in a very simple and clear manner.

With regard to PDF version the table of content is not given, there are plenty symbolic errors seen in the text book specially in the radical section.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Good accuracy is seen in the online version of the book. But I found few error specifically in the radical section when I downloaded the book in PDF format and figured out the roots in the question is not clearly located. Specially for the students who like a hard copy of textbook for their reference, it will be difficult for them to understand the questions.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The relevancy of book is good. The contents for elementary algebra and the method of solving will remain the same for years to come. The word problems are also presented in a simple layman's language so that its easier for students to understand which should be good for years to come.

Clarity rating: 3

For online users the clarity is good. The presentation is simple, legible and easy to understand. For PDF users the clarity of mathematical symbols should be taken care of.

Consistency rating: 5

I like the consistency of this book. Each chapter starts with learning objectives, there are boxes for cautions, video solutions are available , tips are given based on the topics required and the chapter ends with key takeaways.

Modularity rating: 3

For online access of the book: Modularity is a strong point of this book. The chapters are broken into easily accessible sections.
For PDF version there is no content of table given.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

For online access: The book is organized in very clear order. A teacher has an option to choose good range of questions based on the difficulty level.

Interface rating: 3

There are lots of inconsistencies seen on the PDF version of the book. A teacher using this book should give clear guidance on using the online version and should make the students aware of the errors seen in the PDF version.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical error seen.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

For a diverse classroom some of cultural related questions can help students get a better understanding.

Comments

Overall this is a good book. The book is organized in a very neat manner with a lot examples and exercise questions. I would not hesitate using this book as my textbook for the class if relevant changes are made in the PDF version such as including the table of content and fixing the symbolic errors.

Reviewed by Said Raki, Mathematics Instructor, NTCC on 4/27/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book gives students a good insight about pre-Algebra concepts. I gave is a five because of the breaking down of the problems and the use of the colors to reach the visual learners. There is no glossary, but a table is given.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Looking at the examples, and exercises given to students for practice, the book is accurate. I did not find any errors. I cannot say that the book is culturally sensitive. The book is not as diverse as our today classrooms.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The longevity of the bool is good. The topics will be still good many years to come. It won't be a lot of changes. The use of certain symbols like the radical could more clear at times so student will not make mistakes reading them.

Clarity rating: 5

The vocabulary use is clear and easy to understand for student of that age group.

Consistency rating: 4

The book is consistent all the way. I gave a high rating for that.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is split in good and easy to read parts. It makes is easy for teachers and students as well.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The book is well organized. There is a linearity in the topics studied and I can see a logical follow up. The only minor point, is a small review before starting the new chapter so the students can rely on the previous chapters for better understanding.

Interface rating: 3

There is inconsistencies on the PDF version of the book. The book is using different platform to display content (like math symbols) which are not clear on the PDF version of the book, It is always better to tell the audience which platform to use for better reading.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not see or encounter any grammatical errors even though I did not read every sentence in the book.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

I did not see any relevance of cultural insensitivity, but looking at the diversity of our classrooms, the book should add some cultural items to help the minority students understand the topics using their cultural background.

Comments

The book has a lot of potential to it. There is a need for cultural sensitivity on the mathematical topics, and also raising the bar to help some advance students get a head, and get more challenged.

Reviewed by Bill Diss, Instructor, Portland Community College on 8/2/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book is very comprehensive. There is a table of contents but no glossary.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I did not see any errors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The book's relevance/Longevity is one of the strongest features. The book does not have that much text, which is very good for fast learning and reading. Additionally the efficient use of text results in short worded problems. The worded problems do not have a great deal of special names of people or places or events, thus they appear to be applicable to many groups and should be pertinent for many years.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is very clear. Diagrams are simple. There is a lot of space. The explanations are very clear and the wording is very efficient.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is very consistent. The outline of each chapter and topics are very consistent between chapters.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is very modular and each chapter is broken up into short manageable sections that are easily accessed by clicking in the table of contents.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization, structure and flow are well designed. Objectives are first shown, some introductory text and then some great examples are finally presented. At the end of each section, there are many problems. The odd answers are also at the end of the sections and this allows students to quickly verify answers and not look in other books or all over the book for answers.

Interface rating: 5

Navigation is very easy and the charts and images are simple but powerful.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Grammar is fine.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The simple explanations and efficient wording of worded problems appear to have the effect that there should not be any offensive problems for certain races, etc.

Comments

I thought the book was one of the better introductory algebra books. The examples and methods are very clear and simple. I think the book is especially useful for ESL users.

Reviewed by Wendy Rawlinson, Mathematics Instructor, Lane Community College on 8/21/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book provides very clear and comprehensive coverage of the usual Elementary Algebra topics, as well as some Intermediate Algebra material. The book provides plenty of examples and very robust, well-constructed exercise sets. The author has gone the extra mile to include special notes, cautions, and even some alternate solutions to examples.

There is no index or glossary, which is a significant problem. While navigating the book to simply review it, I spent a lot of time searching (scrolling) for specific topics. One example of this is, when the AC method is discussed in section 6.3, the text says “…using the AC method described previously.” Finding where it had been “…described previously” wasn’t trivial (especially since I think the logical place to introduce it was IN section 6.3, as opposed to earlier). I expect that the lack of an index could deter students from using the book as a resource, and may inhibit learning the material.

The embedded videos are a very useful feature. Students benefit greatly from easy access to videos that demonstrate and reinforce the material, and care has been taken to choose appropriate videos. However, there were no videos linked for certain topics that I think would specifically call for them (one example: students often struggle mightily with the AC method, but I couldn’t find a linked video demonstrating the technique). If I were using this text for my class, I would likely supplement with additional videos for my students.

Overall, this is a good, comprehensive book for Elementary Algebra.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

In reviewing the book, I saw very few content errors. Care has been taken to use proper vocabulary, to show appropriate mathematical processes, and to address common student errors.

The main “accuracy” issues are with notation use and variation depending on the application/browser used.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

With algebra content, longevity isn’t as big an issue as with some other disciplines. This book’s content will still be “current” many years from now. If, by chance, groundbreaking algebraic methods or strategies come into fashion, this book could be easily edited to incorporate them.

Examples and exercises are fairly factual and generic. By avoiding "real world" contexts and references, they are somewhat insulated from becoming outdated. The downside to this approach is that problem introductions are a bit dry and potentially hard for students to relate to.

In section 1.5, there are some pie charts based on 2009 data. If those graphics (or others) make the book feel outdated at some point, it could be easily updated with newer data from the cited source.

Clarity rating: 1

The clarity of this book seems in line with most other mainstream elementary algebra books. The very nice use of color and graphics is effective and helps with readability.

Some of the notation and examples may be a bit advanced and confusing for this level of student (for example: the description of factoring by trial and error uses p, q, m, and n, in addition to the expression’s variable, x).

Additionally, while searching for particular videos, I found it difficult to scroll through quickly and find the video links. I would like to see video links offset by a color or special graphic for clarity and ease of use.

Consistency rating: 3

There is a very nice, consistent structure throughout the book. Sections begin with numbered “Learning Objectives”, and end with “Key Takeaways”. Also consistent throughout the text are the “Incorrect vs. Correct” examples, the “Notes”, and the “Try This!” features.

Consistent use of colored boxes for various features makes scanning for important, “key” features easy. For example, blue boxes make finding exercise sets fast and easy.

Depending on how the book is being accessed, there can be significant variation in how notation is used, even from one exercise to the next. I experienced inconsistencies between browsers, and between the pdf versus online version.

One example is exponents. Sometimes they are superscripted, sometimes the “^” is used, and sometimes the exponent simply follows the base – making “3 squared” appear as 32.

Another example is the placement of the radical symbol. Sometimes it was written correctly, and other times the radical symbol was typed after the radicand.

The inconsistency (and inaccuracy) are very problematic, and would certainly need to be addressed before I would feel comfortable using this book.

The consistent structure used within each section would earn a rating of "5" from me. But the other major inconsistencies mentioned lower my ranking.

Modularity rating: 3

Chapters and sections are numbered, but then those numbers aren't referenced in the online version's table of contents. And, even though each section begins with a chapter and section number, the pdf version does not provide a table of contents, at all.

The advantages of having each chapter and section numbered would include the ability to explicitly list the content, by number, in a table of contents. I am confused as to why this wasn't done, but suppose it wouldn't be a big job to edit that information in, if desired. The disadvantages of having each section numbered is that it complicates re-ordering content.

The book is somewhat self-referential (example, “… as described earlier …”), but lacks an index. This would make re-ordering or omitting sections a bit more complicated, and would likely necessitate significant editing.

One nice feature is the sub-sections (objectives) of each section. The topics are bite-sized, and are compatible with spreading a section over multiple class meetings and/or re-ordering material to suit a particular course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book’s organization is fairly traditional, and it could work really well for a conventional series of algebra courses. There is some material introduced earlier than usual (square roots, for example), but that approach improves the modularity of the material.

Overall, the organization of material makes sense.

Interface rating: 2

This is the area in which the book stumbles, somewhat. Depending on which browser or format I used, the notation and fonts were pretty wildly inconsistent and sometimes totally meaningless.

I was using a Mac, and viewed the book using both Chrome and Safari. I also downloaded the pdf to view on my laptop.

In Chrome, the exercise sets at the end of each section were virtually empty of content. In Safari, I was able to view the problem sets.

In Chrome, many of the mathematical expressions and equations were simply missing from the body of the text. In Safari, they showed up okay.

Neither browser allowed me to view videos by simply clicking on “click to see video”. On Chrome, I had to right-click and view in a separate tab. In Safari, I never was able to figure out how to view the videos.

The font size varied dramatically, even within single problem sets. Further, fraction bars were often missing, making the content unreadable.

If students encounter any or all of these issues, it could certainly be a significant barrier to their learning. There did not seem to be one application through which I could access the full, correct version of the book.

In general, I like this book. But I would need to figure out how to provide students with a reliably correct version of it before using it for a course.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The book's English grammar is good and mostly at an appropriate reading level. The statement of the examples and exercises tends to be a bit dry, but the grammar appears to be correct.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Most of the examples and word problems in this text are very factual and seem to intentionally avoid the common, “real world” set-up, hence avoiding most cultural context and references. However, in the “Applications of Linear Systems” section, the “Topic Exercises” use the following set of Anglo-sounding names: Mary, Sally, Joe, Millicent, Jerry, James, John, Dennis, Billy. I would prefer to see more cultural variety represented in this simple way. Another example: In the “Order of Operations” section, the word problems reference Mary, Joe, Margaret, Bill, Audry, Mark, and Janet. (And, Mark and Janet are traveling home for Thanksgiving.) While I didn't encounter anything that I consider "offensive", I think some opportunities were missed, and this book could have been made to feel more inclusive.

Comments

Overall, I like this book.

I would absolutely consider using it in my courses, with some edits and notational corrections.

Reviewed by Kristin Lassonde, Mathematics Faculty, Klamath Community College on 8/21/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book covers almost every topic one might use in the course and many topics which are frequently covered in the next course. Small lacking in comprehensiveness might be a treatments of simple absolute value equations or inequalities. Another small lacking is the absence of a 'review' chapter or appendix which is typical for this level of a course.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

Although almost all of the content is accurate, I scored this category lower (3 of 5) due to numerous 'errors' in the text, which are frequently typesetting errors. However, a typesetting error becomes a math error when it makes the math incorrect. For instance, in section 1.1 the answer to number 16. in the "TOPIC EXERCISES" is the square root of 7. While accurate in Firefox, this answer doesn't display at all using Google Chrome (an issue to be dealt with later in interface) and the typesetting is reversed in the PDF version showing the square root after the 7. This type of error provides in a sense inaccurate information to students and several errors of this type are common throughout the text. If these were resolved, I would raise my rating here to 4 or 5, depending on if any other errors were left at that point.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 1

While the math content will never be obsolete as long as we require this style of algebraic learning in school, the text itself is currently obsolete merely based on the fact that it does not meet accessibility guidelines of the Federal government. As such, the way the laws are currently written, it is my understanding that using the text in a course, even as a resource, is not allowable by the Federal government (unless equitable accessible materials are also provided).

Clarity rating: 3

Similarly for accuracy (above), while much all of the content is clear, I scored this category lower (3 of 5) due to numerous typesetting errors which will cause students to not find the content clear. These same type of issues, as described above in the accuracy section, provide unclear information to students and several issues of this type are common throughout the text. Additionally unclear are the lack of accessible content due to the missing alt tags on numerous images throughout the text, which frequently contain all the steps for solving a particular problem type. As such, students using a screen reader will be unable to view any of these steps. If these types of issues were resolved, I would raise my rating here to 4 or 5, depending on other clarity issues that may still exist.

Consistency rating: 4

The book is mostly consistent throughout, however, there are some minor inconsistencies such as the use of variables. For instance, in many sections the book will use x, y, a, b all throughout, and then in the homework Greek letters like alpha and beta appear. This is literally a new alphabet and should probably be discussed somewhere in the book (at least the preface or an appendix since this is not a prerequisite for the book).

Modularity rating: 4

The text is pretty easy to divide into smaller reading sections, and reorganization should be fairly easy for most teachers, but certain sections will be challenging to reorder due to some implicit self-references.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The topics in the text are mostly presented in a logical and clear fashion. The discussion on absolute value seems disjointed between the first chapter and then 8 and 9, and it seems to overly assume that the student has studied and comprehended everything in 8 prior to studying 9 (which is frequently not the case in basic algebra courses), specifically in reference to taking the square root of both sides of an equation and the result of an absolute value. Additionally, while the subsections are numbered in the text, they are not listed in the table of contents and it is also difficult to determine which section you are in while in the midst of the text.

Interface rating: 1

The text has significant interface issues, including the following. First, the PDF version of the book does not display content correctly. The PDF version of the book needs to be significantly revised or it should be removed from the site so that users can focus on the web-based version, which is more accurate. However, in the web-based version, many problems still exist. For instance, some of the mathematical expressions are coded using MathML, which is not supported on numerous common web browsers including Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge. With this in mind, at minimum the book should specify at least in the preface, which browser is recommended for best compatibility. Further, many items throughout the book are images without an alt tag provided, making them completely unreadable to screen-readers and difficult to navigate for students using mobile devices. Additionally, there are "Video Solution" links provided which include embedded YouTube videos using a Flash-player embedding. Using Flash Player is outdated, and results in videos not playing in mobile browsers or browsers where Flash Player is not installed or blocked, which includes an increasing number of browsers. Modern embedded features should be used, which would include the use of HTML5 videos. Finally, the videos provided are not properly subtitled, again as required by Federal accessibility standards.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Although I have not read every sentence in the book, all of the grammar I saw seems to be correct.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The text is not particularly insensitive to specific races or ethnicities that I am aware of, however, with a lack of emphasis placed on Federal accessibility standards, the text is not sensitive to students from different backgrounds who require implementation of the accessibility guidelines.

Comments

This book has a lot of potential and I hope to see improvements in the future! As mentioned by another reviewer, at minimum, this book can be used right now as a reference/problem bank for the instructor.

Reviewed by John Salisbury, Mathematics Instructor, Rogue Community College on 8/21/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book covers all usual topics in an elementary algebra text book, commencing with integers and continuing through linear expressions, linear equations and inequalities, systems of linear equations, and other topics. The book concludes with a nice treatment of the solution of quadratic equations with the quadratic formula and introduces complex numbers. The treatment of factoring using guess and check and the ac-method, factoring by grouping, and special products is thorough and well presented. Any student who was taught from this book and covered all chapters would have a good grounding in the subject matter.

There is no glossary, index or table of contents, which does detract from an otherwise comprehensive book.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found no biases in the book. I found one misspelling but the book is well written and edited and substantially error-free. I found the presentation of the material to be objective and clear.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The subject of algebra is timeless, so there should be no short-term problem with relevance or longevity. There a numerous graphs which present current statistics and trends, but it would not be difficult to update these as the years go by. For example, the number of Americans over 65 or a period of recent years is presented. This could be made more current easily. Regular later editions of this book could be published to update the material in the years to come.

Clarity rating: 4

The language is simple straightforward and presented clearly. The terms are well defined. The presentation is not highly rigorous. There are almost no proofs or demonstrations of the truth of what is being presented, but this is not a higher level book so that does not really detract from the overall presentation. .

Consistency rating: 5

Terms are presented consistently and clearly. A glossary would be helpful to absolutely be able to check how the author defines and views the terms that he uses.

Modularity rating: 4

Sections and subsections of the book are presented in bite-sized chunks that would not overwhelm a student who has math anxiety or little previous experience with math. One way in which the book is thorough and distinctive is in the sheer number of problems. A teacher using this book would have numerous options in choosing easy or difficult problems to do. The lack of a table of contents or an index would definitely make looking up specific topics in the book problematic.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

There are no problems here. The book builds nicely on beginning concepts and progresses logically.

Interface rating: 3

The lack of the usual apparatus of a textbook (table of contents, glossary, index, etc.) make navigation in the book very difficult. Also, there are equations where the spacing is bad, at least in the pdf format that I read. These could be cleaned up in any final edition.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found the text to be clear and almost entirely free from grammatical mistakes.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The book is not culturally insensitive or offensive. (Very few algebra books would be, I would think). I did notice that the names used in word problems are a little old fashioned, e.g., Mary, and maybe in a later edition more contemporary names could be introduced.

Comments

There were excellent suggestions for historical research that would be a great stimulant to further learning and study by an interested student. It would be helpful if there were more provocative and interesting problems and questions for gifted students to mull over

Reviewed by Berri Hsiao, Faculty, Lane Community College on 8/21/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This book is the most comprehensive Algebra textbook that I have seen as an OER material. The book covers sections and topics that are appropriate for the math 60-65 sequence at the community college level that I teach. The sequence in which the topics appear is very appropriate for the level of audience. The book almost could be used in math 95 (Intermediate Algebra) as well, except a few more advanced topics such as introduction of basic function notations and logarithms. The exercise sets are large enough for instructors to choose from and for students to gain practice from. I am impressed by the learning objectives as well as the sample review exercises and sample exams at the end of each chapter. It is a thoughtful book that includes many key features that I find useful: key take-aways, discussion board topics, note section, video solutions, and incorrect v.s. correct way of solving a problem side by side.
The book itself is very comparable to a traditional textbook that I have seen in its layout and organizations. The only things I do not see are some kind of online homework system for instant feedback that can be used in an online course format and an index (or glossary) at the end of the book. The answers to the even-number problems of the sample tests are also not listed but maybe it’s stored somewhere else for instructors to find that I’m not aware of.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Notations and explanations seem fairly accurate in this book, although I did not do a detailed line-by-line reading to check if there errors to the solutions. The book also includes notations not commonly mentioned in a traditional textbook, for computer programming purposes or on a calculator.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The book seems comparable to other textbooks that I have seen in its relevance and I could see it being useful for a long while. The concepts covered in the book are not going to change so it’s not an issue for a long-term usage. The real-life applications provided in the book are general enough that changes would not be necessary. I believe the nature of the licensing allows easily adaptability for an instructor to include other examples as one sees fit.

Clarity rating: 4

The book has good clarity overall and is very readable to students at this level, except in a few places. For example, in section 1.2 (adding and subtracting integers) good explanations are provided for how to add two integers. However, how to subtract two integers are is not presented, yet it is referenced in an addition problem of two integers that involves the second number being negative. This section would be so much clearer to the students and robust if subtracting integers is introduced in the same way as adding, with the visuals of the number line and clear examples provided.

Consistency rating: 5

The book has really good consistency throughout sections and chapters. The flow is consistent and clear in each section in terms of how concepts are introduced. The author uses consistent terminology as in most other textbooks. The only problem in consistency that I see is in the exercise sets and answers. For examples, fractions and radical notations are not always displayed using the same format and font sizes appear to be inconsistent as well. But this is more of an 'interface' problem.

Modularity rating: 4

he book is fairly useful in its modularity except in a few places where references to materials covered in the previous section(s) are mentioned. For example, in factoring trinomials with leading coefficient being not 1, the AC method is referred as ‘described before’ but it is not listed as to where ‘before’ is. It does not hurt (actually would be more helpful) to have this method listed again in this section as this is where the method is really needed.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This is a strong aspect of the book in my opinion. Every section starts with learning objectives, followed by definitions and appropriate vocabulary, and easy to follow examples and steps are provided before students reach the practice exercises at the end of the section. I particular enjoy the visual layouts, colors, and useful information such as common mistakes listed in a way that is visually clear and pleasing fashion.

Interface rating: 2

This area is the weakest aspect of the book. I read the book in different formats to find that the online format in Chrome is not compatible in many places – various mathematical symbols are simply missing as well as entire exercise sets not showing up. It can create confusion to the students. Using Safari on a Mac works fairly well, but I was not able to view the videos in Chrome or Safari. The only way to view the video for me is to right click in Chrome and choose “open link using a different tab or window”. Viewing the book using the PDF version is not helpful, especially when it comes to mathematical symbols being not readable or lost. The font sizes are not consistent either. This is surprising to me as I was expecting the PDF version to be the best in preserving the formatting for the students. I think providing the URL address to let students know that videos do exist could be helpful in the PDF version.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not notice any grammatical error. The language used in the book is clear and appropriate to the level of students.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The book does not have as many culturally inclusive examples as other traditional textbooks. However, I could understand that the level of mathematical concepts are mostly algebraic and perhaps requires a little more work to write examples that include cultural relevance. It certainly would be beneficial to incorporate more culturally diverse examples for our diverse student population.

Comments

Overall, it is a well written book and I really like the formats and the flow of the book. I'm hoping to adopt this book for my algebra courses so viewing it from this perspective, I would have to figure out how to make the interface of the book much more friendly and usable to the students.
I am happy to see that the quality of this book is quite good and I hope to find useful online tutorial and homework systems that can be incorporated to make this book a more complete one to use in an online format.

Reviewed by Harmony Richman, Mathematics Instructor, Dakota College at Bottineau on 1/7/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book covers a wide variety of topics, in detail that I cover in my current Algebra Prep 1, Algebra Prep 2 and Algebra Prep 3 course. Each course is 8 weeks long so could use the text to use over the entire semester and half that is needed. A very good comprehensive book to help prepare students in all aspects who need to brush up on their skills before attempting College Algebra. Although there were some areas where topics delved a little more deeply than students may be ready for; however, an instructor could easily pick and choose what they feel their students need.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book appears accurate throughout the chapters. The book uses color to determine step by step guidance which is extremely important to help my students follow along more easily while working on their own.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The charts/graphs were up to date and could easily be updated as needed. They also appeared relevant in today's society with topics students may have an interest in.

Clarity rating: 4

All terminology was used appropriately and accurately among the book. The one area that seemed a little stand-offish is the step by step guides, I feel it's important for students in an Algebra Prep course to understand why we are doing what we are doing, not just a simple memorization of steps. If a student can understand the why they are more apt to retaining vs. remembering a bunch of steps to get there.

Consistency rating: 5

Each section started off with the section title, then the "Learning Objectives." The Learning Objectives at some points seem to be a little vocab advanced for the topics covered; however, with instructor guidance can be followed nicely. The Learning Objectives are followed by step by step instructions with examples and "Try this!" problems. At the end of every section there is a Key Takeaway portion which leads into multiple topic exercises and solutions.

Modularity rating: 5

Each unit and subsection of each unit is broken down in such a way that as a teacher teaching 3 different 8 week courses, I could pick and choose what I need to cover for each course to meet the objectives easily.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

There were some instances where I personally would rearrange some topics simply based on what I know about my students and their needs, but overall the structure is fairly logical.

Interface rating: 3

Maybe it's just the online PDF version, but I'm struggling with the fraction section as many of the problems in the homework sets and within the lesson portion the fractions don't have fraction bars. For example the problem asked to reduce 105300, but there was no fraction bar to indicate what was what fraction. As you continued down the page you see through the work through portion that it should have been 105/300. The only indication that you are working with fractions is the numbers appear in smaller text than the other numbers not represented in fractional form. When we hit the radical section, it appears the radical symbol comes after the number so it is unclear to a student what they may have to do or it's stated as "square root 36" this is also would be confusing to my students especially.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not notice any grammatical errors throughout the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Although the book did use a variety of occupations, social standing, and students. There was a lot of "a man," "a woman," "a student." I felt that the book slightly lacked a variety of races and ethnicities.

Comments

I particularly liked the length of practice questions at the end of each section and the variety of difficulty level, specifically the discussion board topic questions to encourage writing/researching/reading within mathematics.

Reviewed by Mel Taylor, Mathematics Faculty, Ridgewater College, Willmar, Minnesota on 6/10/15

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text covers all areas of Elementary Algebra appropriately and covers some areas of Intermediate Algebra. There is so much material in this text that it could not possibly be covered in one semester. Of course since this text is open source, an instructor could pick and choose what he/she would like to cover and simply not use the rest. For example, exponents, square root and the Pythagorean Theorem all occur in Chapter 1. Rational expressions and radicals appear in Chapters 7 and 8. Solving quadratic equations, graphing parabolas and completing the square occur in the last chapter. There is no index or glossary that I could see. Therefore I had to page through the whole text to see where everything was located. All areas of Elementary Algebra that are normally covered did occur somewhere in the text but a person would need to search for it. The part of the text that I liked the most was the excellent problem bank. There is a wide variety of problems, both rote problems and many application problems. I certainly would use this textbook as a resource for problem bank alone if nothing else.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book seems accurate in all the material that is presented. The concepts are presented step-by-step in an easy to follow flow. Common mistakes were also shown side by side the correct mathematical steps. There was one case that parenthesis was used where it would have been more appropriate to use the multiplication sign. Other than that, the text seemed pretty error-free and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The material seemed up- to- date as far as the application problems. The application problems would be easy to update when needed.

Clarity rating: 3

The text was easy to follow as far as understanding. However, I think that some concepts, like square roots and the use of exponents in the first chapter were out of the correct order that they should be. There were many references to use of technology and instructions of how to use that technology. The main problem that I saw was the order in which some of the concepts were introduced and used.

Consistency rating: 5

The text was very consistent in it's framework. Each section start.ed out with Learning Objectives, followed by the material. The material contained a variety of examples explained in great detail. At the end of each section came the Key Takeaways, followed by the Topic Exercises. The problem bank for most sections was huge with some excellent application problems. The answers for the problem bank then followed. Each chapter contained a Review along with a Review Problem Bank. Lastly came a Sample Exam along with the solutions to the Sample Exam.

Modularity rating: 4

The text could easily by divided and reorganized and I would certainly suggest doing so. I also would suggest dropping some concepts that fit better into an Intermediate Algebra text. There is no way that an instructor could cover all this material in one semester. We need to remember that students taking this course have probably not had success in high school and/or have been out of the classroom for so long that some concepts need to be introduced slowly and not rushed through.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

This seems to be a bit of a problem as exponents and square roots normally do not come in the first chapter of an Elementary Algebra textbook to the extent that they were used here. Basic exponent usage and simple square roots are more common in the first chapter. However, an instructor certainly could again pick and choose what they want to use. Otherwise, the logic of other topics seemed to follow the order of other Elementary textbooks.

Interface rating: 2

There is a major problem here with type size in the problem bank. Some problems were easy to read and some problems were in so small a type size that they were hard to make out. Also, when writing fractions the "/" in the fraction of say 1/4 did not come out, all I could see was 1 4. This certainly needs to be fixed as students would not understand at all what the problem was. Also the radical sign came after the number, so it would be 144, square root symbol. Now, this may not show up on everyone's computer like this, but if it was this way on my computer, it would be on someone else's also.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The mathematical terminology was correctly used and did not contain any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The application problems seemed to be culturally relative and diverse. A variety of names, occupations and locations made the problems seem relevant to a variety of cultures.

Comments

I would say that the best part of this text was the use of Learning Objectives, Key Takeaways and the large problem bank. I think the variety of problems in the problem bank were great. The Application problems in particular were well done.

Reviewed by Laurence Stone, Math Instructor, Dakota County Technical College on 6/10/15

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Presently (March 2015) the book has neither table of contents nor index. I had to build my own table of contents by hand before I could settle down to review this book. This, of course, makes a score of 5 impossible. Actually, the book is riddled with so many typesetting errors it is unusable (by students) in its present form. Hopefully this can be remedied soon, because the book has the potential to serve as an excellent reference text.

All of the usual sections are here: real numbers, solving linear equations and inequalities, factoring polynomials, radicals and rational exponents, quadratic equations and graphs. The treatment is thorough and precise, with plenty of warnings about common mistakes, and large exercise sets with answers to the odds provided.

My only concern (aside from the many typesetting errors) is with graphing. Although straight lines and parabolas are covered thoroughly, I see hardly any examples of other kinds of graphs. Instructors who like to showcase a broader array of patterns (such as exponential growth) early in a student's graphing experience will need to supplement.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Mathematical ideas are everywhere most carefully stated, with only one exception that I found. On page 4 it reads: "When studying mathematics, we focus on special sets of numbers. The set of natural (or counting) numbers is combined with zero." What, always? It goes on to define the whole numbers as the natural numbers combined with zero, which of course is the intent of the paragraph, but due to some typographical error or whatever it doesn't quite begin right.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

"At the moment" this material seems timeless.

Clarity rating: 4

Ideas are stated precisely, as in any other mainstream math text. This could make it an excellent, authoritative reference.

For most beginning students, however, precision and lucidity are two different things. Consider, for example, this Key Takeaway for section 6.3: "If a trinomial of the form ax^2 + bx + c factors into a product of two binomials, then the coefficient of the middle term will be the sum of certain products of factors of the first and last terms." I realize it's not a super-advanced sentence; nonetheless, most of my elementary algebra students would struggle to understand what is being said.

Then again, most examples and so on are quite clear about "do this, then do this, but don't do this." At the risk of making math seem like a collection of memorized steps, it does clearly show what needs to be done. But the overall narrative behind the examples is not the best fit for my students, so I cannot give a perfect rating for "clarity/lucid and accessible prose."

Consistency rating: 4

Excellent overall, in the presentation of facts. No complaints there.

I was, however, hoping for a tighter correspondence between the stated learning objectives and the review questions/questions on the sample exams. Just to pick section 9.5, graphing parabolas: finding the maximum/minimum earns a subtitle in this section, and related questions appear in the review and on the sample exam, but it is not one of the stated objectives. Also: one of the stated objectives is to find the vertex by completing the square, but this specific objective is not measured in the review questions or the sample test. Students are asked to find the vertex, certainly, but are not asked to complete the square.

Modularity rating: 4

This book is as "modular" as any other math text I've seen, in the sense that one could skip certain sections towards the ends of the chapters if one felt crunched for time, or even come back to cover them at a later time. But if modularity is considered a strength, I see no reason why this book should score more points than any other.

One non-modular aspect: students will see examples involving functions at the ends of many sections. The instructor could choose to ignore them, of course, but would not have a way to hide them from students' view.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

I already mentioned it's missing its table of contents. Other structural problems: section 4.1 is presented twice, on page 539 and again on page 560; section 4.3 is presented twice, on page 594 and again on page 611. Chapter 10 is not really a chapter but a short appendix with some area and volume formulas. Chapter 7 is missing its title. Many sections (if not most) begin at the bottom of a page.

The typesetting issues are so numerous that the text is actually unusable in its present form (for students, anyway). Fraction bars are missing, exponents are not superscripted, sometimes the radical symbol follows instead of preceding its contents, etc.

Obviously, these errors are "minor" in the sense that it shouldn't take too many days for someone to clean them up. Hopefully this is in progress even as I write this review.

But my next question would be: where are the embedded video examples promised in the preface? Are these also under construction? The .pdf file I was able to download contains no such links or otherwise. It is impossible to assign a high score when I haven't had the chance to see all that is promised.

Looking at the print version, I do like the ordering of topics well enough. None of the chapters have any motivating introductions, though; adding some would be a nice touch.

Interface rating: 3

The only viewing option I have in March 2015 is to download the .pdf file. I tried reading it on screen, but ended up printing it out (4 pages per sheet, double-sided, some trees were spared) to write this review. As mentioned above, I have not been able to view any embedded videos, as promised in the book's preface.

If this were meant to be a print reference, then I might be able to give a high score once the many typesetting issues are resolved; if it is meant to be more than that, then I haven't had a chance to see what it will be.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

It's not the grammar but the typesetting that hurts, as described elsewhere.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I see no issues here.

Comments

I went back and reread the preface. It says this book makes no assumption of prior algebra experience, though it certainly assumes a high proficiency in reading. I also saw, in the section on negative exponents, that it assumes a certain familiarity with the dimensional analysis method of converting units.

It also says this is "by far the best elementary algebra textbook offered under the creative commons license." Well, as described above, the typesetting still needs major cleaning up. With that done, however, I do expect this text could serve as an excellent reference… but then there is the question of whether it will have any embedded videos, and how good those will be.

It claims modularity, but I'm not seeing how this book is any more or less modular than any other math text.

It says it stresses the importance of paper/pencil practice, but I'm not sure what this is referring to. I do remember the author saying that learning to factor polynomials takes a lot of practice and patience, but I don't recall any specific exhortations to write out steps by hand.

Obviously this is a work in progress, and I have not seen the final product. Perhaps the author is fishing for some early feedback. Well, I'd say it's a great start, but later reviews will have to trump mine.

Reviewed by D Bobzien, Mathematics Instructor, Central Lakes College on 6/10/15

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The textbook covers all of the chosen topics very thoroughly.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The math is correct and what it should be.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This book writes math problems using the traditional notation as well as textual notation, so it can be emailed and communicated electronically without a special keyboard or software. This was the first time I have seen this. This is just one example of how I feel the textbook is current but yet has staying power. I can see it being reused for quite a while.

Clarity rating: 4

the book is written so it is easily understood. I felt it was a bit wordy but since it was clear I could deal with that. I also think a few more pictures would enhance the experience.

Consistency rating: 5

Even with modular chapters I found the book to be fairly consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

Chapters can be skipped and it does not hurt the future lessons.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This textbook presents topics in the same order as all other books I have used. This is the organization I would use.

Interface rating: 5

I had only one issue with the textbook's navigation.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not catch any grammar issues--but then grammar is not my forte.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

It is hard to be culturally insensitive in math. I saw no problems with this textbook.

Comments

I like the Key Takeaways and Tips charts the author used. I will probably adopt this book for my Fall 2015 class. I will add comments or re-review this textbook after that.