Elementary Algebra

Reviewed by Yan Wang, Instructor, Rogue Community College on 1/13/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book covers all the topics of the traditional elementary algebra in details.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I did not find any errors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Examples are very traditional and typical, will last long.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written in clear and simple language, easy for students to understand.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 5

The text can be easily reorganized and realigned throughout the course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Well organized!

Interface rating: 5

The interface is clear, no distortion and not confusing to the readers.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I didn't see any errors in grammar.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book language is not offensive at all.

Comments

1. The font style makes reading the textbook a bit of difficult, perhaps a different font would help.
Questions in sections of "TRY IT", which is after each example, are in light grey, also makes reading the text difficult.
3. I think adding some colors may make the book more visually capturing.

Reviewed by Mike Doyle, adjunct professor, North Shore Community College on 6/3/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

All areas covered where first sectionof each chapter contains an appropriate index for each topic.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Did not notice any errors

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Not too many changes in mathematics. I feel that updates would be easy to implement.

Clarity rating: 3

Sections are too short . I would like to see more and varied examples. One example is when introducing combining like (similar) terms. I also like the use of the distributive property used to introduce the concept, ab+ac=a(b+c)

Consistency rating: 5

No surprises here, I thought each concept was covered.

Modularity rating: 5

Each section is small enough where talented teachers could expand upon each topic.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

I would prefer to see a separate chapter on operations on polynomials preceding the chapter on factoring polynomials. Also the last chapter on simultanous equations I would like to see following the chapter on graphing equations in two unknowns.

Interface rating: 5

Charts and graphs look good and the use use of an equation editor is well used.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I couldn't find any errors in grammer. Most of the sections just consisted on examples where each step was shown without errors as well.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Nothing offensive.

Comments

The text is free so we shouldn't expect glossy colorful pages. I would like to see each section consist of a variety of examples with more than one approach to solve a problem. Many students at this level should see a variety of word problems, applications, of each concept to prepare them for future couses in math.
The format of exercises shouldn't consist of a long endless list where navigating to solutions takes so much time. Could there be a better way to handle this?

Reviewed by Irina Roderick, Associate Professor, College of Marin on 3/19/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text covers all the traditional poics of the Elementary Algebra course.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The text presents the material accurately.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The text is relevant and will not become obsolete any time soon.

Clarity rating: 4

The material is presented in a succint and clear way.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is consistent in terms of the manner of presentation and terminology.

Modularity rating: 4

The text can be easily divided into small sections and used throughout the course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The text is organized and clear.

Interface rating: 4

The text does not appear to have any interface problems.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I haven't been able to detect any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text does not appear culturally insensitive. It presents the material in a way that can be understood by students having various ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Comments

The text can be used to review Elementary Algebra topics before taking Intermediate Algebra or as a text for an Elementary Algebra course.

Reviewed by Emaan Abdul-Majid, Assistant Professor, LaGuardia Community College/ CUNY on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text covers all areas and ideas of a basic Algebra course. It has detailed example problems with solutions and step by step how to find the solution.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content seems to be unbiased and accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This book has information which will not be obsolete. It teaches the basics on how to solve algebra problems which have been used for decades and will continue to be used for decades.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is written clearly in an easily understandable way.

Consistency rating: 5

The book's text is consistently written.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is easily reorganized and realigned. So you can conveniently assign different sections of the book in different order than the chronological order which the book is set up by the authors.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics of the text are presented in a logical fashion.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is clear and lacks any distractions for the reader.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text is written without grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The text is not culturally offensive in any way. It does not discuss races or ethnicities.