Reviews for Forgotten algebra

The average rating for Forgotten algebra based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-12-28 00:00:00 Gerson Enamorado THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE SECOND EDITION, PUBLISHED IN 1994. I don't hate math. I would say I am at least alright at it. Nothing stellar; but not utterly horrible. It pains me to give this book two stars. The overall concept of the book is great, and it might have actually worked if they would have better proofed their solutions and work. Generally, people good at this type of math don't need this type of text. The definitions, descriptions, and overall methods flow nicely. However, a good few handfuls of solutions and examples are incorrectly worked. For instance, in a word problem of Unit 7, they have an example word problem & solution: "Three times a number minus 2." and reveal the solution incorrectly as "3x + 2." Additionally, the text occasionally disagrees with solutions shown in the back of the book which differ from the initial question (such as an added or missing exponent), missing practice problems with answers to the missing problem in the solution (Unit #14 is missing practice problem 6 entirely), or incorrectly deduced answers. For example, on Exercise 19 of Unit 19: Factoring Problem 21. 2xy^2 - 54xy + 100 [Reviewer's Note: Goodreads' format does not appear to support superscripts.] Incorrect solution to problem 21. 2x(y^2 - 27y +50) Where is the additional x factored from out of 100??? At best, only a 2 may be factored out from the 100, or the solution will look something like: 2[x(y^2 - 27y) + 50] For the person trying to brush up on their skill with little confidence, this book would only bring further confusion if they became hung up on these problems. Someone with good confidence and experience in algebra should be able to recognize the shortcomings of these mistakes and could learn from it efficiently as broken down as the examples and solutions are. A better 95% is well-written with correct answers and good definitions. For people trying to (re)learn and brush-up on their skills with less practice or confidence is part of my reasoning for rating the text only 2 instead of 3 stars. The other is rushed publishing with poor proofreading.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-08-05 00:00:00 Gabriel Eddy There are several problems with this book. As several others have stated, the book treats most topics just a shade too lightly. If you were originally good at math or have taken it somewhat recently it shouldn't be too much of a problem, but as a self-teaching course it's missing a little in the explanation department. This is mostly a problem, however due to the numerous errors in the book. You see, the practice problems are not worked out in the back of the book. The "example" problems are worked out in the chapter as you go along, and the "real" problems are worked out in the answer section at the back of the book. However, the "practice" problems contain the answers right next to the questions, but no step-by-step walk through to help you figure out where your mistake is in case you get the practice problem wrong. While that might be merely frustrating under normal circumstances, when you compare this to the fact that the book is still full of errors, it can be come infuriating. I kept getting answers "wrong" and it wasn't until I went to a friend of mine with my notebook and tears of anger in my eyes that I was finally told *I* was right--the book was wrong. An easy solution to this is to include a corrections section on the publishers website. Based on the authors' semi-aggressive comments posted in the amazon.com review section of this book, one can imagine there might be some resistance to admitting to errors in the book. Until Barron's or the author admits their mistakes and have a corrections section on their website, I say avoid the headache and get a different book.