Algebra I - Student Edition

Paul Foerster is a name synonymous with math. He has not only taught math, he has a degree in chemical engineering and a Masters in mathematics along with the honor of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching. He has written the successful Algebra 2 and Trigonometry course that is to be used following Harold Jacobs Elementary Algebra and Geometry: Seeing, Doing, Understanding. Paul Foerster has also written his own Algebra 1, which is the same great quality as his other math courses.

This text is a one year, high-school algebra course that the author used in his own classroom. The first part of the book leads up to the Quadratic Formula by mid-year; this is a break from a more traditional sequence. As a result, students are able to work more realistic word problems using decimals. The second part of the book covers expressions with two variables, harder factoring problems, algebraic fractions, radical equations, and inequalities. This book is in its third edition and now includes a chapter on probability, scattered date, and linear functions, which wasn't included in the previous edition. Chapters, in order, are: expressions and equations, operations with negative numbers, distributing: axioms and other properties, harder equations, some operations with polynomials and radicals, quadratic equations, expressions and equations containing two variables, linear functions/scattered data/probability, properties and exponents, more operations with polynomials, rational algebraic expressions, radical algebraic expressions, inequalities, functions, and advanced topics. Each chapter begins with an introduction to the topic, a visual example, an objective for that section, and exercises. Some chapters include oral practice, but all examples are shown in a step-by-step fashion for thorough understanding. The chapter wraps up with a chapter review and test, and a final review and examination rounds out the text. The back of the book includes reference materials such as a table of square roots, table of trigonometric functions, glossary, answers to selected problems, indices, and a skills handbook. The skills handbook is a reference section for basic skills such as problem solving strategies, the four basic functions, fractions/decimals/percents, line and circle graphs, and spreadsheets.

The Solutions Manual contains all worked out problems, step-by-step, for the exercise sets, oral practice sets, chapter reviews, chapter tests, and the final review and examination that are found in the student text.