Essential Prealgebra Skills Practice Workbook

My husband didn’t have the greatest high school math teacher so this is a good practice book.

Me ha sido muy útil para mi iniciación a las matemáticas

My eldest likes math, but loves worksheets more. A lot of textbooks are cluttered with unnecessary colours, images and asides. This series is totally different. No distractions, no waffling explanations - black and white, good sized font, sensibly formatted, no busy fonts, logical progression from one section to another. Excellent, to-the-point explanations. Every sections includes worked examples and multiple problems for each example increasing in difficulty and complexity through the exercise. Each page has enough space to work the problems - no switching between textbook and workbook which is important for children with ADHD or other learning differences. Full answer key at the back. This is our fourth purchase from Chris' math series. We really appreciate these books - great for children who like maths and want to build confidence through repetition. We will keep purchasing the next workbook as our eldest progresses through her math curriculum.

I just finished all 1,207 (by my count) problems in this book and am putting my pencil down to write the review it deserves. First, this book is deceptive. You might think that you're purchasing a simple workbook with a bunch of problems. In reality, you're also getting a book which organizes and distills the broad collection of topics in prealgebra down into a set of 10 categories, each with subcategories (88 by my count). At the start of each main category there is a page of teaching and explanation. At the start of each subcategory there is a paragraph or two explaining the topic. If necessary, there are references to prior topics which can be used as a preparatory step if you haven't mastered them. After that there are a few examples which walk you through how to solve problems using the techniques. Finally you are given a page or so of sample problems, often increasing in difficulty. Pause for a moment and consider the value of what I wrote. Most books on the subject breeze through large sections of material, or mix and match subject matter. The student is then left with a potentially confusing jumble of topics which they have to sort out in their head (if they're ambitious), or make a mind map or outline to try to organize themselves. I know because I've got several other algebra books sitting next to me which I'm outlining to understand them better. This book, in a beautifully simple, plain text, easy to read 8x11 format, has about one subtopic per page. Therefore you can flip open to any page and immediately review a topic. This book is very well organized and clear. So many books today get lost in fancy designs, flyouts, bubbles, cartoon characters and every other kind of distraction. Whatever happened to easy-to-read text on a plain white background so you can concentrate on the matter at hand instead of having all kinds of attention-demanding design gimicks in this age of distraction? Once you get to the sample problems it's time to roll up your sleeves and grab a bunch of pencils and scrap paper because Dr. McMullen intends to put you to work. "It takes practice to learn math," he says quietly on his author page video. Indeed! By my count, 146 pages of practice. He does remind us in the Introduction however: "Practice makes permanent, but not necessarily perfect. Check the answers in the back..strive to learn from any mistakes." I sometimes hurried through some of the easier problems and was aggravated when I learned I made simple mistakes. But I always circled them and made sure I understood the nature of my error. This is a valuable lesson from the world of music. If you don't discover and correct a mistake early, you'll end up repeating it and soon the cement hardens. In brain science this is called "neurons that fire together, wire together." So be precise, double-check your work and make sure you understand the reasons for any mistakes. The Introduction also says "Think your way through math." Sadly, so many of the "idiot" types of books strive to dumb math down by giving little tricks and tips in order to simply solve problems, pass a test, and move quickly on to the next subject. This has long term consequences. I have an Algebra book sitting here which uses that style of "teaching" and, shockingly, it doesn't even use the word "reciprocal" in the entire book. It says simply, "To solve, invert the fraction." How can someone possibly come out of an algebra course and not know what a reciprocal is? That's the result of dumbing math down into a series of tips and tricks to solve problems, rather than learning how to think, and learning the definition of terms. It is clear the author of this book has a passion for teaching the right way; to lay down a solid foundation for later studies. And the volume of problems is indicative of someone who believes in effort. There are also plenty of tricky problems mixed in just to make sure you've had your coffee first. As far as accuracy, I solved every problem in the book at least once. I found 3 very minor issues, frankly more akin to typos, such as an extraneous negative sign in an example. I've already notified the author, who is very responsive. I suspect they will all be corrected by the time you purchase the book. Clearly a lot of time, thought and effort went into this book. I have a growing collection of books on the topic and this no-nonsense, get down to basics volume is at the top of the stack. I would add that I think it's important to have a variety of books so one can compare and contrast different material and presentation techniques, and to ensure things aren't missed. In closing I'll add that I don't know the author and received nothing for this review. I wrote it to help others make purchase decisions, because good books deserve to get recognition on Amazon and become more widely discovered and used to positive effect.

Après avoir échouer à maitriser tous les fondamentaux d'algèbre durant ma scolarité et maintenant adulte. Je me lui laissé tenté par une approche anglophone réputée pour être moins abstraite que les méthodes francophones davantage portées sur la rigueur formelle. Ce livre permet de consolider / apprendre les fondamentaux essentiels pour aller plus loin. Ayant eu des lacunes sur toutes mes années lycées, j'ai pu apprendre des choses qui me manquaient depuis de nombreuses années. Il est l'heure de voir si cela va permettre de naviguer à travers le prochain livre "Algebra" sans soucis grâce à tout ça.