Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. General    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Algebra   

Reviews (2)

Great but with a few flaws
Overall, this book is great. Everything is pretty clear and it makes algebra II almost easy. However, there are many typos I found, like forgetting a negative, or using a wrong variable. but otherwise, it's awesome!

An Excellent Review or Preparatory Book For Algebra II
This book really helped me prepare for Algebra II. With the help of this book, I had a 97% in the first semester and a 94% in the second. Then at the end of the year, this was a great tool in reviewing for the final. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - General    3. Algebra.    4. Book Notes    5. College Entrance    6. Outlines, syllabi, etc    7. Study Aids    8. Study Guides    9. Mathematics / Algebra / General    10. Study & learning skills   

Reviews (2)

I agree
This math book is repetitive and redundant. They give you a vague lesson and then forty exact questions.

This math book.
It is really horrible. Almost everyday in my math class me or my class finds something mathmatically wrong. Definitions are very very unclear. For Example It says the beging point for a ray is an endpoint. That can be confusing to someone unfamilar to rays. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. Geometry - General    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics   

Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. Mathematics   

Reviews (1)

Everyone has to start some where.
I do not know about you. But I can study math a lot better if the book has a hard cover. This first chapter assumes you are coming from ground zero and is good to read just to brush up or see if there is anything new, that you missed originally. There is a smooth transition and a gradual complexity as you go from the fundamentals through the subject. Now some people will complain that it is not all practical or applied. This was not designed as a course for practical or applied. However it sure helps when reading other books tat can only explain tings in at least rudimentary math. Even the fundamentals of trig are needed to follow The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski ISBN: 0316109339. Now I call that practical. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - General    3. Mathematics    4. Plane trigonometry    5. Pre-Calculus    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Trigonometry    8. Elementary geometry & trigonometry    9. Euclidean geometry    10. Mathematics / General   

Reviews (4)

My Best Math Book
This is definitely one of my best math books. The main feature of this book is that the readers feel very easy to follow the provided concepts and understand what is important. I really don't know any other book as good as this one. Probably only David C. Lay's "Linear Algebra and Its Applications" can compete with this one. I truly recommend anyone who studies modern algebra to take a look at this. Good luck!

thats how math books should be written!!! (but plz, change that price there)
It is surely one of the books I most enjoyed!!
An excellent introduction to higher mathematics
I thoroughly enjoyed my modern algebra class, with an excellent professor and this excellent book. The book is very clearly written, and the concepts of sets, groups, rings, fields, and number systems are explained with detail. This is especially important since my summer research in number theory requires an understanding of these algebraic structures. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Advanced    2. Algebra - General    3. Algebra, Abstract    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Algebra    7. Mathematics / Advanced   

Reviews (3)

One of the WORST textbooks I ever used
This book sucks at explaining, half the examples in this book just refer you to other examples/exercises that you have to complete yourself. HOW DOES THIS HELP IF YOU HAVE TO DO THE PROBLEM YOURSELF??!? Half the practice problems are theoretical questions that do not help you in understanding the concept whatsoever. The only thing it does is confuse and frustrate you more. Whoever uses this textbook to teach is obviously incompetent and/or has not looked it over at all.

A math book
This isn't the easiest linear text I've scene.This also isn't the hardest.The book has a ton of applications, which is good if you're an applied math, engineering, or science major.If your interests are in pure math the applications are still a nice little side note.The book's explanations are explained as clearly as possible without giving up any rigor.At first I didn't like the book, but after looking at several other linear textbooks I realized that these authors did a good job of explaining a difficult topic.

Best math book I've ever had
This book is a fabulous resource... explains things in as clear a way as Linear Algebra can be.If you want deeper understanding, many concepts are described in more depth, and most proofs are given in detail.It's notfilled with cartoons and useless pictures like some textbooks, but clear,concise explanations of what turns out to be an interesting and fairlysimple area of mathematics. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra - Linear    2. Algebras, Linear    3. Linear Algebra    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Mathematics / Algebra / General   

Reviews (3)

Excellent work
We used this book to prove a theorem in our studies that is directly related to my PhD thesis on spatial data mining and spatial statistics. This book is a master-piece.
Wonderful Book
This is one of my favorite books in my library on this subject. Also I have used this book for my class as main textbook along with "Iterative Methods for Solving Linear and Nonlinear Equations" by C. T. Kelley , which is another SIAM book.
Great Book
This is a great book for this subject.The book is easy to follow and Saad does a wonderful job ofillustrating with examples.This is a great textbook or a book for reference.This book does a particularly good jobwith Krylov methods and does a reasonable job with preconditioning. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra - Linear    2. Differential equations, Partia    3. Differential equations, Partial    4. Iterative methods (Mathematics    5. Iterative methods (Mathematics)    6. Linear Programming    7. Mathematics    8. Matrices    9. Numerical solutions    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Sparse matrices    12. Algebra    13. Applied mathematics    14. Mathematics / Mathematical Analysis   

Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. Mathematics    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Mathematics / Algebra / General   

Reviews (7)

Textbook industry: Use 1/3 of book, Respend money for same darn thing
First, I wouldn't say Blitzer's books are as great as hyped...a decent portion of explanation was wordy, convoluted and confusing. I mostly stopped reading the book and only took notes of the teacher's explanations.
Excellent Book!
This book teaches a real understanding of the concepts, not just memorization or how to enter the data into a calculator.I am returning to college after a 27ish year hiatus, and needless to say, needed some brushing up.
Great Math Textbook
I used this book for an accelerated Algebra/Trig class at the college level.I found this book to be one the best math books I have ever encountered.When examples are given in the text it goes step by step and for most, explanations of what is being done.Other texts that I've used have skipped steps and left you wondering how did they get from A to Z?
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Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - General    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Textbooks    6. Trigonometry    7. Elementary geometry & trigonometry    8. Mathematics / Algebra / General   

Reviews (5)

Choose your edition carefully
This is a great book.It's the place where modern number theory begins.It's also well enough written that it's enjoyable to read today.
Not bad for 204 years old.
Gauss wrote Disquisitiones between 1795 and 1801. If I can read and understand Clarke's translation in less time than it took Gauss to write the original, I will be doing well. The mathematics has not been superseded and the historical aspect is extremely valuable.

Professor
It is the best book for people who takes mathematics seriously ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. General    3. Mathematicians And Their Works    4. Mathematics    5. Number theory    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Theory Of Numbers    8. Algebra    9. Mathematics / Algebra / General    10. Mathematics / General   

Reviews (1)

Great Book! if......
This is a GREAT book for studying and reviewing algebra 2, but if you have not taken algebra, or if you took algebra and couldnt grasp most topics without going back to your textbooks to remember something, then you may want to get algebra for dummies to review, this book begins with a slight amount of review from algebra 1, but it will definetly not each you all of algebra 1 topics. I bought this book to study algebra 2 during the summer so I wont have to worry so much next year and ive learned alot from this book, great for dummies book I recomend it completely. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - General    3. General    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Mathematics / Algebra / General   

Reviews (3)

Making Introductory Algebra Easy to Learn
I am 43 years old and needed to take algebra to finish my AS degree. I have not taken an algebra class in 30 years. This book was the required textbook for my class.
Prentice Hall-Excellent Book, lousy program
When a consumer purchases a product, they expect to get what they paid for. This belief is only strengthened when one purchases a product designed for self-improvement, especially if the product is one targeted at educators and students. Prentice Hall's Interactive Math: Beginning Algebra is a severe letdown... this software/textbook bundle is intended for students who are a)in college and b)trying to understand the basics of algebra so that they can continue on with their education and move to the next level. The product fails in two categories; the program itself, the 'installation' guide, and Prentice Hall's servers. To begin with, the installation setup is a joke. Unlike most programs that begin installation the moment the cd has loaded in the drive, users have to locate the add/delete program function in their directory, then click to start and follow the directions. As a long-time computer user, this is not a problem I had, however for the majority of people who have a hard time using computers (and they were the majority in the class I enrolled in which used this program)-this is a daunting task. This fact is compounded by the two installation manuals found in the box (both different). The second issue with program itself is that it is bug-ridden. More often than not, when a correct answer is entered, it is marked as 'incorrect'. The program is set up so that if the test portion of each chapter is not completed to a passing percentage (in our case, the percentage was set at 80%, which would be one incorrect answer out of five)one cannot advance to the next section. Now imagine for a moment getting all five answers correct, being told -you- answered all five incorrectly (because it shows the 'correct' answer under the one you submitted)and having to wait until the teacher can clear the error and mark all your answers correct. Now imagine a whole class having that same problem. It only gets worse when you realize that the classwork is also done at home (the whole course is online and can partially be done at home). The teacher can only do so much, so in the end you can't blame him or her. The blame is on Prentice Hall, and the fact that they clearly did not test this product and clear up the bugs before it was released on the market. The third problem with the product- it's technical support and the servers used to transmit uploaded and downloaded information (since the program itself requires the user to be online to open the program)is by far the worst part. Not only did they shut down their servers (repeatedly) for 'maintenance' at peak times, but students recieved numerous error messages while the system was up and running. Between socket errors and javascript problems, it was next to impossible to upload, download, or startup the program. The tech support number given in the textbook/software bundle- a number which was supposed to be there for students to call 24hrs in regards to assistance was useless after 9pm -even though peak hours for the system ofter were at night, when most of the people taking this class (who chose it because it was 'distance learning' and flexible)were coming home from work and getting ready to work on their classwork online. The teacher for the class eventually gave his students the -actual- 24hr number midway through the term, however it was after many of us had gone through quite a bit of hassle. In honesty, the only valuable thing about this product, is the actual textbook that comes with it. The textbook mirrors the program, explanation for explanation- and provides problems for the student to work out on their own... I shelled out for the whole package. Expect to see Prentice Hall either discontinue this product, or pull it off the market only to reintroduce it later after they work out it's inherent problems. Until then, please, do not buy this product.

It does not explain a thing!
This book is confusing and gives bad examples. It does not go over how to do each step well and is hard to understand. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - Elementary    3. Algebra - General    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Textbooks    7. Mathematics / Algebra / General   

Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - General    3. Mathematics    4. Pre-Calculus    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Trigonometry    7. Euclidean geometry    8. Mathematics / General   

Subjects:  1. Algebraic topology    2. Applied    3. Geometry - General    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Topology    7. Algebra    8. Mathematics / Applied   

Reviews (6)

Difficult for undergrads
I think the term "undergraduate" is a bit misleading.I think you would have had to have at least one course in linear algebra and abtract algebra to truly appreciate this book.I read it over a summer (as a master's student who lacked any coursework in linear algebra) - kind of as an independent project, and I found it to be very easy to understand.Then again, I had just taken abstract algebra.There were a couple parts that I found challenging though.I love it when he says that the proof or rest of the proof is "trivial" and unnecessary to write.I have heard he does this in many of his books.Overall great book if you have some background.

Solid piece of work
Like in other math books by Lang, the theory of Linear Algebra is presented in an axiomatic way, the best way of presenting since The Elements of Euclid. The way in which the theory is presented adds to the beauty. I have read this book as a refresher for Linear Algebra, about 20 years after the completion of a master's degree in an exact science. For me the level was perfect. If you have no experience with Linear Algebra beyond high school, you must first read "Introduction to Linear Algebra" by Lang or some other introductory course. The book under review does not talk about basics like Gauss-elimination. I have seen remarkably few typos. Some cross-references to theorems in other chapters were wrong, though. In all: a very good book and well worth the money.

Serge Lang is a Very Gifted Expositor
Serge Lang is a very gifted expositor. I've read the reviews saying that his books are notorious for their "dryness". At least as concerns this book - that couldn't be less true.Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra - Linear    2. Algebras, Linear    3. Linear Algebra    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Mathematics / Algebra / Linear   

Reviews (2)

Good Book For Algebra Basics/Review
This book is an excellent companion for basic review of algebra concepts. Young people may find it useful, but older adults will also find it useful for a good review if returning to school. This book goes over the basic algebra concepts. It gets more difficult in the future with other books, but if you are looking to review the concepts, you won't go wrong here. Best if used in a basic algebra review course. Good luck

plesant suprise
the book sent to be was new and it was a teacher's edition so i had all the answers to the questions and the steps outlined ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Arithmetic    3. General    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Mathematics / General   

Reviews (2)

an excellent treatment
We used this book in an advanced undergraduate/early graduate class in computer algebra.The book provides a concise and rigorous, but very readable introduction to computational algebra theory, with algorithms written in pseudo code. Clear and understandable, but some bugs
I found this book very useful as a reference while writing a smallcomputer algebra system.It's a definate must-have for all the hordes ofpeople out there who are rewriting subsets of Maple, Mathematica, etc.Theexplanation of the theory is relatively clear and helpful so that anot-so-theory-inclined person (such as myself) can understand the material. The cost of such clarity is a loss of some conciseness so someone wholives and breathes abstract algebra may desire a more esoteric book (likeWinkler's). The biggest flaw of the book are the poorly debuggedalgorithms.Almost every algorithm presented in the book has some sort ofminor flaw with serious reprecussions on correctness.This results in muchfrustration if you're actually trying to implement the algorithms. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - General    3. Algorithms    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer Mathematics    6. Computer Science    7. Computers    8. Data processing    9. Mathematics    10. Computers / Computer Science    11. Computers-Computer Science    12. General Theory of Computing    13. Image processing    14. Mathematics / Algebra / General   

Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. Mathematics    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Algebra    5. Mathematics / Algebra / General   

Editorial Review

When Andrew Wiles of Princeton University announced a solution of Fermat's last theorem in 1993, it electrified the world of mathematics. After a flaw was discovered in the proof, Wiles had to work for another year--he had already labored in solitude for seven years--to establish that he had solved the 350-year-old problem. Simon Singh's book is a lively, comprehensible explanation of Wiles's work and of the star-, trauma-, and wacko-studded history of Fermat's last theorem. Read more

Reviews (227)

Great Book, but I ordered a $3.60 used copy, you sent a new one
If used books are not available, why post them and pretend they are available? You sent a $15.15 new copy instead of the one I ordered and never responded when I asked why? Corporate Philosophy: Times are Hard be as greedy as possible. I won't be using Amazon again.
Delightful, light, easy to read history of number theory
Haven't finished this book yet, but so far it's been great.Good, from a layman's perspective, history of number theory beginning just after the dinosaur's roamed the earth and continuing to the modern day with the focus being on Fermat, the enigma, and his Last Theorem.Well worth the read for anyone interested in the "magic" of numbers.

Bad at math? This book won't help
Bought this book thinking that it might be the key to opening my brain to math. I'm bad at math. So I've been reading every subject surrounding it hoping to grasp an understanding of what it is and maybe have that "eureka" moment. But it didn't happen.
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Subjects:  1. Fermat's last theorem    2. History & Philosophy    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Mathematics / History