Reviews (11)

Spectacular
O.K., I don't even know how to start...this bookis GREAT.Iwas always afraid of everything that involves numbers, but not anymore.
Look & Think no Further or Longer!!
Michael Kelley's books', that is the ones that pertain to both algebra and calculus, are written so well it's nearly to good to be true. If you're like me, you've been looking and nearly afraid to actually buy a book about algebra or calculus because you've also probably spent a ton of money on that so called "teach yourself" series or style only to slam the cover shut and toss it up on a bookshelf.
Great for a quick refresher
I am 30 and decided to return to college.I had to take the college placement exam and so I needed to brush up on my Algebra.This book is great for that.The book started with the basics and moved up with each chapter.I was fun to read and not at all like the boring old textbooks.The only fault I could find in the book is that there were not enough review problems to do.Each chapter was broken down into sections and each section had about 2 algebra problems to complete, with the answers provided in the back of the book.I wish the author would have expanded this section to a minimum of 5 exercises per section so I truly would grasp each section.
Read more

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

Reviews (23)

Perfect!
This text is perfect for advanced undergraduates and those in their first year (or two) of graduate school.The examples are based almost entirely on linear algebra and thereby combine abstract and linear algebra.
Quite simply, the best math book - Ever!
Okay so I guess this review is kind of biased - I've just completed the 2-semester algebra sequence at MIT, being taught by Prof. Artin himself. The course itself was truly fantastic, and throughout the year I have been in utter awe of Prof. Artin - he is without doubt as close to a role-model as I'm ever going to have.
Lack of Explanation and overall disappointing
Frankly, if you use this book, it will be slow going. There is so much to fill in between what Artin covers and what you need to learn to understand the material. I often find myself completely lost in this text (and so do many of the other students in my class). The text and proofs seem to have been trimmed down to the bare minimum, at the cost of the user's understanding. Unlike many texts, in this text you have to understand nearly everything before moving on because nothing is explained or discussed twice (so if you don't like the way it is explained the first time in the text, you are in trouble because that will be your only explanation). Examples are difficult to find -- they are literally within the text, often not even beginning a new paragraph when doing an example. That is, the examples are difficult to find IF there are even examples (there are often times where an example would be extremely useful, but Artin does not provide one, or if he does, glosses over it with little detail). I've leaned a lot on the internet and class notes to get me through my year-long abstract algebra course. Perhaps my mind just isn't meant for abstract algebra, but this is the only math book that I always have difficulties finding answers to my questions and rarely can follow, even after multiple readings. A remark on the problems -- the problems occasionally use terms that the book never even explains or even mentions (leaving you even more confused).
Read more

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

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

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 (1)

A beautiful source of interesting problems
I deeply consider that this is a very stimulating problem book that contains a variety of problems and their solutions.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. Geometry - General    3. Mathematics    4. Problems, exercises, etc    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Trigonometry    7. Elementary geometry & trigonometry    8. Mathematics / Algebra / General   

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

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

Reviews (2)

Perfect Reminder
I took Algebra in college after taking classes like Calculus 3 and Probability and Statistics. It may seem strange, but it was one the smartest things I ever did. Out of high school it seems like there are a lot of rules involved with algebra, but after reviewing those rules with this book, I realized that there were only a few rules that are responsible for all the intricacies of algebra. Having this new grasp on algebra really made classes like Modern Algebra and many computer books seem very intuitive. I no longer struggling figuring out how to simplify, factor or deal with irrationals. I also have a great reference whenever I forget how to deal with inequalities or anything else for that matter. This book is great for someone trying to remaster algebra again of just as a course textbook. Be careful not to buy the extra workbook that comes with this - it isn't really that useful, as the book provides amples of exercises and solutions. If you think you are too "good" to relearn some algebra, I guaruntee that recovering the basics will improve your abilities to do math 10 fold - it worked for me!

Great! A+++
took some time for shipping delivery, used usps and I thought it was going to be UPS but love the book! thanks! i would buy again ... Read more

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

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

Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - General    3. Arithmetic    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Mathematics / General    7. Number theory   

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   

Reviews (3)

Took a course from this book
I took a course out of this book last semester and I suffered greatly.An assignment of 5-10 problems can be expected to take an average student upwards of eight hours.The text is disorganized (as a previous reviewer noted) and more important, overly formal.Mathematical symbology is used to excess, making the theorems and examples nigh impossible for most students to comprehend without guidance or hours of ponderment.In many cases, the examples are peppered with expressions such as "it is obvious that . . ." when the reader may have no idea what Cullen is doing!In one case, a notational convention (D as an operator meaning differentiation) was introduced several chapters before it was defined, and several frequently used symbols and notations are absent from the glossary inside the front cover

A Clear, Practical Synthesis
I had to respond to the student review posted here... Don't Try This at Home
This book was less than satisfactory.The author, Charels G. Cullen, does cover many of the topics in a typical Differential Equations course, but the book is completly unorganized.He provides problems at the begining ofthe first few chapters that one should not be expected to know how to dountil the book is finished.Without an instructor and supplementalmaterial, some of the topics are nearly impossible.In the course I tookwe rarely used it except for homework problems, and the reading we did doneeded detailed explanation the next day.Don't read this unless you haveto for a course. ... Read more

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

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?
Read more

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)

Very good book, worth the price
I got an A in my Linear Algebra class.Part of it may be due to the countless hours upon hours that I studied every week.However, the tools at my disposal helped make the quality of the time worthy.This book is another valueable tool to keep in your toolchest and I'd recommend this as an accompanyment to your class.They do a great job with Vector spaces and Determinants as well as Gaussian elimination.I particularly liked some of the "trick" questions that they stuck in from chapter to chapter (great study aid as many teachers like to stick these types of trick questions).My only complaint is that they prefer to calculate the basis of a row space by non-transposition (whereas our teacher (in our course) used the transposition technique) so I could not really go by that section (thus the **** rather than ***** review) but I can't really fault the author as teachers have their preferences as to how they want their students to calculate certain answers. Good book but without index.
This book is a good complement for any course of Linear Algebra. Outstanding book
This book contains 3000 Solved Problems (duh) for those who learn best by example.If you need to catch up on your linear algebra knowledge, or currently taking a class, this book will take the abstract concepts and lay them out in example.Some of the problems do ask for proofs (1 out of 15 or so) of certain theories.But don't let that scare you, if you don't like proofs.Practicing answering these proofs with the answer right in front of you, will not only help you construct proofs in the future, but also will also help you organize the thought processes and give you a better concept and intuition of the material.Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. Algebra - Linear    3. Algebras, Linear    4. Linear Algebra    5. Mathematics    6. Problems, exercises, etc    7. Reference    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Study Guides    10. Mathematics / Algebra / Linear   

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   

Reviews (1)

Algebra 1
Great text book for school, has helped me a lot. Very self-explanitory. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. Mathematics    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Algebra    5. Study and teaching (Secondary)   

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)

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