Bob Blitzer's books are highly acclaimed for their well-conceived, relevant applications and meticulously annotated examples. This highly anticipated revision achieves the difficult balance between coverage and motivation, while helping readers develop strong problem-solving skills. This book provides readers with the skill building and practice that is so crucial as well as the applications and technology necessary to foster an appreciation of the myriad uses of mathematics. This book covers a wide range of topics including set theory, logic, number theory, algebra, consumer mathematics and financial management, geometry, measurement, probability theory and statistics. For anyone interested in refreshing his/her fundamental math skills.
Yes, I'm adding this math book to my reading log. Why, you may ask?
BECAUSE THIS BOOK CAUSED ME TREMENDOUS AMOUNTS OF PAIN AND SUFFERING DURING THIS SEMESTER AND IT CAN OFFER ME AT LEAST *SOMETHING* NICE IN RETURN.
Also, because the author gave so much background information at the beginning of each chapter, it felt like reading an entire story BEFORE teaching me anything math-related (and sometimes, he used examples from the text, so it wasn't like I could skip over the anecdotes from hell).
Very wide in scope, this is an applied algebra course aimed, in the curriculum I was assigned to teach it, at liberal arts majors and future teachers. I liked most the focus on mathematically understanding loans in interest in the context of practical life decisions.
I only did three or so chapters from this book, so i cant review the book as a whole, but from what chapters i did, this book is pretty good for a math book. Takes subjects that could be confusing and really breaks them down, making it easy to understand. Definitely good for people who aren't the greatest at math.
Math isn't my most favorite topic of study, but this textbook, along with MyMathLab, helped the learning process to not be as difficult as I anticipated.