Algebra Survival Guide Second Edition

"A Conversational Handbook for the Thoroughly Befuddled." Yup, that's what it's like, alright. Just like a friend to help you through those "hard times" in math. This book kindly takes you by the hand and incrementally, step-by-step and question by question, teaches you the whys and hows of algebra. The book is even formatted to appeal to algebraically turned-off students, sympathetic to their predicament, but ready to "deal with it". The self-teaching, self-paced text has received accolades from students, teachers and publications ranging from Home Education Magazine to The Washington Times. Every page, or bite-sized "mini-lesson" is presented in question and answer format. There are five "types" of pages (designated by muted graphic): Mind Munchies (introduce/explain concepts), Bare Bones (information to memorize cold), Step by Step (how to do it), Pitfall (common mistakes/misunderstandings to avoid), and Target Practice (practice problems) plus QuikCheck problems (boxes on these pages with just a few problems to make sure students grasp the concept taught on the page). These are gathered into 12 content sections: Properties, Sets of Numbers, Positive & Negative Numbers, Order of Operations & Like Terms, Absolute Value, Exponents, Radicals, Factoring, Cancelling, Equations, the Coordinate Plane, and Word Problems. The new 2nd Edition of this book also includes a final chapter on Advanced Algebraic Word Problems (additional questions and solutions for this chapter are not found in the 1st edition workbook, but links are provided to find this material online). Altogether they constitute a complete Algebra I course. You can use this book as an Algebra I text (especially good for math- or algebra-phobic students) or as a comprehensive reference for students who are using another algebra program, but have difficulty understanding certain concepts.