College Algebra: Graphs and Models by Marvin L. Bittinger,David J. Ellenbogen,Judith A. Beecher

.... but probably not the best, either.

I purchased this book for an online college algebra course. The college book store only sold the book with MyMathLab included... for four times what I paid for a used copy in good condition on Amazon! (We did not use MyMathLab at all, by the way. Check with your teachers to see if this is really necessary, as some colleges get kickbacks from textbook publishers for only selling new books, proprietary versions of books, or books with unnecessary access codes.)

I'm terrible at math. Add to that the fact that my online course included no video lectures, little discussion, and almost no help from the teacher, and what it added up to is essentially an independent study course. The tests were online, but that's about it. The main resource for my class was this textbook...... and I got an A.

So, by reading through the book and working out the odd numbered problems, I DID learn quite a bit. (The book includes the answers to odd-numbered problems only... This is pretty typical of math books.) However, I had to look up additional examples and information on the Internet in order to understand many topics. I do think the book could be improved in the following ways:

1) The book combines steps in several places, making it difficult or confusing to figure out how the author got from one step to another. This is particularly true in the sections about finding the squares and matrices (chapters 3 and 6). I would like it much better if the book went through the problems step-by-step.

2) It uses unconventional approaches to solving problems. My husband is working on a doctorate in engineering. He's very good at math and has a lot of experience using algebra. He tried to explain to me how to do some problems when I had questions. His explanations weren't much help, though, because they were totally different from the book. When he looked at the book, he said he had never seen problems done the way they are done in this book. That isn't necessarily a bad thing - just because an approach is not often taught does not mean it is wrong; it just means that you may have to learn different ways to solve similar problems in other classes.

3) Formulas and equations are sometimes difficult to find. The text is somewhat dense and specific information is not always well-highlighted. While theorems are set aside in colored boxes, equations are not. It would be nice if there were an index of formulas, theorems, and equations. Also, later chapters in the book occasionally reference topics from previous chapters. It would be VERY helpful if the author would cite the chapter and section where the topic was previously discussed in the book and if the book would re-print all relevant formulas in the later sections of the book. Instead, if I needed to use a formula from chapter 3 to do a problem in chapter 7,for example, I had to scan through several pages of dense material in chapters 2, 3, and 4 to find the necessary formula.

Pretty awful about how bad it is at explaining things. I've needed so much extra help elsewhere since I couldn't figure out a lot of stuff in the textbook due to the amount of stuff it left out (not trying to brag, but I have a 3.9 GPA, so imagine how hard a student getting Cs would have with this). It seems like it will just omit information that it assumes you will already have figured out on your own. Well, I didn't. Bittinger seems like he'd make a pretty lousy teacher.

Great book. Lots of graphing, and the book demonstrated how to do that in the early chapters. Also, there are youtube videos that help with how to use calculators. All the odd problems are answered in the back of the book, plus all the questions to the review and tests on each chapter. The even problems are nearly identical to the odd problems, so they are nice practice. Any time a calculator can be used to answer a problem to a graph or complex problem, the book indicates that it can and what the window on the calculator should present.

Awesome! Thank you so much. Arrived in a timely manner and was EXACTLY what I needed for my College Algebra class at college (though I saved some $$ not buying it from the college book store). The code worked... no problems whatsoever. Packaged nicely. The graphing calculator book is semi-helpful (no fault of the seller's)...it's more of a use it or lose it participation thing. Use TI83 with the coordinating loose textbook you'll make your algebra (graphing) life much better. I'm fortunate enough to have a fantastic team of math professors that are very helpful.

Text book for my daughter. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars just because of the ridiculous prices for college textbooks. They were a ripoff when I was in college 35 yrs ago and they still are. Why do they need to have a different College Algebra book every year. What changes in Algebra???

Since my class required this book, I didn't want to take the gamble of not having the MyMathLab so I bought this book new. Pristine condition as expected and code was unscratched and available. Come to find out my teacher didn't use the MyMathLab portion of the textbook, so I could have bought the used book. But that means more value when i trade it in I guess.

The book arrived in great condition. There were little-to-no signs of wear, and I was able to return it at the end of the semester and got some money back. I only gave it four stars, because I can never honestly say "I love it" about a College Algebra textbook. If you have to buy one, however, this one is in good condition.

It's a book. Nothing much to it. Required for school so I can't complain lol.