2 stars (I'm glad I'm the teacher and not the student!!!) - Wow. This book is bad. I have to use this book -- chosen by the department -- for a class I'm teaching. The fact that the book is a bad choice for this class is not the fault of the book -- I was given the text with instructions to teach chapters 1 - 4, 10, and 11, and then to use extra material for topics not covered in the book -- clearly, this text does not fit the class, and either the course should be redesigned, or a different text should be chosen. Anyway, a first glance was enough to see how miserably this book is organized. The first chapter covers: 1.1 Coordinate Systems and Graphs 1.2 Linear Inequalities 1.3 The Intersection Point of a Pair of Lines 1.4 The Slope of a Straight Line 1.5 The Method of Least Squares So, section 1.2 is dependent on 1.3 which is dependent on 1.4 -- isn't the order a bit backwards? And then in 1.5, you're on to a topic which is a huge leap in difficulty from learning how to plot a point on Cartesian coordinates from 1.1. Unbelievable. This type of interdependence carries on through all of the sections of the book that I've looked at (admittedly not all). It seems that one must already know the material from further ahead in the book in order to use the book to learn the material in the given chapter. I believe that by this Eighth Edition of the book, the authors should be removed from it -- it should be given to students using this text without already knowing it all, and let those students revise and edit the continuity of the material. Matrix notation is introduced, virtually without explanation of either how to use it or why. Examples are given that attempt to show how to perform some operations on a TI-83 (or similar) calculator, but these efforts fail miserably. Frankly, I'm having a hard time even figuring out what it is that this book is trying to teach -- and I already understand the material! If, however, the goal of the book is to confuse stud... Prentice Hall :: Mathematics & General :: Science&Mathematics :: Mathematics :: Finite Mathematics :: Applied :: Martha J Siegel :: David I Schneider :: Larry J Goldstein :: :: Finite Mathematics and Its Applications
4 stars (No problem being used as a finite math text) - This book is not nearly as bad as the other reviews indicate. I teach a course in finite mathematics at the college level and I examined it for possible adoption as a textbook. While it is not the best text I have seen, so I will not be using it, the quality is just below that of the book I use. Therefore, I would have no trouble using this book in my class. The coverage in college courses in finite mathematics is standard and this book adheres to those standards. Topics are introduced via worked examples; there are exercises at the ends of the sections and review questions at the end of the chapters. The writing is clear, and the explanations are thorough. Solutions to the odd numbered exercises and all of the review exercises are included. While I hesitate to strongly recommend this book as a text, there is no delay in saying that it is one of the better options available. 1 stars (Finite Mathematics=Infinite Frustrations) - I would give this thing -10 stars or more if it were an option from the pull-down menu. The text is little more than a workbook; it has little explanation to go along with the problems you will get assigned as homework. I attend a large university so compounding this problem is the level of math this text is for, freshmen. Freshman classes are taught by "lecturers", or graduate students who, while very knowledgeable of their field, have little or no teaching experience so prove to not be able to effectively fill in the numerous blanks this book leaves. Also, these size of these classes tend to be in the hundreds and with the lecturer himself/herself being a student as well, can not devote the time needed to teach this subject because of the strains their own course loads put on them. Also this book claims that it "aims to provide students with the quantitative skills needed for their chosen fields and to lay the foundation for more advanced courses in mathematics."(qtd. by Amazo... Brooks Cole :: Mathematics & Applied :: Science&Mathematics :: Mathematics :: Applied :: Soo T Tan :: :: Finite Mathematics for the Managerial- Life- and Social Sciences (with CD-ROM and 1Pass for iLrn and
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