George Milauskas

Geometry for Enjoyment - Challenge

4 stars (a teacher's perspective) - I have taught an honors high school geometry class for almost 11 years using this book. It has its strengths and weaknesses, but I've been quite happy with it. First its strengths: it presents geometry in a mathematician's manner, starting with a few postulates and advancing one theorem at a time. For example, it doesn't tell you that the angles of a triangle add to 180 degrees until it discusses the parallel postulate on which that theorem is based. It proves everything that the authors think is within the understanding of a strong high school geometry student. The problems range from easy to very hard, with a strong emphasis on proof in the first chapters. Students are expected to solve some of the problems creatively, which is why some students who reviewed this book are frustrated by it. This means the book does a good job of presenting math the way it really is (guess, experiment, prove) instead of what students think it is (apply a formula, get the answer). The problems without solutions mentioned in the other reviews are few and far between indeed. Its weaknesses: the book really is intended for more self-motivated students that you normally find in high school. I imagine that this book might be off-putting for kids who don't really care about math. I don't like how the information at the beginning of the book is divided into chapters, but I just clump the information differently when I teach it. I think that some of the proofs left out of the book are quite accessible to motivated students, and I teach them. I have also been able to teach theorems beyond the scope of the book, which suggests that the book could have gone into more detail. Overall, I recommend this book for a geometry course for motivated and bright high school students. I do not recommend it for self-study or for very basic courses. I agree with the other reviewers that it requires a competent teacher, but that's because no book can teach...
Mcdougal Littell-Houghton Mifflin :: Science&Mathematics :: Mathematics :: Geometry - General :: Robert Whipple :: George Milauskas :: Richard Rhoad :: :: Geometry for Enjoyment - Challenge