MHB Elementary Algebra" by Hall & Knight: A Beginner's Guide

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"Elementary Algebra" by Hall and Knight is considered a solid resource for beginners, particularly for its strong focus on fundamental concepts and numerous exercises. Although the book is quite old, dating back to the 1800s, it remains a reasonable starting point for understanding elementary algebra, despite its slightly outdated language and approach. Readers should be aware that it may not fully align with modern curricula, especially regarding calculus-related topics. Additionally, it's recommended to engage deeply with the material by revisiting it multiple times and solving problems thoroughly. Overall, this book can effectively prepare beginners for more advanced mathematical studies.
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how do you find the book "ELEMENTARY ALGEBRA" by Hall and Knight? Is this a good book for a beginner?
 
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Drain Brain said:
how do you find the book "ELEMENTARY ALGEBRA" by Hall and Knight? Is this a good book for a beginner?

I have read this book. It is good based on fundamentals.
 
Drain Brain said:
how do you find the book "ELEMENTARY ALGEBRA" by Hall and Knight? Is this a good book for a beginner?

Hi Drain Brain, :)

Sometime ago this book was used as a standard textbook to teach mathematics in high schools in my country. I think it's pretty good. It has lots of exercises to get familiar with the concepts of elementary algebra. However you should realize that this book is pretty old (written in the 1800s') and the approach it uses might be a little different from modern textbooks. You can find a legitimate pdf copy of the book in archive.org.

https://archive.org/details/elementaryalgeb00kniggoog
 
It's a "reasonable start", even if the language is a bit old-fashioned. There's a bit of "overlap" with what is commonly called "Pre-Calc" these days, but it's more of a thorough exploration of algebra, then it is of functions that the calculus is typically concerned with. So there's still a bit of a "gap" there, but after reading this book, you should be in good shape to start to cross it.

Some advice, not just targeted at this book: reading math is a bit like drinking wine, gulping it down doesn't do it justice. Read it once, read it again just to be sure, and try to work out every problem you can (you can, if you like, skip the ones you can solve in your head, as long as you feel that you COULD solve them, in front of witnesses on a timer, with your life at stake).

Another book I can heartily recommend is THIS one:

Algebra: Israel M. Gelfand, Alexander Shen: 9780817636777: Amazon.com: Books

which is an elementary algebra textbook written by a first-class mathematican. It's rather small size belies the depth of information it covers (as one reviewer gushed: "it closes with a proof of the Cauchy-Schwartz inequality!"). It is much more "modern" in tone.
 
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