Improve Algebra Skills: Software and Games for Juniors

[graycolor]

I'm a junior taking Electrical Engineering courses, so far I've done pretty well, but now I've noticed more and more classes are really testing my algebra skills. I thought I was pretty good, but I guess I thought wrong. I want to know if there is a software/game software that helps with tricky algebra problems and improves my mental calculation capabilities. I'm really slow when dealing with calculations in the head.

Example of tricky algebra: 2^3^5, ln(1), d/dx(lnx), ln(4)^3, etc. I don't really remember how to deal with these types of problems.

Links to sites, recommendations for algebra games/software would be great.

Thanks,

Ray

 

[fourier jr]

what about youtube? here's one of the first clips I found. I haven't watched the whole thing but it seems pretty good. there's all kinds of other stuff also:

 

[Null_]

I tutored algebra to middle and high school students last summer, and I used this website ( http://www.purplemath.com/modules/index.htm ) as a guide. I had also forgotten a bit but it wasn't too hard to pick back up.

 

[contramundum]

I used this for a little bit.

http://www.wtamu.edu/academic/anns/mps/math/mathlab/col_algebra/index.htm

 

[cgk]

This may be a stupid question, but is there some reason why you want to be good at mental algebra? I think it is extraordinarily important to understand the basic transformation rules and the workings behind the theory, but I don't see any reason to train something to high levels which a computer is better at anyway.