What are some recommended textbooks for Algebra 2?

[lase]

I'm going to be taking Algebra 2 this semester (even though I should be much further along by now but a teacher screwed up several years ago :( ) and I'd like to get ahead. Can anyone recommend a good textbook for this OTHER than what the class will be using? (I don't know what they'll be using yet so just throw out all suggestions at me).

 

[thrill3rnit3]

I personally used Gelfand's book to learn all the algebra I needed to know:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0817636773/?tag=pfamazon01-20

I liked it because it is concise, yet the exercises were challenging.

This is the book we used in our Algebra 2 class years ago:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0395977258/?tag=pfamazon01-20

It's O.K., the trigonometry section is a bit lacking IMO, but there are a lot of routine drill problems to practice algebra skills.

 

[mg0stisha]

I was just told that i needed to brush up on my basic maths so i bought Gelfand's Algebra. Overall, how did you like it?

 

[thrill3rnit3]

I was just told that i needed to brush up on my basic maths so i bought Gelfand's Algebra. Overall, how did you like it?

A lot of interesting topics, and challenging problems. It has topics on the AM-GM inequality, Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, and others that are not normally in US algebra textbooks. The proofs are elegant as well.

The problems are numerous and quite challenging, but they aren't like the routine drill problems that are usually found in regular textbooks. They are more like problems that require a level of ingenuity and insight.

I guess you can use this book to review algebra topics, and then search online for the routine problems if you need them.

 

[lase]

Would Gelfrands be sufficent for learning algebra 2? My main aim is to get to much higher maths such as calculus and beyond at a much quicker rate.

 

[mg0stisha]

Okay, thank you. I ordered it online so i didn't really get to look into it, but I'm glad others have used it and enjoyed it. Thanks a lot!

 

[thrill3rnit3]

Would Gelfrands be sufficent for learning algebra 2? My main aim is to get to much higher maths such as calculus and beyond at a much quicker rate.

I learned all the algebra I needed to know from Gelfand's book. It's concise, so it doesn't include all the junk that US textbooks have, yet the problems are challenging enough that it helped me develop my mathematical thinking. IIRC, I moved on to trigonometry after reading this book, and then calculus.

There are a lot of websites that offer algebra "routine" problems if you feel that your algebra isn't strong enough. Algebra 2 pretty much (at least in the standard US curriculum) is being able to manipulate rational expressions/equations, a systematic study of quadratic equations (and their graphs) and analytic geometry (conics - circle, parabola, hyperbola, ellipse), and logarithms. The rest is purely review from Algebra 1.

 

[lase]

Any other recommendations? I'm looking into Gelfands, but would still like to hear some more options...

 

[thrill3rnit3]

I've looked into these notes last night, they are pretty good, plus there is a calculus section towards the end, so if you're motivated enough, you can work with these notes (and a myriad of examples), and you should be ready by the time you reach the calculus section of the notes.

http://rutherglen.ics.mq.edu.au/wchen/lnemfolder/lnem.html

 

[lase]

@thrill3rnit3:

I think I'm looking for more of a textbook based approach rather than lecture based notes style.

 

[thrill3rnit3]

Well there are plenty of "textbooks" on Amazon if that's what you want, they are pretty much the same in terms of content since they're pretty much "standardized" to the US curriculum.

 

[lase]

I don't think I was thinking very clearly when I said that this morning... Instead, please tell me how a good plan of attack would be for those notes and any supplementary material you'd recommend if that's what you think would be best :)

 

[thrill3rnit3]

I don't think I was thinking very clearly when I said that this morning... Instead, please tell me how a good plan of attack would be for those notes and any supplementary material you'd recommend if that's what you think would be best :)

Well, just work through the examples. The examples are pretty much worked out completely, so make sure you completely understand the material before moving on. The worked out examples might deceive you, that you might think you already understand the concept. So do the examples, try to do all of them.

I haven't personally worked out through ALL of these (just a few), but a lot of people have recommended them to me with positive feedback. Looking at the contents, it looks like it has everything you need to know for calculus. The topics are pretty much what you are going to find in a standard "Pre-Calculus" course. Don't be scared by the name though, once you start working on it you should feel comfortably with the material.

Plus there's PhysicsForums where you can ask if you have any questions

 

[lase]

Alright, I'll work through those notes and look for a precalculus course as after looking through a few curriculums for the material covered, it seems to be what I need to know like you had said plus this will obviously allow me to start calculus.

 

[etoipi]

Just get a PreCalculus textbook, such as the new one by Axler. These titles seem to usually contain most of the algebra and trigonometry covered in Algebra 2 courses, with or without trigonometry, and often also have a bit more.

I used Gelfand and like it very much, it introduces problem solving, patterns, and some more interesting algebra than is typical, but it is small. So, if you want to get the equivalent to a full sized precalculus textbook, around the same price, though more fun, you'd need to go for the most of the whole set of Gelfand correspondence books:

You likely wouldn't need Part 1 or 5, because 1 you probably already know and 5 is extra.

The Method of Coordinates Part 1
Functions and Graphs (Dover Books on Mathematics) Part 2
Sequences, Combinations, Limits (Library of School Mathematics, V. 3) (Part 3 of the original series, Library School of Mathematics)
Algebra Part 3
Trigonometry Part 4
Lines and Curves: A Practical Geometry Handbook Part 5