Must Know High School Algebra, Second Edition

Book Preface

Welcome to your new algebra book! Let us try to explain why we believe you’ve made the right choice with this new edition. This probably isn’t your first go-round with either a textbook or other kind of guide to a school subject. You’ve probably had your fill of books to memorize lots of terms. This book isn’t going to do that—although you’re welcome to memorize anything you take an interest in. You may also have found that a lot of books make a lot of promises about all the things you’ll be able to accomplish by the time you reach the end of a given chapter. In the process, those books can make you feel as though you missed out on the building blocks that you actually need to master those goals.

With Must Know High School Algebra, we’ve taken a different approach. When you start a new chapter, you will immediately see one or more  must know ideas. These are the essential concepts behind what you are going to study, and they will form the foundation of what you will learn throughout the chapter. With these must know ideas, you will have what you need to hold it together as you study, and they will be your guide as you make your way through each chapter.

To build on this foundation you will find easy-to-follow discussions of the topic at hand, accompanied by comprehensive examples that show you how to apply what you’re learning to solving typical algebra questions. Each chapter ends with review questions—more than 400 throughout the book—designed to instill confidence as you practice your new skills.

This book has other features that will help you on this algebra journey of yours. It has a number of“sidebars” that will both help provide helpful information or just serve as a quick break from your studies. The  sidebars (“by the way”) point out important information as well as study tips and exceptions to the rule. Every once in a while, an sidebar (“in real life”) will tell you what you’re studying has to do with the real world; other IRLs may just be interesting factoids.
But that’s not all—this new edition has taken it a step further. We know our algebra students well and we want to make sure you’re getting the most out of this book. We added new EASY MISTAKE sidebars that point out common mistakes and things not to do. For those needing a little assistance, we have our EXTRA HELP feature, where more challenging concepts, topics, or questions are given some more explanation. And finally, one special note for the teachers (because we didn’t forget about you!)—a Teacher’s Guide section at the back of the book is a place where you can go to find tips and strategies on teaching the material in the book, a behind-the-scenes look at what the authors were thinking when creating the material, and resources curated specifically to make your life easier!