Harold Jacobs' Math Texts

I've been hearing about Harold Jacobs' books for years, but finally had the chance to try one. My other Algebra II texts didn't seem to be a good fit for L this past year, so we tried Mathematics: A Human Endeavor. It is roughly an Algebra II text, though it has elements of more advanced algebra and lots of probability as well. I loved it, and even L (who is somewhat math-o-phobic) liked it most of the time. :o) It is much different from any other Algebra II course I have seen.

Actually, I wasn't even sure it was Algebra II level--the Forward in my book (3rd edition) says it was used as a "high school and college introductory textbook." That could mean al

most any grade level! What I finally did was to compare the Table of Contents (see below) with that of other Algebra II texts. (I have collected several of those, unfortunately!) Jacobs' text covered basically everything the others did, plus a little.

Chapter 1--Mathematical Ways of Thinking

Chapter 2--Number Sequences

Chapter 3--Functions and Their Graphs

Chapter 4--Large Numbers and Logarithms

Chapter 5--Symmetry and Regular Figures

Chapter 6--Mathematical Curves

Chapter 7--Methods of Counting

Chapter 8--The Mathematics of Chance

Chapter 9--An Introduction to Statistics

Chapter 10--Topics in Topology

The approach is quite different than other texts so I was afraid there would be gaps, but mostly I have just noticed different emphases (i.e. a topic covered in detail by Saxon might be briefly mentioned by Jacobs). There is a lot of "hands on" work, which is perfect for a kinesthetic learner. These models, for example, are part of the lesson on "Regular Polyhedra: The Platonic Solids."

Probably the only complaint I have (and it's minor) is that the "real life" problems don't have nice, neat solutions. The messy numbers were sometimes discouraging for L.

This book was given to me, so I had it on hand to try out. We liked it so much, though, that I'm going to take the plunge and try Harold Jacobs' Algebra next year for N.