Advanced Math for Young Students: A First Course in Algebra - Softcover

This is not a traditional "Algebra 1" book. It is designed to be used before (or during) your first algebra class, though it also introduces some concepts from Algebra 2 and Pre-calculus.

It is organized in three units:

Unit 1 introduces functions and their charts, graphs and equations. You will also learn about composition of functions and inverse functions.

Unit 2 shows how algebra is used to solve puzzles involving a "mystery number." Here, you learn to write and solve equations to find the answers to those dreaded "word problems." We will investigate equations with two variables, linear functions, and systems of equations, applying these to word problems as well.

Unit 3 is about relationships. We start with direct proportions and continue onward, culminating with an examination of exponential functions and logarithms. Throughout this unit, the emphasis is on how these relationships are expressed algebraically and graphically and how they are actually applied. While some of the relationships will be demonstrated with examples from physics and chemistry, no prior knowledge of those topics is assumed. But you will certainly pick up a few ideas about those subjects as well.

Philip Keller has been talking to young students about math and science just about incessantly for almost three decades. After graduating from Princeton University with a degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, he became a high school math and science teacher, teaching mostly physics but also chemistry, calculus and geometry, along with a steady side dish of SAT math. He is the author of The New Math SAT Game Plan.

When he has no captive audience to talk to about these things, he blogs about them instead. You can see his mathematical digressions at www.advancedmathyoungstudents.com, where you can also post any questions you have about this book.

He lives in Shrewsbury, New Jersey with his wife Daphne, his children Reuben and Jane, and his dogs, Rosie, Pippin and Hawkeye.