Gateways to Algebra and Geometry: An Integrated Approach

by Sara Dodge, John Benson, Walter Dodge

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395771242
• ISBN13: 9780395771242
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 704 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 8.3" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

This is, quite simply, an awesome book.

Contrary to the previous reviewer, I have very fond memories of this math book, as well as the following algebra and geometry books. I even kept a copy, and have used it to help my younger sister understand concepts that her newer, more dumbed-down text book failed to explain well or even address. However, the thing about it is that it's challenging, significantly more so than other pre-algebra books. My school used this book over two years, so the first half in seventh grade, and the second half in eighth grade. That allowed us to cover each section more thouroughly. My teacher was also quite good and was a huge fan of Gateways, and taught it well. With the inherant difficulty of the book, I can see how a crappy teacher could ruin the experience of this book, and how it would suck if you were fundamentally not a math brain. And thinking back, I can imagine that trying to do it in one year would be rough. Then again, I really don't see a problem with text books actually being challenging, and actually making students think. This book did a good job of that. I remember the problems that had no real answer. Frustrating at first, but after a few minutes it makes you start to see outside the box a bit, that the solution could be that there is in fact no solution. So what if the problem doesn't fit the exact template of the example? That's called making you thnk about and apply the concept, not regurgitate the methodology shown in the example. It's hard because it's teaching you how to think about math concepts for yourself. And having used the algebra book in this series too, it does actually segue into algebra quite well. Sadly, thanks to whiny parents, whiny students, and falling standards in schools, books like these are falling by the wayside, replaced with dumber, easier books that don't usually go the extra length to teach you about the underlying concepts.