Addison Wesley Secondary Math: Focus on Geometry: An Integrated Approach

Rating:
Summary: Addison Wesley Secondary Math: Focus on Geometry:
Review: I just bought this book used which arrived in excellent condition. This book gives many boxed-in definitions which clearly stand out on each page. Explanations were kept concise and there are many coinciding pictures. After each explanation or definition, there are "Try It" problems for reinforced learning. This is a very "active" book; paper, pencil, compass, and straightedge are needed to read it. This book would be appropriate for a beginning geometry student.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: My school just implemented these books last year as part of a 4-year math textbook replacement cycle. I was part of the first class to go through the books and I believe them to be extremely effective. I learned the material well, and have excelled in class, and in geometry level math league competitions, due to that. I have looked at the old geometry books and I think that these are a great alternative. They cover proofs a bit less than our old books, but I feel I learned the material enough to succeed in future courses. I am now enrolled in a course based on the Advanced Algebra book from the same series, and I am quite satisfied with the curriculum. They move fast enough for people who catch on quickly, but they also have enough opportunity for practice, with the teacher's materials, for those who don't. All in all, I have liked all encounters i have had with these books (except the bits of late-night studying here and there because of math meets!).

Rating:
Summary: Dissapointing
Review: Perhaps the most fascinating feature of this book is the order in which topics are presented. Students flit all the way through triangles, angles and intersecting lines before they learn that theorems and postulates have some importance. They go through half of the book (and presumably through half of the school year) before they encounter the concept of a mathematical proof. In fact, they already have been required to learn some proofs, but the book hasn't told them that this is what they are doing.