Algebra...Should it Stay or Should it Go?

A recent article, "Is Algebra Necessary?" printed in the The New York Times caught our attention.

ISBN: 978-0-7660-3941-4

978-0-7660-3938-4

Should we spare students from this difficult subject? Will they use what they've learned in Algebra class on their jobs? We'd love to hear your opinion.

For now, Algebra in the classroom is here to stay. The basics begin in elementary school, and continue through middle school, high school, and college.

If you know someone that struggles in Algebra, we recommend our Algebra I and Algebra II Smarts! and Pre-Algebra and Algebra Smarts! from our Math Smarts! series. These books include step-by-step instructions as well as examples and are ideal for students as well as tutors and parents. Free educator guides are available for all the titles in this 10-book series.

Word Problems...No Problem!

You might not realize it all the time because math isn't always written as a math problem, but math is everywhere! Our new series Math Busters Word Problems helps students understand how algebra is used in word problems using topics, they can relate to. Here's an algebra word problem using addition from our Algebra Word Problems title:

Coach had the entire track team run 4 laps. When they finished, he had the distance runners run some more laps. Each distance runner ran 40 laps in all. Use an algebraic equation to find how many laps the distance runners ran after the rest of the team had finished running?

We'll post the answer tomorrow.