College Algebra

Jim Stewart, author of the worldwide, best-selling Calculus, Third Edition--along with two of his former Ph.D. students, Lothar Redlin and Saleem Watson--collaborated in writing this text to address a problem the frequently saw in their calculus courses: many students were not prepared to "think mathematically" but attempted instead to memorize facts and mimic examples. College Algebra was written specifically to help students learn to think mathematically and to develop true problem-solving skills. Now in the Second Edition, the authors have refined their approach to make it work even more effectively for today's students. To help students develop mathematical thinking, the authors offer careful exposition and examples, well-graded exercises, and a problem-solving emphasis that is carried throughout the book. They introduce Polya's problem-solving principles in Chapter 1, then conclude each subsequent chapter with a section entitled "Focus on Problem Solving", which highlights a particular problem-solving technique. Each "Focus" section includes a wide variety of problems that encourage students to apply their problem-solving skills, often to real-life problems.