I got this years ago when I started going back to school to get what ultimately became an electrical engineering degree. Because I had been out of math for so long, I had to basically start over at intermediate algebra and got this as a study guide to teach myself the material before taking the class. While I still had to work hard in both intermediate and college algebra, this helped make sense of the material in the book, which was especially helpful in intermediate algebra since I was in a section that was basically a "teach yourself" the material without a lecture attached to it. Until I really got good at reading the textbooks (which basically became easy once I got to physics), it helped to have the concepts distilled down. Having taken the entire calculus sequence plus numerous physics and engineering classes, I can tell you that strong algebra skills are essential as you get further along. Being good at algebra will not guarantee that higher-level classes will be a breeze, but it will ensure that you do not needlessly lose points because even in calculus, a lot of times what takes the most time is doing algebraic simplification, and it presents the most opportunity to make mistakes. So, depending on your style of learning, this is a good supplement if you cannot understand what your textbook is saying. And, for those who are just trying to learn math without taking a class, this will give you a good handle on the material.
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