Product Review: Casio FX115ESPLUS Scientific Calculator

 

I purchased this when I was taking chemistry because my teacher had a "no graphing calculator" policy for exams. I will say up front there are a lot of features I never ended up using because I had other graphing calculators, but not only does it have all the functionality of any scientific calculator (with the trig functions, etc.) it will also allow you to do derivatives and integrals, can solve a system of equations, store variables, etc. It is basically akin to a TI-84 without the graphing and programming capability. It is a great calculator, especially if you are in a situation where you cannot or do not need to use a graphing calculator.

Product Review: TI NSpire

 

I have almost all the TI line of graphing calculators including the 84, 85, and 89. The Nspire is very much overkill unless you are going into a hard science or engineering program, where you need to take higher-level math classes and use the concepts from those classes in future classes. In that case, it is very helpful and has a lot of advantages over the TI-89 once you get used to it.

One of the main advantages is that it is far better than the TI89 when doing integration. On the 89, you basically had to code in the integral in a format like int(x, x, 0, 10) to get it to do the integral. When doing integration on this,it is much like how you do it on the 84 plus where it gives you the integral setup like you see it in the book, you enter the limits of integration above and below the integral sign, then enter the function and then tell it what you are integrating over. And of course, unlike the 84-Plus it will give you the exact answer and not just a decimal approximation. The same is true with derivatives.

Where it really beats the 89 though is when doing integration and if you need to plug in a variable as your limit of integration, where the 89 would throw an error, this will actually do it for you. And you can even use the variable in your function as one of the limits of integration. For example, if you are an EE major taking electric and magnetic fields, when you get to Gauss's Law you often have to integrate over a variable like r, but also have to use r as one of the limits of integration. The 89 cannot pull that off, this one can. Also, the graphs it can produce are much better than the 89, especially 3D graphs which are light years beyond the crappy 89 ones.

The main thing I do not like about it is the battery. While it does have good battery life, and you can get a lot out of a charge, it is not something you can replace on your own. Unlike the 83, 84, 85, and 89 you cannot just pop the back off and put 4 AAA batteries in it. So you have to make sure it is charged well enough before you need to use it. The other thing I do not like, is I have yet to figure out how to get changing the mode from radians to degrees to stick. I can find it in the menu and change the option but then when I go back into a document or even open a new document it always stays in radian mode. Granted it is not a huge deal to just convert radians to degrees, but it is still a pain when it was much easier on the old calculators to do it.

The test mode issue is not something I have run into, but I had ample warning about it. Basically, if you end up in one of the main menus of the calculator there is an option that says "Press to Test" which gives no warning on what it does. You could realistically assume it means to run a diagnostic on the calculator, but in reality, it turns off much of the CAS capability and gets rid of some of the functions (like if you go into the trig menu you only get sin, cos and tangent and the inverses of those not the others). If you know someone that has the calculator you can connect them and get out of it easily, but if you do not, it is a total pain in the ass to get out of it. So basically, NEVER push that unless you are required to for an exam (in which case I would just use an 84-plus (or equivalent calculator) and don't bother putting this into the test mode).

I have not used every feature on the calculator and never will. But I have found it very good for what I have needed to do. I am not sure how it compares up against the HP 50 or some of the other comparable calculators by other manufacturers that are out there. It can be kind of humorous to read all the debates or arguments that go on about what is the better calculator, and my guess is they all have their strengths and weaknesses. So far I have been mostly satisfied with this and what it can do.

Study Aid Review: Mastering Statistics Volume 3

 

This is where Jason's statistics series really gets into the meat of a statistics course. The first two volumes and his old course were really going through the basics of the material. This one covers The Central Limit Theorem and Confidence Intervals, and how to use the various concepts to estimate population means both for large and small samples. As was the case with the previous sets he does not derive any of the formulas or use calculus to solve the problems. He explains how to use the various tables in the book, gives a lot of example problems, and explains how to interpret the problems so you know what is being asked. When it comes down to it, the math in statistics is relatively trivial (just some basic algebra at most) but realizing what the problem is asking and the approach to solving the problem is where the difficulty lies. Jason does a good job of cutting through that.

Like is the case for most of his newer sets, he spends one chapter (sometimes two) introducing a concept and giving some background, then subsequent chapters showing example problems on the concept. This keeps the chapters relatively short (anywhere from 5 to 35 minutes), and has a really good flow to the DVD. Also like the other DVD sets, he is not touching on everything from class (especially in multi-set series like this) so you cannot assume just because you have this you can skip class. But if you use it as intended, as a supplement, this will make your life much easier when you are doing homework or taking quizzes or exams.

There are three other sets to this series that Amazon does not have. Volume 4 finishes confidence intervals and introduces hypothesis testing. Volumes 5 and 6 are devoted entirely to hypothesis testing and variations of it. I am not sure at this point if that will be the end of the series, but given that hypothesis testing is a very large part of any statistics class you will probably want to check those out too.

Study Aid Review: Mastering Statistics Volume 2

 

This is set 2 in, as of this writing, a 6-volume set of mastering statistics volumes Jason has put out, with possibly more to come down the line. It is still covering basic material, and expanding on the core concepts that were introduced in the first volume, and there is still some overlap with the older set Jason put out years ago,  The Probability and Statistics Tutor - 10 Hour Course - 3 DVD Set - Learn By Examples! .

He starts out discussing discrete and continuous probability distribution, then basically spends the rest of the sections on Normal Probability Distribution (bell curves), finding the area under the bell curves using z-values and the tables in the back of most books. It should be noted that while he does mention that finding the area can be done with calculus and doing integration, he left that out and just focused on using the tables in the book, how to interpret the information in the problems, and look them up in the table. If you are taking a statistics class in the math curriculum that may be okay, but if you are taking something like an engineering data analysis class you will probably have to do the integration. But the integrals will end up being relatively basic and easily done with a graphing calculator so it should not cause most people in that situation a lot of problems.

If you have ever seen Jason's material, either because you own another set, or because you have seen sample videos on his site or on Youtube, it follows much the same format as his more recent DVDs. He introduces a concept in one or two lecture sections, then he does problems. Sometimes he does a couple problems in one chapter of the DVD, and sometimes just one. So overall the chapters are shorter, but he still packs a lot of information into the entire disc set. This is still the material that you will see early on in any statistics course, and would probably not cover all the material that you would get in a first exam. It probably translates to the material in the first 2 to 3 weeks of a course. Luckily the later volumes cover material like confidence intervals and hypothesis testing which make up the bulk of what any of the courses will cover.

I personally find that Jason's teaching style meshes with my learning style a lot. He explains things in a way that I find very easy to follow and I have used his DVD sets from algebra through advanced calculus and engineering. While none of his sets cover everything you will need to learn in the classes, and not even all the material you will likely be tested on, he goes through the big, main concepts that you have to know in order to be able to handle any other material. So while this is not a substitute for going to class or reading the book and doing homework, it will help you understand the material much more, so what is in the book is not so hard to follow, and if you have a teacher that is not so great, can make up for what you may not understand from him or her. They have been a great tool for me, and I cannot recommend them more if you are a visual and/or auditory learner.

Study Aid Review: Mastering Statistics Volume 1

 

I own most of Jason's DVD sets (aside from the very basic math sets and his Java programming sets). Some I have purchased through Amazon, and some through his website directly. I am back in school to get an electrical engineering degree. Next fall I have to take data analysis, which is basically applied statistics, with a teacher who does not have a great reputation, so I purchased all the volumes in this set, plus his original probability and statistics tutor  The Probability and Statistics Tutor - 10 Hour Course - 3 DVD Set - Learn By Examples! , to get the basics down before I take the class.

This volume covers the basics/core concepts of statistics. There is a little bit of overlap with his older DVD set, because while that one focused on probability some of the principles from statistics are used in probability and vice versa. So things like histograms, mean and standard deviation and variance will all be refresher concepts if you have the old set. But he does get into a lot of new material, some are definitions like Sample and Population which he did not really get into before, the various types of plots and charts, and things like Quartiles and the various theorems that are applicable only to statistics. So it is definitely not a double dip if you have the older set.

Like all his other DVD sets, Jason covers everything in a step-by-step manner. The new layout for his DVDs has been to introduce the concept in one section and then do example problems in the subsequent section(s) on that topic to keep the individual sections of the DVD shorter. In his older sets it was not uncommon to have hour-plus long sections, which could get to be a bit much if you attempted to watch the entire thing at once. In this set the longest overall section was right under a half hour. He rarely, if ever skips any steps in the problems he works through (I don't think he ever skipped any in this set), and even when he does he warns you ahead of time.

Learning style is different for everyone, but I find the way he explains concepts be it in math, physics, chemistry or engineering are very easy to follow, and much better than some of the free material that you can find out there. It is basically a video lecture though, not unlike sitting in a class lecture, but generally more condensed and focused on problems more than it is on the overall theory. So if it is a fit for your learning style, and you are taking any kind of statistics class, I would highly recommend this.

Study Aid Review: The Probability and Statistics Tutor

 

Probability and statistics can be very easy or extremely frustrating depending on how you are taught. I can be the bane of any college algebra student if your class tacks a few weeks of it onto the end of class because it looks like nothing else that was studied the entire semester, and if you have a teacher that is not great at explaining it, it can seem like complete nonsense. It was certainly the hardest part of my college algebra class, and really the only material I never could grasp, so much so that I answered one of the bonus questions on my final "I don't care".

Jason however does a great job breaking the problems down and making sense out of them. Far better than any of the books do, and better than my teacher did. As is his style, he goes through a ton of examples, breaks down what each question is asking for, and how to interpret them so you can easily spot the difference between a permutation and combination, and when using a particular solution method is needed versus another one. Given that the math in many of the problems is extremely easy, at least at the level of the kind of problems encountered in this set (he has since released several more volumes under the title The Statistics Tutor) which tackle more complex problems than this set has, even in the more advanced problems knowing the kind of question it is and the process used to work through it is 95% of the complexity.

I have not taken a regular statistics class so I am not sure how much of that material this covers. I do know it will show you how to do most, if not all, of the problem types you would see in a college algebra class that tacks probability onto the very end of the semester. I will be taking an engineering data analysis class (which is basically just applied statistics) this fall, with a teacher that does not have a great reputation, so I am using this and Jason's other statistics sets to get the basics of the material down. I do however have enough experience with Jason's other DVD sets to know he never covers every topic that a class will expose you to, but goes through the big topics you are most likely to see on exams and quizzes. So while it is not a substitute for going to class, it will give you a good handle on the material and I highly recommend it.

I have used many of Jason's DVD sets. I have been going back to school for an electrical engineering degree. I have used, and reviewed almost all of Jason's courses, from basic algebra, to the advanced engineering material. You have to know whether a DVD will fit your learning style. He basically gives example heavy lectures. He rarely works through any kind of proof material, just focusing on problems, but at the end of the day, it is still him standing in front of a whiteboard doing problems. So if you are a visual and audio learner, it is great. He works through everything step by step and explains everything he is doing for every problem. He rarely ever skips steps and when he does it is only because it is the same thing he has shown in multiple problems up to that point and makes a point to at least tell you what steps he is skipping so you are not lost, unlike a lot of times when books skip them.

Study Aid Review: Schaum's Outline of Mathematical Handbook of Formulas and Tables, 4th Edition

 

This is a great resource, but you need to be clear on what you are getting. It is not going to teach you any material. That you are going to get from class or textbooks, or both. It is simply a book that will give you all the formulas in one place, in a much more compact form than any textbook will give you. You do not have to weave through pages of proofs, explanations, or examples to get to the end result. It covers things from the very simple to the very advanced. Realistically it is impossible to recall every formula that you come across in math and science classes. And, a lot of times people do not keep their textbooks, but you never know when you are going to have to look up a formula at some point down the road that you know exists, but cannot remember all the details of.

When I was in upper-level engineering classes, the professors tended to keep the math relatively basic for many exam questions, but there were some homework questions and class examples that got pretty detailed, and a lot of times they would just say you can solve this using ________ equation/formula and just assume we remember it. Now yes in this day and age you can find almost anything on the internet, but for those of us who prefer books, and writing out homework by hand, this is a great resource. And if you happen to have a class that gives totally open book/note exams, it is something that could come in handy.

Study Aid Review: Extra Practice with Integrals Volume 2

 

This material covers what is for many people the hardest part of Calc II. Specifically, this set covers the area and volume integration problems and integration by parts. Jason does several problems on the disk, shell, and washer methods for calculating volume, and tons of integration by parts problems. There are a couple other topics that he covers, but those are the big ones. The two things I wish he would have shown in this set were the table method for integration by parts that make the problems much quicker and easier, and showing some of the washer, shell, and disk method problems revolving around an alternate axis. Even without those, he explains the concept far better than the book ever does.

There are a couple caveats I want to make. There are several integration techniques that you will get exposed to in class that are not on this or volume 1 of this set. They are however covered on his calculus 1 & 2 tutor and advanced calculus 2 tutor DVDs. This is really just fleshing out what was on those sets and adding concepts that he could not put into those DVDs. Also while he does a large selection of problems, he does not generally pick the hardest ones to do. He picks the kind that are most likely to show up on a quiz or exam, but not always the really hard ones you get for homework.

 I very much believe in Jason's products and his teaching style. If you use this set correctly, meaning as supplements but not substitutes for class and homework, it will help reinforce the material, shore up lectures that you may not have understood, or serve as test preparation. I made it through the entire calculus sequence at my school with straight A's and while I did have to study hard, these definitely gave me a leg up. I had confidence in the fact that I knew the material and expected to get perfect scores on my exams not just pass them. While that did not happen all the time, it did happen more than once. I was a horrible math student when I was young, and now because of Jason's DVDs and hard work, I am a very good math student and even tutor it myself.

Study Aid Review: Calculus 1: Extra Practice with Integrals Volume 1

 

Anyone who has taken calculus can tell you that doing integration is the hardest part of the first-year calc sequence. And, if you do not get the concept early it will carry over into all the other courses where you need to be able to do integrals. The farther along you get, the more you are going to be expected to do them quickly.

This set really enforces the basic integration techniques. It starts out by introducing the concepts and the use of rectangles to approximate the area under the curve. Jason does not spend time on things like Simpson's Rule, Euler's Method, and the Midpoint Rule, which you will use in class when you first start learning integrals. So, as I have stated in other reviews of Jason's products do NOT rely on this as a substitute for class and homework. It is a supplement for a reason.

The big concepts Jason touches on in this volume are integrating polynomials, exponential, logarithms, and trig functions. Then he spends a ton of time on integration by substitution. It is the most used integration technique (at least the one that can be done without a computer the easiest) and when you learn how to do it fast, it will save your bacon on a lot of exams. In my differential equations final I was stuck on a problem where I could not figure out how to proceed, then I saw the substitution that I needed to make and was able to finish it off quickly.

The better you get at this material the easier things will be in your advanced math, physics, and engineering classes. Jason gives you lots of examples after introducing the topic and goes step-by-step through how to solve them. That process really helps sharpen your algebra skills as well, because many times the calculus part of the problem is very easy, but the simplifying (which is all algebra) is what takes the longest and offers the most opportunities for mistakes.

If your learning style is conducive to watching recorded lectures, Jason's DVDs are the best non-required investment you can make. I have almost all of his material, and it has helped me as a non-traditional student who was horrible at math when I was younger get straight A's in math. I highly recommend his DVDs.

Study Aid Review: The Trig and Pre-Calculus Tutor Volume 2

 

One of the big complaints about the original Trig and Precalculus tutor that Jason released it is that it did not cover enough material. In that one Jason focused mainly on the concepts of angles, the trig functions using right triangles and the unit circle, graphing trig functions, and only touched on verifying trig identities. Basically, Jason covered the main points that you have to learn in a trig or pre-calc class to do well on the other, more advanced material.

This volume fills in a lot of the other material you are going to learn in class that was omitted from the first set. Specifically, Jason really expands the coverage of trig identities material. In this set, he has sections on the double angle, half angle, product-to-sum, sum-to-product, even/odd, and Pythagorean identities. There are also sections on solving trig equations and multiple sections on the law of sines and the law of cosines. All of the material is presented in the style of Jason's other DVD sets where is does a basic introduction of the topic and then works several example problems step-by-step. He rarely skips any steps and when he does, he always lets you know and it is usually because he has shown you how to do something several times and is trying to conserve space on the board.

If you get this, the original set, and the advanced algebra tutor you will learn about 90% of the material you will see in a trig or pre-calc class. The only big topics that you will not see are conic sections and the polar and parametric equations that some classes introduce you to (usually at the very end of the class). In none of Jason's DVDs has he ever covered everything that you get in every class. He touches on the main topics and the things you are most likely to see on a final exam.

I have reviewed several of Jason's DVDs because I have found them extremely helpful. They usually lay out the material in the same or similar order you will find things in the book. The step-by-step approach really makes you learn the material (and improve the "lower level" skills that you need at that level). It is NOT a substitute for going to class or doing homework. Jason does not pick your quiz or test problems, nor does he do examples of every problem you will see in the book. You have to go to class to get an idea of what your instructor focuses on. You should use this to prepare for class or reinforce the lecture topics, and learn strategies for solving the problems. If you use it that way, you will definitely know the material well and get a good grade.

The other thing to keep in mind is your learning style. This is a videotaped lecture of a guy in front of a whiteboard doing problems. If you can learn from that kind of thing, it is the best investment you can make. If you have to be able to interact with a real person and ask questions, you are probably going to need to invest in an actual tutor.

Study Aid Review: Math and Science DVD Bundle

 

I found Jason Gibson's DVDs when looking for study aids to use when I went back to school to get an engineering degree. I would use them to study prior to my upcoming classes so I could at least get an idea of what the material was about, and they were the best non-required investment I made while in school. This is a bundle of math and physics DVDs that have been released individually. He has now transitioned away from the DVDs to putting everything on his online site. I am going to just give you a summary of my impressions of the DVDs should you decide to try and pick up used copies.

1) The production quality is not fancy but gets better over time. The early DVDs were filmed with little to no production, and probably filmed out of his home. As he went along he started filming out of a studio, which is where all the new lessons he puts out are filmed from. Even from the studio, the lessons just have Jason in front of a whiteboard. There are no fancy graphics or frills.

2) Jason does make mistakes from time to time. He catches some of the mistakes as he goes along, some are caught and corrected post-production, and occasionally he misses one altogether. It shows that he is human. While one could argue they should be edited out altogether, and I think that is a reasonable argument to make, it has never distracted me from learning the material. Almost every teacher I have had has made mistakes in math when working out problems. My calc III teacher who has a Phd in math made calculation errors all the time, yet I could still get the idea of what was going on.

4) Jason will go step by step in solving problems. Even in the advanced calculus DVDs, he does nearly every algebraic step, even things that most people at that level can easily do in their head. If you get these DVDs you will become very good at algebra. And since it is the foundation upon which all levels of math and science are built that is very important.

5)The trig and pre-calculus DVD that is in this bundle does not cover all the concepts, so you may want to get the 2nd volume of the set. The one in the bundle will cover the unit circle, trig functions, the basic trig identities, right triangle trig, and graphing the trig functions. It does not cover trig equations, the law of sines and cosines, or the more little-used identities like the half-angle and double-angle identities. The second volume fills in those gaps. If you get that, the only concept from pre-calculus that will not be covered is conic sections.

6) In none of the DVDs does Jason touch on every concept you will learn in class. He hits the most important concepts, and the ones that if you don't know you will have no shot at learning the others. I would estimate that, depending on your particular teacher, if you learn the material on the DVDs you can expect to know 70% or more of what you would be asked on a final exam. In some of my classes, that percentage was closer to 90%. But you cannot expect to know everything for the entire class just from the DVDs. It is imperative that you do your homework problems and go to class to do well. While Jason does work through problems of varying difficulty they are usually not the hardest problems you will be exposed to.

7) The physics material is algebra-based more than calculus-based. He does not use calculus to derive the formulas for the most part. A couple times in the Physics 3 DVDs (which are not in this bundle) he will, but for the most part, he just gives the formulas and gives examples of how to use them. He does a great job of breaking down how the problems are worded so you really know what information is being given, and what the problem is asking you to do. Which, in physics, is over half the battle.

8) Jason has also put out newer extra practice with derivatives and extra practice with integration DVDs to fill in the Calc I and II material. On those, he gives more examples of the various differentiation and integration techniques and gets to topics such as implicit differentiation and the disk/washer/shell methods for finding volume using integrals that are not on the two DVDs you get here. While the two DVDs in this set did help me get an A in Calc I and II, I wish the other volumes would have been out when I took those classes.

In all, whether you find these useful will depend on your learning style and some amount of subjectivity. If I had to go back and do it over I would have bought the bundle and saved a bit of money, but whether you get the entire thing, or just need a couple DVDs, I highly recommend these to anyone subject to the provisos I listed in the review.

Product Review: TI-89 Titanium Graphing Calculator

 

This is probably one of the most powerful calculators out there, and as such you may or may not be able to use it in your classes (at least on quizzes and exams). If you are just taking algebra then this may be overkill for you because the real powerful features come when you get into calculus. It has algebraic symbolic capabilities, meaning it can solve equations and take derivatives and do most integrals for you, and give an exact answer not just a numeric approximation. It will not show you the steps, but it will give you the answers. Some teachers will not let students use it, even though just writing down the answer without showing any work will rarely (if ever) get you any points. One thing it is definitely good for even if you cannot use it on exams is for checking your work (especially when you are working on even number problems from the book).

There are a couple drawbacks to the calculator though. Sometimes, with very complicated derivatives and integrals the format of the answer will be given differently than what your book may simplify it to, and it is not always easy to see that it is a comparable result. This can be especially problematic when you have to do online homework and the program is picky about how the answer is entered. Second, if you are taking multivariable calculus, while this can graph three-dimensional functions, it gives you a very basic wireframe graph, that is hard to see the shape much less do any kind of analysis of it. Also, there are some functions that you can only access going into the catalog, and are not contained in the math, algebra, or calculus menus, so they can take a while to find. Most of the higher-level operations that you will use this for are however found in one of those menus.

If you are taking linear algebra and/or differential equations it is great. Once you learn how to enter the rows and columns of the matrices, you can do it very quickly off the home screen and row reduce or calculate the determinant in seconds. It can also solve first and second-order differential equations, which helped me immensely on my diff eq final, because I had one problem that I could not figure out initially, but I could see what the answer was, and as a result finally figured out how to get to it doing integration by substitution.

Overall, I think this is a great investment. It is not perfect, but for the price, it will help you, especially if you are in a program where you have to take advanced math classes.

Study Aid Review: Schaum's Outline of Advanced Mathematics for Engineers and Scientists

 

This is not really a book that is tied to any one specific course like the other Schaum's outlines are. This is meant to be more like a reference where you can go to look up concepts that you may have forgotten. It is like a condensed textbook that has the key things that you need to know but does not go into a lot of detail about the theory and do a bunch of proofs as a textbook will. Let's face it, we all forget things from class after a while, especially things that we do not use on a regular basis. Most people will be able to remember how to take simple derivatives or integrals, but far fewer people are going to remember how to set up a triple integral or do Laplace Transforms off the top of their heads after they get done with the classes where they have to use them. That is where this will come in handy.

I think the best way to use any of the Schaum's outlines is to use them in conjunction with learning the concepts in class (because they give you far more examples worked out than your book ever will) or as a reference guide once a class is over. At that point, you can use it as a substitute for your textbook because you will not be as likely to need all the detail and rigor of a full-blown textbook by then. It is not something that is going to be useful to teach yourself the concepts from initially. That is because of the lack of detail and the fact that some of the outlines are edited badly and can contain errors. Once you understand the material the errors and typos can be easy to spot, but when you are first learning that is not always the case. I have only glanced through this particular outline so far, so I am not sure how many errors (if any) are in this one. I know some of the outlines have more errors than others, but just be aware if something does not look right when you are working through a problem, it may not be that you don't know what you are doing.

Study Aid Review: Pre-Calculus Demystified

 

What is in this book is very clear and straightforward. There is not a ton of jargon like you get in the textbooks and what theory it does cover is basic and understandable. It covers the theory you need to know and does not go wild with proving or deriving the equations. And, the examples that are shown are clear. One thing I really like is the book goes into detail on comics. Conics are always covered at some point in pre-calculus, but very few supplements go into any depth. 

What knocks this down a bit for me is that it only has 1 chapter on trigonometry. The curriculum from school to school can be different. Some schools have trig as a completely separate class, and others run precalc classes as essentially a quarter to half advanced algebra, half trig, and then a few other topics depending on how much time is left at the end of the semester. If your school does the latter, while this book will give you the basics of trigonometry, what you will need to know for a class will be much more in-depth than what you will get here.

It does do a good job of explaining the basic trig functions, graphing trig functions, and some of the trig identities. Basically, the trig that the book presents is the stuff that, if you do not know it, will make the rest of trig impossible. Just keep in mind, however, that depending on your class curriculum, you may need a supplement that goes deeper into the trig material than this does.

Textbook Review: Precalculus: Enhanced with Graphing Utilities

 

This is actually a very good math book. It gives lots of examples and clear explanations (at least as clear as any math book does). I have yet to come across a math book that is an "easy" read, at least until you are about three classes beyond your current class, but I understood this one pretty well when I was taking precalculus. I did luck out and get a really great teacher for precalculus so I really did not have to read this all that much when I was in class, but when I had to, it made sense. There were times however in Calculus I, II, and III where I had to refer back to this and found exactly what I was looking for and could follow the explanation easily.

I also used this book when I tutored students so I often times have to re-read parts of it to brush up on concepts. I think it does the balancing act of giving you enough information to help guide you, but still leaves you to have to figure some things out on your own. While it is not perfect, compared to some math books out there (the crappy one I had for Calculus III springs to mind) it is pretty helpful.

Study Aid Review: The Humongous Book of Algebra Problems

 

To me the best part about this book is that it is, for the most part, just lots and lots of example problems solved step by step. The big gripe about math textbooks is that a lot of time you get a lot of explanation of the theory and formulas, but not much on how to actually solve problems. This can be compounded by the fact that some textbooks either skip steps in the examples they do solve, or they just show you how to do the easiest problems and you are left to fend for yourself on the harder problems. This book gives you a nice range of difficulty for the problems and does not cut corners or skip steps.

Of all areas of math, algebra is probably the worst to have missing steps when you are first learning it because it is the foundation for almost every other branch of math. If you are not good at algebra, you will have a very hard time in trig and calculus because they use algebra so much, that oftentimes simplifying the problems is harder and take more time than the actual calculus part. If you are going on to take classes like chemistry and physics, you absolutely have to be good at algebra because it is used to solve many problems. While proficiency in algebra will not guarantee you will do well in those other classes (you still need to know what equations to use or what concepts apply), even if you know the chemistry or physics material if you cannot do algebra you will have no shot at actually solving the problems.

While I never say any supplement be it DVD or book form is a substitute for going to class or doing problems assigned in your book this will definitely help you because chances are you can find a similar problem in this book, see how it is solved, and apply the process to your homework problem. The author also has similar books for other levels of math up to the first year of calculus. If you find this one helpful you may want to check those out as well.

Study Aid Review: How to Ace the Rest of Calculus

 

The textbook I had for multivariable calculus was absolutely worthless, so I really leaned on this, Khan Academy, Patrick JMT on YouTube, and the Mathtutor DVDs for Calculus 3 to help figure out how to do the problems. 

Unlike some of the book supplements out there, this one does not cover everything you will see in class. The book hits the most important topics and gives several examples, tells you what to look out for, and what some common mistakes are. If you are in Calculus 2, this is not really going to help much. It is almost exclusively things you are going to see in multivariable calculus like double and triple integrals, partial derivatives, Green's Theorem, and the like. You will get some of the sequence and series material you will get at the very end of Calculus 2, but it does not go into all the integration techniques you will learn in Calculus 2. So, if you are in the first or second semester of Calculus, you want what is essentially Volume 1 just titled How to Ace Calculus.

Study Aid Review: The Calculus 1 & 2 Tutor - 2 DVD Set - 8 Hour Course

 

I want to start out with a caveat for anyone thinking of getting this or subscribing to Jason's site. If you are going to be taking Calc 1 and 2 at the college level, you would be best served to get both this DVD and the Advanced Calculus 2 DVD because, depending on your school, what is covered may not be in the same order as what Jason has laid out. Of course, if you subscribe to the site you will get all of the lessons and much more content than what was originally included on the DVDs.

This DVD basically covers derivatives and integrals. It goes very in-depth into both those topics and covers all the main differentiation and integration rules you need to know. Again you need to keep in mind that this is a supplement and does not cover everything you will see in class. I can only use my class as a reference, but we started with a review of functions, then went into limits, then derivatives, and will finish with an introduction to integration. There are also a couple of the topics covered on the Advanced Calc DVD set that will be covered in my Calc I class, which is why I am using that DVD set along with this one. Plus I plan on continuing on to Calc II, so I will eventually end up using both.

The one big topic from first-semester calculus that Jason does not go into much is the topic of limits. He explicitly says at the beginning of the video that is he not covering everything and explains why he excludes most of the material on limits in this set. He has, however, subsequently added a limits tutor, that will cover the material that was missing from this DVD, which is helpful because limits are covered extensively at the beginning of the semester before you get into the differentiation rules.  If you try to study just from this, skip class, and do not do the problems in the book, the first test or two will be a disaster. So don't fall into that trap. And while Jason does not cover most of the limit concepts that you will have to go through in class, I found knowing the material on the DVD ahead of time helpful to understand the "big picture" limit concepts even though I did not know the mechanical process for taking limits ahead of time. He also does not cover all the types of applied problems (word problems)that you will see in class.

Ultimately whether you find this DVD useful will depend in large part on how you learn. This is basically like watching a lecture on TV. Obviously, you cannot interact with Jason as you can with a tutor, and you are limited to the problems that he works out. Some of his problems will match what you get in class, while others may not. I look at these DVDs as showing the basics and presume I will encounter more complicated problems in the book and on the exams. I use them before class to get an idea of what is going on, then from time to time during the semester if there is a concept I did not get completely in class from my teacher, or if I need to brush up on something. If used in that way, and if your learning style is conducive to that kind of presentation, this will be a great investment.

As I said above I strongly recommend that you get this and the advanced calculus tutor dvd if you are taking classes at the college level. There are things in that DVD set like the L'Hospital's rule and inverse trig functions that you will likely go over in first-semester calculus that you will not get on this DVD. The section on L'Hospital's rule will also give some insight into limits. The other concept that Jason does not go into much at all on this DVD is the "technical" process for taking integrals. He does explain it very briefly, but he does not go into detail about how to use the sum of areas of approximating rectangles to calculate the integral. In my class we only got through the first chapter on integration, the first three sections of which deals with that concept. Then we got to the fundamental theorem of calculus, (the second part of which is what Jason does many examples of), and integration by substitution which is also covered in depth here. Many of the sections on integration that are on this DVD will be covered in second-semester calculus (calculus II) at the college level.

In all, this DVD covers about 80% of what you can expect to see on the final for the first semester of college-level calculus. There are definitely things not presented on the DVD that will be covered in class, so again use this as a supplement, not a replacement for going to class and doing homework problems. This is the material that if you can master it you will do well in the class. Mastering this material will also help you understand the concepts that will be covered in class that are not presented here.

Intermediate Algebra: Chapter 1 (Basic Concepts) Notes and Solved Problems

Starting notes and homework problems for Intermediate Algebra. The notes will be from my book, and I will be working out all of the homework problems for the problem sets, chapter tests, etc. The book is a bit out of date, but that will really only affect some of the data in the word problems.

Chapter 1 Book Notes

Section 1.2 Worked Problem Set

Section 1.3 Worked Problem Set

Textbook/Study Guide Review: Fundamentals of Differential Equations : Solutions Manual

 

This is a student solutions manual for the corresponding textbook, Fundamentals of Differential Equations. It has, like most student solution manuals worked-out answers to most (but not all) of the odd problems from the book, and does not go into any explanation of the theory. I found the actual textbook to be a bit harder to read than some other math books that I used, but thankfully my professor did a fairly good job explaining the topics well. But this was definitely helpful to use when I got stuck on something. So, if you have to use the textbook for class, I would definitely recommend picking this up. If you are teaching yourself differential equations, then I would try to find a different textbook in which case you would not need this.