I tend to learn best with a teacher. I’m not so good with Brain Surgery For Dummies, where I have to just sort of follow along, maybe because so many of those “courses” tend to skip a lot of basic steps, and aren’t for real dummies after all. Anyway, I’d like to start over with algebra. I don’t think I really got it originally, don’t think I can do it very well and I’d like to do it again. Does anyone know of a good guide that I might avail myself of, short of just signing up for a night course? Maybe a good online tutorial? I haven’t found one that looks too promising. I don’t think I want to work myself up to differential equations. Just enough to get myself capable of working myself through some basic physics problems maybe. Every time I try to solve some of the most basic of those, I find myself dragged down by my basic stupidity with the rudiments of basic algebra. Any suggestions? xo, C.
As far as learning algebra: after I had forgotten all the algebra I learned in middle school, and needing to pass a math test to get into engineering school, I looked up “Algebra” in the World Book Encylocpedia and re-learned enough to pass the test with flying colors.
As far as most basic physics problems go, you need to learn calculus to really understand what’s doing on. Otherwise you’ll missapply a lot of equations.
** Learn Algebra Online **
or use google to find other sites to Learn Algebra Online!
You could try clicking around here a bit. I don’t know how much that would help, but it seems worth a try, and if you find that it’s useful but needs some work, well, it’s a wiki!
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/School_of_Mathematics:High_School_Mathematics
Pepper Mill had to refresh her algebra a couple of years ago for some courses she was taking, and I picked up several books at the local Barnes and Noble – titles like “Forgotten Algebra” and “Algebra made Simple” and the Scaum’s Outline Series book on Algebra – there’s no shortage of such books, and they’re all pretty good.
Check out The Realm of Algebra by Isaac Asimov.
It’s awesome!
Try a problem solver. You can work at your own pace, and nothing is left to mystery.
If you’re open to technology, there are software applications that perform symbolic algebra.
You can also learn algebra from a bewildering array of onsite resources.
^^^online resources^^^
I’d really suggest you take an in-person course, say, at a community college. There’s nothing like having a real person who can answer your immediate questions. You will also run into others who are also trying to learn algebra and can get some support from them too.
I second a community college since the OP mentioned being able to learn best with a teacher. Look for a college near you and look for a good teacher at ratemyprofessor.com and go from there.
Community colleges are a really underrated resource. They’re not so good for getting a job, but if you just want to learn a topic, you can’t get a better education anywhere else at the same price point.
A lot of community colleges also offer free tutors if you need additional help.