Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Before College Math, Roxane Elena Ronca

A Collection of Open Access Books and Monographs

Most math books for college students start out reviewing “rules” in an introductory chapter. The review usually goes like this: here are the “rules”, here are some examples of using those “rules” and here are 10 to 100 exercises where you will practice using those “rules” and then you’ll be tested on them.

The problem with that approach, even if it seems familiar and comfortable to you, is that people learn, in part, by connecting new ideas and perspectives to what they already understand, and correcting any previous misunderstandings. This process takes time and effort. Memorizing rules to quickly retrieve …