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Lial's Geometry: any opinions?


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Still in search of geometry here... :) My older sons have used Lial's for Pre-Algebra, Intro. Algebra, and Intermediate Algebra, but never for Geometry,and I've been happy with those books.. Tried both ClassMate and MUS and both bombed (boys claimed inadequate instruction/ explanation). Somehow I had the impression that Lial's Geometry was exceedingly tough--am I wrong? Would it be a feasible choice for an artsy, non-math boy?

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Still in search of geometry here... :) My older sons have used Lial's for Pre-Algebra, Intro. Algebra, and Intermediate Algebra, but never for Geometry,and I've been happy with those books.. Tried both ClassMate and MUS and both bombed (boys claimed inadequate instruction/ explanation). Somehow I had the impression that Lial's Geometry was exceedingly tough--am I wrong? Would it be a feasible choice for an artsy, non-math boy?

 

..

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Stacey--I have the Lials Geometry. It wasn't very new when I bought it -maybe 7 or 8 years ago! There was only the one edition at the time. (it was sort of expensive also)It seems to be for college students. I can go dig it out if you would like me to look at it. My dd 1 was using the Lial Algebra at a homeschool coop and we liked it (she was in 8th grade)so I was just learning about ebay (!) and starting "collecting" some of the Lials and also the Larsons. When she switched to an accredited HS program (Indiana U) and we had to use what they used for the courses. If this is the one you are interested in I can get it out later on today--specifically what would you like to know?

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Stacey--I have the Lials Geometry. It wasn't very new when I bought it -maybe 7 or 8 years ago! There was only the one edition at the time. (it was sort of expensive also)It seems to be for college students. I can go dig it out if you would like me to look at it. My dd 1 was using the Lial Algebra at a homeschool coop and we liked it (she was in 8th grade)so I was just learning about ebay (!) and starting "collecting" some of the Lials and also the Larsons. When she switched to an accredited HS program (Indiana U) and we had to use what they used for the courses. If this is the one you are interested in I can get it out later on today--specifically what would you like to know?

 

Thanks.... I'm wondering if it is very heavy on formal proofs, for eg, if it requires a graphing calculator or Geometer's Sketchpad, how many chapters it has, and if it just seems more on the demanding side than not :)

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Still in search of geometry here... :) My older sons have used Lial's for Pre-Algebra, Intro. Algebra, and Intermediate Algebra, but never for Geometry,and I've been happy with those books.. Tried both ClassMate and MUS and both bombed (boys claimed inadequate instruction/ explanation). Somehow I had the impression that Lial's Geometry was exceedingly tough--am I wrong? Would it be a feasible choice for an artsy, non-math boy?

 

../.

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Sorry Stacey- so --I got the book out (1st edition) I know they now have a second edition. They seem to be quite expensive (even used) My book doesn't have a lot of photos so it seems small. (400 pages and a smaller style ( 8x9) The chapters are--

1. Foundations of G.

2. Introduction to Proofs

3. Traiangles

4. Parallel lines

5. Ration, Proportion and Similarity

6. Right Tri and Pyth. theorem

7. conics

8. inequalities

9. solid geometry

10. geometric Loci

11. Intro to analytic Geom

12. Triangle Trig

 

 

There are answers to odds in the back. I would say there are a lot of proofs throughout the book, both in the examples and the problems.

There's a review on Amazon about the newer one which really doesn't give it a great recommendation. They seemed to think it wasn't much better than any high school book. Looking through the theorums and all I would say that there isn't much that wasn't covered in the one we did (USCMP) But definitely a lot more proofs. The Univ. of chicago course is a lot larger book, with very nice photos and not too many problems at the end of each section. It might not be the most rigorous, but both of mine ended up liking geometry pretty well using the book. (Potters school uses the series) we only used it for geometry.

My issue would be price for value, I think. HTH Any other questions? Nancy

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Sorry Stacey- so --I got the book out (1st edition) I know they now have a second edition. They seem to be quite expensive (even used) My book doesn't have a lot of photos so it seems small. (400 pages and a smaller style ( 8x9) The chapters are--

1. Foundations of G.

2. Introduction to Proofs

3. Traiangles

4. Parallel lines

5. Ration, Proportion and Similarity

6. Right Tri and Pyth. theorem

7. conics

8. inequalities

9. solid geometry

10. geometric Loci

11. Intro to analytic Geom

12. Triangle Trig

 

 

There are answers to odds in the back. I would say there are a lot of proofs throughout the book, both in the examples and the problems.

There's a review on Amazon about the newer one which really doesn't give it a great recommendation. They seemed to think it wasn't much better than any high school book. Looking through the theorums and all I would say that there isn't much that wasn't covered in the one we did (USCMP) But definitely a lot more proofs. The Univ. of chicago course is a lot larger book, with very nice photos and not too many problems at the end of each section. It might not be the most rigorous, but both of mine ended up liking geometry pretty well using the book. (Potters school uses the series) we only used it for geometry.

My issue would be price for value, I think. HTH Any other questions? Nancy

 

Thanks, Nancy. I find it so hard to decide on math because none of my sons *likes* math, and I don't know if that's because of the programs used , or because they just aren't really wired for math. I did well on math through calculus, at which point I no longer enjoyed it :tongue_smilie: but it seems as though my kids *never* liked math, period. Sigh.... I will probably resort to TT Geometry just to get it done.

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this is exactly what we are doing...using TT Geometry. But, I must say, it has been challenging. Don't discount it because the algebras get less than stellar reviews. It is proof heavy and my dd is sick of doing them!!! I think it is actually a decent course and well, it will get the job done!

 

Good luck in your decision.

Robin

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