Annabel Lee Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 What are the differences between Foerster's and Lial's for Pre-Algebra, Alg. 1, Alg.2, etc.? I notice Foerster's is by Prentice Hall and Lial's is by Pearson. I'm interested in knowing if either has a very heavy emphasis on memorizing calculator formulas (esp. to the point of crowding out real understanding), if one is more user-friendly (in an open-and-go format for the parent/teacher), if one requires more parental math knowledge than the other, and any other differences you may know.Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 I don't think either has an emphasis on memorization. I found Lial to be more user friendly, but Foerster is well known for his word problems. BTW, Prentice Hall is owned by Pearson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Foerster doesn't have pre-algebra. The algebra book is a bit older (at least my edition is). It's definitely aimed at middle or high school algebra 1. I think Lials is aimed at remedial community college students. I only saw Lials pre-algebra about two years ago and felt it was a bit busy and visually distracting, but lots of board members have used it successfully. Foersters looks heavy and dry compared with some more recent books, but it hasn't been a problem. There is a nice word problem focus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 They're both solid options. IMO Foersters is more challenging. I haven't seen any alg course that focuses on memorization, and certainly not these two. They're both open and go, self-teaching texts. Lial has busier pages. You start by reading the lesson, and occasionally move out to the margins to work practice problems. After a few pages of that you reach a problem set. The general recommendation is to do odds or evens and all the word problems. A lesson takes about 2 days. Foerster pages are more plain. Read through the lesson and do the problem set. Again, odds or evens and all the story problems. Or there's a schedule in the TM for assigning old problems for review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Double post. Nothing to see here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Lee Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 Thanks, this is exactly the information I was looking for. I wondered about emphasis on calculator formula memorization because my dd experienced this in a b&m high school Alg. 2 class. She didn't know how to do the math without the calculator, so if she forgot any part of the calculator formula, she got problems wrong. I'm looking for nearly the opposite of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 They both occasionally have problems intended to be done on a calculator. Those problems can easily be done by hand, and there's never more than a few of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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