Gregory Bullock - Algebra in Words presents WORD PROBLEMS DECODED

Word problems may be one of the most feared and disliked parts of math. There is a major ongoing communication problem in the world of math education. The way that many textbooks and instructors teach doesnt connect with students, leaving too many confused, intimidated, and lost, which results in too many quitting and/or failing, who have the potential to do well. Not all students think and learn alike.

Many students have enough trouble with algebra. Many have more trouble with word problems because they involve new steps, such as setting up the equation, and other facets, such as using units. Yet, textbooks tuck word problems (or, applications, as theyre sometimes called) into a few pages at the end of a chapter. Students are expected to do them, and word problems often carry more weight per question on tests, yet the textbooks do not place enough emphasis on, or even really teach word problems. Many students and instructors are stuck in a quagmire of trying to learn it the textbook way, or even worse, trying to wing it.

This is why even more students dread word problems than plain algebra, and understandably so. Many students dont know where to turn for clarity. Meeting with a tutor often results in the tutor doing the word problems for their client. Still, not much is learned. When test time comes, too often I see students trying to figure out if they can still pass if they skip the word problems.

The major culprits are the textbooks, and sometimes the instructors who insist on doing it the textbook way, or just simply dont offer enough additional insight into how to do word problems. There is a major problem here. Either word problems are taught as being too much the same , with their differences not accentuated, or taught as each being different and random instead of drawing attention to the proper similarities .

This book addresses those problems head-on as it is dedicated to the mini-subject of word problems, as it should be treated, by teaching the basics behind them as a whole, but also identifying key elements and accentuating the differences of each specific type.

Another problem is that textbooks tend to focus more on the solving aspect but not enough on the most important aspect: Students usually dont have as much difficulty solving, but you cant get to the solving steps if you cant set up the equations. This book focuses on all aspects, with a special focus on the hardest part: The Setup .

This book introduces a new, simple, logical process for solving word problems from beginning to end, making sure to focus on the setup step. The secret behind the setup is to properly identify the type of problem (which I teach) and using what I call template equations associated with each type. In this book, students can search the word problem bank by type or category, and from there, either use the template equation, or setup the equation from scratch, as I also teach.

I wrote ALGEBRA IN WORDS: A Guide of Hints, Strategies and Simple Explanations (2014) to bridge the communication gap from the technical math language to students who learn better by worded explanations. With its success, I wrote ALGEBRA IN WORDS 2 (2015) which focused on more advanced topics using the in words explanations. Those books do not cover word problems because I wanted to focus specifically on helping students build a solid foundation in algebra. Then I wanted to take on word problems, focusing on them in a way that would allow students to learn them easier, faster, and more successfully. In the early stages of this book, I wanted to start from scratch and take a fresh look at them, trying to think like a new student learning word problems for the first time. I started testing my methods in my classroom to my students. Upon implementing my own methods and explanations, I saw students (who followed my methods) success on word problems reach near 100% (with the exception of occasional errors). Before then, I was used to having to deduct massive points on tests due to failed or not-even-attempted word problems.

Until now.

This book reveals the simplicity buried under the confusion and intimidation of word problems.

There are 50 word problems in this book, all representative of the types typically learned in an algebra class (see the full list in ). Each word problem is fully worked out and explained. Realistically, word problems need more attention than theyre typically given, meaning more, useful pages and explanations in textbooks, or, their own book.

Now there is one.

This book will teach you everything you need to know about word problems, from the background, to interpreting, to identifying, to setting up, to solving and answering the questions, and even how to properly do unit conversions. It will put you in total control, leave nothing to be desired.

This is WORD PROBLEMS DECODED !