Algebra II Essentials For Dummies

Mary Jane Sterling

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781119590873
• eBook ISBN: 9781119590927
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Mathematics
• Subtopic: Algebra
• Index: Mathematics

Algebra II Essentials For Dummies (9781119590873) was previously published as Algebra II Essentials For Dummies (9780470618400). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.

Passing grades in two years of algebra courses are required for high school graduation. Algebra II Essentials For Dummies covers key ideas from typical second-year Algebra coursework to help students get up to speed. Free of ramp-up material, Algebra II Essentials For Dummies sticks to the point, with content focused on key topics only. It provides discrete explanations of critical concepts taught in a typical Algebra II course, from polynomials, conics, and systems of equations to rational, exponential, and logarithmic functions. This guide is also a perfect reference for parents who need to review critical algebra concepts as they help students with homework assignments, as well as for adult learners headed back into the classroom who just need a refresher of the core concepts.

The Essentials For Dummies Series
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Chapter 1

Making Advances in Algebra

IN THIS CHAPTER

Making algebra orderly with the order of operations and other properties

Enlisting rules of exponents

Focusing on factoring

Algebra is a branch of mathematics that people study before they move on to other areas or branches in mathematics and science. Algebra all by itself is esthetically pleasing, but it springs to life when used in other applications.

Any study of science or mathematics involves rules and patterns. You approach the subject with the rules and patterns you already know, and you build on those rules with further study. In this chapter, I recap for you the basic rules from Algebra I so that you work from the correct structure. I present these basics so you can further your study of algebra and feel confident in your algebraic ability.

Bringing Out the Best in Algebraic Properties

Mathematicians developed the rules and properties you use in algebra so that every student, researcher, curious scholar, and bored geek working on the same problem would get the same answer — no matter the time or place.

Making short work of the basic properties

The commutative, associative, and other such properties are not only basic to algebra, but also to geometry and many other mathematical topics. I present the properties here so that I can refer to them as I solve equations and simplify expressions in later chapters.

The commutative property

The commutative property applies to the operations of addition and multiplication. It states that you can change the order of the values in an operation without changing the final result:

So you can be sure that

and

.

The associative property

Like the commutative property (see the preceding section), the associative property applies to the operations of addition and multiplication. The associative property states that you can change the grouping of operations without changing the result:

This property tells you that

and that

.

The distributive property

The distributive pr...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Making Advances in Algebra
• Chapter 2: Lining Up Linear Equations
• Chapter 3: Making Quick Work of Quadratic Equations
• Chapter 4: Rolling Along with Rational and Radical Equations
• Chapter 5: Forging Function Facts
• Chapter 6: Graphing Linear and Quadratic Functions
• Chapter 7: Pondering Polynomials
• Chapter 8: Being Respectful of Rational Functions
• Chapter 9: Examining Exponential and Logarithmic Functions
• Chapter 10: Getting Creative with Conics
• Chapter 11: Solving Systems of Equations
• Chapter 12: Taking the Complexity Out of Complex Numbers
• Chapter 13: Ten (or So) Special Formulas
• Index
• About the Author
• Advertisement Page
• Connect with Dummies
• End User License Agreement