College Algebra Workbook PDFs

Please provide credit to me when sharing all or parts of this workbook with other educators, even if you have modified it to suit your course needs. This work is protected under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

Updated - Version 3

As of January 2024, I have completed my third and final version of the workbook. Most notably, I split the original workbook into two books:

  1. College Algebra Workbook, v.3, contains all of the lecture notes and what was originally Appendix C for more details on formulas and techniques. This is intended to be purchased and written in by the students as in-class guided notes.

  2. The College Algebra Exercise Book acts as the workbook’s companion and contains all of the original exercises as well as the original Appendix A (hints for those exercises) and the original Appendix B (additional practice problems and their answers). This may be may either be purchased by the students to use as paper-based homework or simply offered digitally as optional extra practice to supplement either online homework or some other alternative assignments.

Separating the lectures notes from the exercises should lower printing costs for students and the smaller size makes it easier to bring to class each day.

Blank Student Version PDFs

This is the version intended to be distributed to students. These are blank outlines for students to fill in during class and to use for paper-based homework.

The intention is to have students purchase a physical copy of this workbook, in its entirety, through whatever services on your campus create course readers. The reader should be printed double-sided, black & white, and comb/spiral bound.

However, to provide as much flexibility as possible, I have also provided downloads for each individual section and the appendices (see below) separately. You may choose to use particular pieces of the workbook, instead of the entire thing, or present the sections in a different order. These will download as zip files containing the individual lessons or exercises for each section in each chapter.

You can also offer digital copies free of charge to students with tablets. Ideally, students should not be trying type onto it using a laptop. They will get better practice through hand-writing, either on paper or with a tablet and stylus.

Instructor Solution Key PDFs

These lesson keys are guidelines for you to teach the material if you are using this workbook as outlined notes in class. You are of course free (and expected) to reword things to better fit your teaching style, but please take caution in changing the order within individual sections as it may confuse students. If you do change the order or skip certain parts, just be sure to make the alterations very clear to students who are following along on the outline.

I also encourage you to consider providing the solution keys to your students when you deem it is appropriate. Perhaps the lesson keys can be given to students who missed a class and need notes, or perhaps the exercise keys can be provided after homework is due so students can check their work. These are just some ideas and providing the solution keys is entirely up to your discretion. (Though it is worth remembering they could potentially find this site on their own…)

Note to Students:

If you found this website because you are a student whose instructor is teaching out of this workbook and you are excited that you just hit the jackpot by finding all the solution keys, then a few words of caution for you…

  1. By copying the key without attempting the problems yourself first, you are robbing yourself of valuable practice for quizzes and exams. You will not properly learn the material unless you actually try these yourself first.

  2. Yes, it is totally obvious when your work magically exactly matches the key.

So, proceed with caution!

Appendices

The Workbook Lecture Appendix provides extra details on certain formulas and techniques. Of particular interest, instructors who are not familiar with the “Diamond-and-Box” factoring method presented in Section 1.4 may want to look into the accompanying Appendix entry for more details.

The Exercise Book Appendix A provides hints for the exercises accompanying each section of lecture.

The Exercise Book Appendix B provides even more practice problems. The answers are provided as well, just not full worked out solutions.