The 10 Best Algebra Textbooks

Students who need algebra explained one small step at a time should start with No-Nonsense Algebra. Richard W. Fisher, a veteran math teacher, splits first-year algebra into short, self-contained lessons, each with worked examples and a quick review of earlier skills. Chapter tests and a final exam show what has stuck, and the book comes with free online video lessons. It stops at Algebra 1, so anyone heading into Algebra 2 will need a second book.

Homeschool families who want a full year of algebra with constant practice often choose Saxon Algebra 1. John Saxon's method adds one small idea per lesson and mixes earlier topics into every problem set, so skills don't fade between chapters. It works well for a parent-led course, though the plain pages look dated. The answer key and tests are sold separately, and some students find the steady mixed review slow and repetitive.

Built for kids who like hard problems, AoPS Introduction to Algebra by Richard Rusczyk asks students to wrestle with a puzzle before the book explains the idea behind it. Art of Problem Solving says it works as a full Algebra I course and then reaches into logarithms and sequences, aimed at grades six through nine and math-contest hopefuls. Full worked answers sit in a separate solutions manual, and a student shaky on the basics may find the pace discouraging.

For a parent or adult brushing up on the basics, Algebra I For Dummies explains each idea in plain talk with a worked example right after it. Mary Jane Sterling taught math at Bradley University for decades, and she points out the slips students tend to make. It's a guide to read alongside a class, not a full course, and it has few practice problems; Wiley sells a matching workbook for that.

Once first-year algebra makes sense, Algebra II For Dummies carries the same friendly approach into functions, logarithms, conic sections and sequences. Mary Jane Sterling walks through each method with a worked example, which helps a high schooler who missed a lesson or a college student retaking the course. Readers have caught a few math errors in this edition, so double-check a puzzling answer, and it skims topics a full class covers in depth.

Many parents learned from Dolciani Structure and Method, the classic school text by Mary P. Dolciani and Richard G. Brown, and it still has a loyal following. It treats algebra as a set of rules to understand and justify, not steps to copy, and its problem sets climb from routine to tough. That suits a strong or curious student. This McDougal Littell printing is decades old, so the design looks plain, and copies are scarce.

Students at a school that uses the Larson books, or anyone who wants a complete second-year course, can work from McDougal Littell Algebra 2. Ron Larson and his co-authors cover functions, matrices, logarithms, conic sections and probability in a full-color hardcover with many worked examples. It's written to be taught from, so it's slow going alone, and this 2004 edition is out of print, with copies getting harder to find.

College students taking algebra and trigonometry in one course often end up with Blitzer Algebra and Trigonometry. Robert Blitzer opens topics with real-world stories and a bit of humor, which keeps a long book readable, and the exercises run from routine drills to word problems. This is the 2017 sixth edition, so check which edition a class requires, and note that online homework codes don't come with used copies.

Martin-Gay Intermediate Algebra is a good fit for a college student who passed beginning algebra but needs more practice before college algebra or statistics. Elayn Martin-Gay writes in short steps, pairs each kind of exercise with a worked example and adds chapter reviews and tests. This is the 2016 seventh edition, which is fine for learning on your own, but it stops short of trigonometry.

Adults who want to relearn algebra on a phone or tablet can start cheaply with Teach Yourself Algebra, Hugh Neill's British guide. It moves from basic operations and equations through graphs, quadratics and logarithms, with worked examples and practice questions answered at the back. This link is the Kindle edition, and British spelling and terms can trip up American students now and then.