Geometry for Enjoyment & Challenge

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1. Jason Taff says:

   June 25, 2010 at 10:48 am

   Review by Jason Taff for Geometry for Enjoyment & Challenge
   Rating:
   I have taught an honors high school geometry class for almost 11 years using this book. It has its strengths and weaknesses, but I’ve been quite happy with it.

   First its strengths: it presents geometry in a mathematician’s manner, starting with a few postulates and advancing one theorem at a time. For example, it doesn’t tell you that the angles of a triangle add to 180 degrees until it discusses the parallel postulate on which that theorem is based. It proves everything that the authors think is within the understanding of a strong high school geometry student. The problems range from easy to very hard, with a strong emphasis on proof in the first chapters. Students are expected to solve some of the problems creatively, which is why some students who reviewed this book are frustrated by it. This means the book does a good job of presenting math the way it really is (guess, experiment, prove) instead of what students think it is (apply a formula, get the answer). The problems without solutions mentioned in the other reviews are few and far between indeed.

   Its weaknesses: the book really is intended for more self-motivated students that you normally find in high school. I imagine that this book might be off-putting for kids who don’t really care about math. I don’t like how the information at the beginning of the book is divided into chapters, but I just clump the information differently when I teach it. I think that some of the proofs left out of the book are quite accessible to motivated students, and I teach them. I have also been able to teach theorems beyond the scope of the book, which suggests that the book could have gone into more detail.

   Overall, I recommend this book for a geometry course for motivated and bright high school students. I do not recommend it for self-study or for very basic courses. I agree with the other reviewers that it requires a competent teacher, but that’s because no book can teach the creativity and problem-solving skills required to solve difficult problems. This book does not teach toy geometry…don’t use it for kids who need that.

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2. J. Hamon says:

   June 25, 2010 at 11:42 am

   Review by J. Hamon for Geometry for Enjoyment & Challenge
   Rating:
   Geometry for Enjoyment and Challenge was an excellent resource for me as I studied Geometry on my own this past year. The textbook being used in my geometry class was somewhat incomplete and too simple so my math teacher, and Geometry team coach, issued me an old copy of this book–Geometry for Enjoyment & Challenge. I sat in the back of class and studied this text. The problems, though challenging, provided the mental stimulation I’d been looking for in a math class. By spring, I was able to put on a very strong showing at a state-level math contest using theorems and skills gained from this book. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to gain a useful grasp of Geometry.

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3. Nicholas Jerrold says:

   June 25, 2010 at 12:02 pm

   Review by Nicholas Jerrold for Geometry for Enjoyment & Challenge
   Rating:
   This geometry book is not for the weak. Forget about the days of purely computational geometry. This book is all about proofs. I have found myself learning a great deal about geometry, though.

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4. Anonymous says:

   June 25, 2010 at 12:47 pm

   Review by for Geometry for Enjoyment & Challenge
   Rating:
   I was recently a student in a class that used this book. i found the descriptions and problems extremely helpful in my studies. There were some examples of impossible problems, but in the teacher answer book I was shown by my teacher that these were intentional. I strongly reccommend this book to fast pased students who enjoy the fun and challenge of begginer’s consept math.

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5. Michael Smith says:

   June 25, 2010 at 1:38 pm

   Review by Michael Smith for Geometry for Enjoyment & Challenge
   Rating:
   This book is old for a school textbook, but it is still pretty good. The problems are not bad, and explanations are pretty good. I do wish that the book would sometimes give more information on sample problems. Also, more detailed answers in the back of the book would be nice (I doubt the publishers would ever do this nor teachers wouldn’t like it!). Still a good book. I like Algebra better than Honors Geometry. I had no choice in texts, I just took what the school gave me. If you want to self-study geometry, this book would probably be good too – although I would advise buying an answer booklet for self-study as you will probably need it.

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