A Comparison of Textbooks

[fishy89sg]

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in my opinion (in red)

Conceptual Development: Maths In Focus
+ This book is excellent at explaining most things and for developing the basic skills for each topic. So if you find yourself struggling to understand a topic, try this book.
- Theory is too simplified
- Many Extension students dislike this book because it is too easy and does not contain many, if any, hard questions.
- If you have the 3U copy it is hard to tell whether or not a topic is part of the 2U or 3U course. (they have produced a second edition which shows which topicss are 3U)
- Examples provided are very simple and usually do not help with harder questions.
- No worked solutions. (they do have some worked solutions...?)

I love Maths in Focus, but I do Cambridge for an extra challenge

[Delirium]

Are the Cambridge Mathematics Extension 1 books more comprehensive in coverage than Fitzpatrick? I find that the Fitzpatrick Mathematics Extension 1 book leaves a lot of things out. What about the Cambridge Mathematics Extension 2 book? Why are the explanations sometimes not clear in it? Is it because the things are only explained in one particular way?

Are the Cambridge Mathematics Extension 1 & 2 books generally comprehensive (i.e. the questions and explanations cover all necessary cases)?

I'm considering purchasing these books in the near future, so any information about them would be appreciated... (there is only so much you can see in flipping through it in the bookstore -- and I would hate to spend approximately $50 on each and end up being disappointed).

[SoulSearcher]

The Cambrigde Extension 1 books are certainly quite through in their explanations and questions, so the money wouldn't be wasted there, not so sure about the Cambridge Extension 2 book.

[Riviet]

Cambridge extension 2 is great for some variety and definitely worth getting for more challenging questions.

[Grey Council]

lol, are you serious? =\

Coroneos:
+ This book is great. It's good at all the areas: Good diagrams, good explanations, many question to practice with.
+ The questions are the strength of this text. They cover the entire spectrum of skills which students require and lead you into the hard questions progressively.
+ The harder questions often involve interesting skills which are not taught at a 2u level but would be classified as "component B", of which the HSC must comprise at least 20%. Thus it is worth your while to try these questions.
+ With regard to explanations and worked solutions: The book is DESIGNED SO THAT A STUDENT CAN TEACH HIMSELF/HERSELF. Suffice it to say, I taught myself 3 4u maths topics from nothing but coroneos book for 4u. And most of the 2u course from the 2u coroneos book. Like half of the 3u course from the 3u coroneos book. yeah, i'm a terrible student but i got 96 for 3u, so I did something right
- Doesn't look very flashy. No high tech pictures etc etc


with all due respect, Coroneos is by far the best course book. For 2u, 3u AND 4u.

I honestly have no idea how you managed to get such a low opinion of it, it has great explanations, each exercise having like 4 pages worth, with EVERY sort of question explained before each chapter.

I wouldn't say fitzpatrick has great explanations =\ in many cases the explanation is insufficient. And with the 'wide' variety of questions, it gets ridiculous heaps of times. eg: 3u fitzpatrick's circle geometry. heh, even 4u doesn't ask some of that stuff :|

edit:
ah buchanan, sorry to hear that. I met him in person when i bought the books off him, he was a v nice man. RIP

[satie]

At least you guys are given books that were made after you were born. We are using the green Jones and Couchman books. The two books we have were last updated in 1982 and 1983. Why is it that they replace the year 7 books before year 12? All the juniors ever do is break them. Anyway I have the Fitzpatrick, its better than the J&Cs, just a bit confusing with some of the explanations.

[xxtiaxchelseaxx]

Our school uses Maths in Focus written in 1994! Which is completely terrible.

[ashraf91]

coroneos all the way, for 2 u and 3u, 4 unit terry lee and arnold arnold
best ever witha different range of questions. the whole 2u course was done alone in 1.5 terms using coroneos, may he r.i.p.

[ashraf91]

i got this new book called fundamental mathematics by terry lee, dont let funtamental fool u, it says itz a 2unit book, but hardy anyfing is from 2unit, itz a 3unit/4unit book, but on d coer it says itz a 2unit, i showed ma teacher, and he said this is mix of hard 3unit and 4unit, but itz a really gud book, go out and buy it, and itz not 1 wit just answers, it has WORKED SOLUTIONS, so yea if ur independant like me and prefer to teach ur self, this is the ultimate book, but still coroneos has a place in my heart lol

[wrxsti]

can you ever got a worse combination... then Couchman and Jone (from the freakn stone age) and "Maths in Focus" (a year 2 kid could do all the questions)

Thats the books we use for 2unit and 3unit.
Makes no difference wat kinda book you use in the end. if you understand concepts thats all that matters

[ashraf91]

But D Book Helps, As It Might Give U Questions Dat Expand Ur Horizons, Shows U New Methods, Like D Challage Questions

[MystidPurple]

Is it a bad thing that my school is still working out of textbooks last reprinted in 1998?

[markzada]

Not really - the maths syllabus hasn't really changed over time. The thing that does change is the way they ask exam questions. You can be prepared for that by doing HSC past papers.

In my opinion, Coroneos is THE best. He has the best explanations before each exercise that ensure you are able to do any of the questions in that exercise. It is the perfect book if you have a crap maths teacher and want to teach yourself. If you only want to buy ONE book, you should be buying Coroneos. If you want more than one, I'd suggest Cambridge or Fitzpatrick with Coroneos.

[nottellingu]

Maths in focus: If you have a crap teacher and desperately need to get a hang of things then its the way to go. If ur only relying on maths in focus ur heading towards failure. The book doesnt hav any questions that arent easy and when a hard question pops up in the test u wouldnt have the required practice and strong foundation that u need to gain near full marks

Fitzpatrick: This is a pretty good book. It has a couple of important worked examples and has questions from easy > challenging. However the downside to this book is that it often doesnt treat a particular part of the syllabus to great detail (eg. in 3u parametrics and mathematical induction) and doesnt have full answers for curve sketching q's.

Cambridge: I reckon this is the best book on the market. It has a lot of questions from the fundamental stuff to the impossible. The questions until the bottom part of the development section must be done and arent really that difficult. Its often good to fiddle around with the odd extension question to improve ur ability to work around difficult questions. The explanations this book has is pretty iffy if u ask me. Its usually very theoretical and hard to understand, so its not the best if u want to do alot of self learning but it does have worked examples b4 each exercise.

Jones & couchman: Yea...its alright i guess. I wouldnt recommend it though...i dont know why, just dont like it.

Coroneos i imagine is a good book. I havent seen the 2u book but from what ive heard its a solid book.

Terry lee is another one I havent used or seen but if the 2u book is anything lyk the 4u book i say go for it.

In conclusion, ur best bet would be to go with fitzpartick and cambridge givning you plenty of questions with variety. Befor your exams go hard with past papers and u should be heading towards HSC success.

Hope that helps

[nottellingu]

Originally Posted by Grey Council

lol, are you serious? =\

with all due respect, Coroneos is by far the best course book. For 2u, 3u AND 4u.

Coroneo doesnt have curve sketching and barely has any questions on conics. But i have to say the complex numbers and integration is much better than other books.