This no-nonsense guide provides students and self-learners with a clear and readable study of algebra's most important ideas. Tim Hill's distraction-free approach combines decades of tutoring experience with the proven methods of his Russian math teachers. The result: learn in a few weeks what conventional schools stretch into months. - Teaches general principles that can be applied to a wide variety of problems. - Avoids the mindless and excessive routine computations that characterize conventional textbooks. - Treats algebra as a logically coherent discipline, not as a disjointed collection of techniques. - Restores proofs to their proper place to remove doubt, convey insight, and encourage precise logical thinking. - Omits digressions, excessive formalities, and repetitive exercises. - Covers all the algebra needed to take a calculus course. - Includes problems (with all solutions) that extend your knowledge rather than merely reinforce it. Contents 1. A Few Basics 2. Exponents 3. Polynomials 4. Factoring 5. Linear & Quadratic Equations 6. Inequalities & Absolute Values 7. Coordinates in a Plane 8. Functions & Graphs 9. Straight Lines 10. Circles 11. Parabolas 12. Types of Functions 13. Logarithms 14. Dividing Polynomials 15. Systems of Linear Equations 16. Geometric Progressions & Series 17. Arithmetic Progressions 18. Permutation & Combinations 19. The Binomial Theorem 20. Mathematical Induction 21. Solutions