This textbook is a PreTeXt edition of Beginning Algebra Made Useful" by Charlene E. Beckmann, originally published in PDF only.
This version has identical content, but readers of both editions may encounter minor differences in formatting and page layout.
Beginning Algebra Made Useful was written by Charlene E. Beckman, Professor of Mathematics and Mathematics Education at Grand Valley State University.
This textbook was converted into PreTeXt by Ian Curtis, Editorial Assistant for the GVSU Libraries, as part of the Accelerating Open Educational Resources Initiative at Grand Valley State University, with support from the University Libraries and the President's Innovation Fund.
This edition is released under a Creative Commons - Attribution - Noncommercial - Sharealike license (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0). This allows users to use, share, and adapt the work as long as they provide attribution to the creator(s), avoid using the work for commercial purposes, and share any adaptation with the same license.
In addition to the permissions granted by the CC-BY-NC-SA license, the author grants permission for bookstores and/or print shops at K-12, colleges, and universities to reproduce and sell print copies of this book. Other commercial uses of the book are not permitted.
The code used to generate this book can be found in the GVSU OER GitHub repository. This includes the PreTeXt XML files, figures, customization files (XSL), and the output (HTML and PDF). Contributors are encouraged to submit an issue or a pull request with changes, especially regarding accessibility (as mentioned below).
Suggested Attribution: Beginning Algebra Made Useful by Charlene E. Beckman, adapted for PreTeXt by Ian Curtis and published by the Grand Valley State University Libraries.
The Grand Valley State University Libraries strive to ensure our tools, devices, services, and environments are available to and usable by as many people as possible.
The web version of Beginning Algebra Made Useful incorporates the following features to support accessibility:
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All content can be navigated by use of a keyboard
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Links, headings, and tables have been designed to work with screen readers
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Mathematics in are rendered with MathJax so they can be understood by using screen readers and/or other assistive devices.
However, an instructor should note that nearly all exercises and activities in the text rely on visual interaction, for example: counting images, comparing figures, or describing a graph. These activities cannot be made accessible through alt text or an in-text description.
This accessibility challenge was beyond the GVSU Libraries' capacity to address in the course of this adaptation. Full accessibility may require a comprehensive redesign of the learning activities by educators with expertise in mathematics pedagogy.
We are always looking for how we can make our resources more accessible. If you are having problems accessing this resource, please contact us by email to let us know.
To edit the files used to compile this book, we recommend following the instructions from Oscar Levin, University of Northern Colorado.
Essentially, you will need a text editor, such as Visual Studio Code, Python, and LaTeX. After properly installing the necessary software, you may use the command line to install the PreTeXt-CLI through pip install pretextbook. Then familarize yourself with PreTeXt with
pretext new book
You may clone this repository by clicking on the green "Code" button above and copying the HTTPS url. Then,
git clone <HTTPS-url-you-just-copied>
cd beckmann-textbook
Edit the files you would like to, then submit a pull request. Alternatively, you can submit an issue (the issues tab at the top of this page) so we and/or other developers may address it.