WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MYTHS SURROUNDING JOHN SAXON’S MATH BOOKS?
(Myth 3)
Saxon Algebra 2, 2nd or 3rd Ed Does Not Contain Formal Two-Column Proofs.
When you hear someone say that if you use John Saxon’s Algebra 2 textbook, you will need a separate geometry book because “There are no two-column proofs in John Saxon’s Algebra 2 textbook,“ they are telling you that either (1) they have never used that textbook or (2) if they did use it, they never finished the book – they stopped before reaching lesson 124, or (3) they used the new fourth edition which has no geometry content.
Whether they are using the second or third edition of John’s Algebra 2 book, students will encounter more than forty informal and formal two-column proof problems in the last six lessons of the textbook. The first ten or so geometry proof problems students encounter in lesson 124 of the textbook are the more informal method of outlining a proof. John felt this introduction to the informal outline would get the students better prepared for the more formal two-column proofs that they will encounter later. Then, from lesson 125 through lesson 129, students will be asked to solve more than thirty formal two-column proofs that are as challenging as any the students will encounter using any separate geometry textbook.
If they proceed onto the Saxon Advanced Mathematics course the following school year, they will encounter two dozen informal proofs in the first ten or so lessons followed by more than forty-six formal two-column proofs in the next thirty or so lessons. They will encounter at least one formal two column proof problem in every lesson through lesson forty and then encounter them less frequently through the next twenty or so lessons of the book.
When I was teaching high school math in a rural public high school, I taught both Saxon Algebra 2 as well as John’s Advanced Mathematics course. The students who took my Advanced Mathematics class came from my Algebra 2 class as well as another teacher’s Algebra 2 class. I recall the students in my Advanced Mathematics class who had taken Saxon Algebra 2 from me would comment that the two-column proofs in the Advanced Mathematics book were easier than those they had encountered last year in our Algebra 2 book. “Perhaps you have learned how to do two-column proofs” was my reply.
However, the students who came from the other teacher’s Algebra 2 class moaned and groaned about how tough these two-column proofs were in the Advanced Mathematics book. After discussing the situation with the other teacher, I found that she knew I would cover two-column proofs in the early part of the Advanced Mathematics textbook so she stopped at lesson 122 in the Algebra 2 course – never covering the introduction to two-column proofs.
The geometry concepts encountered in John Saxon’s Algebra 2 textbook – whether the second or third edition – is the equivalent of the first semester material of a regular high school geometry course and that includes a rigorous amount of formal two-column proofs!
If you are using the new fourth edition of Algebra 2, you must also purchase a separate geometry textbook to acquire geometry credit as the new fourth editions of the revised HMHCO Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 textbooks have had the geometry content removed from them.
Myths that will be discussed in future news articles:
Aug – Myth 4 – You Must Use the New Saxon Geometry Textbook to Receive Geometry Credit.
Sept –Myth 5 – Advanced Mathematics Can be Taken Easily in a Single School Year!
Oct – Myth 6 -You Do Not Have to Finish the Last Twenty or So Lessons in any Saxon Math Book