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What is the Algebra Coach?

The Algebra Coach is an app that can help you learn algebra. It explains algebra step-by-step exactly the way the teacher does. It is powerful but still easy to understand and use.

Download the Algebra Coach and try it free for three weeks. If you like it then you can buy it for $24.95 – a fraction of the price of an algebra textbook.  And it comes with an electronic textbook! You can't get better value.

The picture below shows how the Algebra Coach works. Suppose that you are asked to

The teacher says it can be done in three steps but you don’t know how or why. So ...

1. You type the equation into the Listbox.
2. You click ‘OK’.
3. The Algebra Coach displays a set of buttons that operate on equations.
4. You click the ‘AutoSolve’ button repeatedly.
5. With each click the Algebra Coach explains a step.
6. After the third step the equation is solved.

After any step you can press F1 on the keyboard and the Algebra Help e-book opens up right to the paragraph that describes that step in detail.  No more asking the teacher “how did you do that step?” Here is the e-book if you press F1 after step 1 – transposing.

The Algebra Help e-book also contains exercise problems that you can drag-and-drop into the Algebra Coach.

The Algebra Coach can also teach you how to manipulate an expression – simplify, factor, expand, complete the square, and so on. Click here to see an example of completing the square.

Suppose that you want to know how to put the quadratic expression

x² + 6 x + 16

into completed-square form. To do this:

1. You type the expression into the Listbox.
2. You again click ‘OK’.
3. This time the Algebra Coach displays a set of buttons that operate on expressions.
4. You click the ‘Complete the square’ button repeatedly.
5. With each click the Algebra Coach explains a step.
6. After the fifth step the expression is in completed-square form.

As always you can press F1 on the keyboard and the Algebra Help e-book opens up to the section describing the completing-the-square process.

The Algebra Coach can also teach you how to prove a trigonometric identity. Click here to see details on that.

Suppose that you are learning about trigonometric identities and that you are asked to prove the identity

Note that even though this identity contains an = sign, you cannot ‘solve it’, say by transposing – you are only allowed to manipulate the left side and/or the right side until the two sides are identical. You do this by clicking on the ‘Do to left side’ and ‘Do to right side’ buttons.

This will display the buttons that you can use to manipulate the expression on the left side or the expression on the right side.

But first you need to set some options. The status bar at the bottom of the Algebra Coach shows the options that you need to change most frequently. By clicking on any panel of the status bar you can cycle through its options. For this problem you want to see the result only (not the whole step-by-step explanation), and you need the letter p to represent π and you need π/4 to be an angle in radians (not degrees).

Now you are ready to prove the identity. All you need to do is to click on the ‘Break apart trig’ button on the left side. This breaks the expression on the left side into its basic sine and cosine pieces. Then you do the same thing on the right side.

Because the two sides are now identical the identity is proven.

The Algebra Coach can solve every type of equation that you will encounter in high school or college algebra. Here is a (particularly nasty looking) rational equation. This equation requires about 20 steps to arrive at the solution and in step-by-step mode you would see all 20 of them. In result-only mode you see the result only. In exact mode the solution is shown as fractions. In floating point mode it would be shown as decimal numbers.

What you have seen is just the tip of the iceberg. The Algebra Coach can do much, much more. Let's get started!

Download and Installation Instructions for the Algebra Coach

• If you have an older version of the Algebra Coach (3.0 or lower) then uninstall it first.
  
  
• Click the blue Download button to download the setup file.
  
  
    algebra_coach_4.0_setup.exe
  
  
• Find the setup file in your downloads folder and double-click on it to install the Algebra Coach.
  
  
• Here is what gets installed:
  1. The Algebra Coach app.
  2. The Algebra e-book.
  3. A Help File showing how to use every feature of the Algebra Coach app; for example how to enter fractions, exponents and functions and how to set the options. The help file has a quick start section – a good place to get started!
  4. Two sample files; one of which shows off the Algebra Coach's newest feature: the ability to prove trigonometric identities.
     
     
• The Algebra Coach will run for a 21 day trial period without the product key. After that you must buy the product key for the app to continue to run.
  
  
• If you have any problems installing or using the Algebra Coach please email me. I will be happy to help.
  

Buy The Algebra Coach

• You’ve used the Algebra Coach in trial mode, you like it, and you want to buy the product key in order to keep using it. Start the Algebra Coach one more time and write down the serial number that is displayed in the dialog box. This serial number is different on every computer.
  
  
  
  
  
• Type the serial number into the text box below. Then click the yellow ‘Buy Now’ button. This takes you to the PayPal website. PayPal is a trusted, secure system that is used by many online merchants to process payments. The cost of the Algebra Coach is $24.95 USD.
  
  
  Enter product serial number(s)
  
  
  
  
• When I recieve your order I will send you the product key for your computer by email (within 24 hours). Start the Algebra Coach again, enter the product key, and you are ready to go.
  
  

Some more details

• If you have more than one computer at home, or if you have one computer at home and one at the office — no problem. Just include the product serial number for each computer in your order.
  
  
• When you get a new computer just send me an email saying so, including the new product serial number, and I will be happy to send the product key for your new computer.
  
  
• You are entitled to free upgrades of the Algebra Coach.
  
  
• If you are a school then contact me. You can buy a school license that permits the Algebra Coach to be installed on all the computers at your school as well as those in the homes of the faculty and students at your school.