teaching math

In my opinion, the core of algebra is solving word problems. When a student learns how to translate worded situations into math equations, that, i think, is the time that he really understands math. This is the difference of algebra and arithmetic. You learn the 'hows' of the basic operations in arithmetic, but it is in algebra that you learn when to use them. it's easy to add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers. But is it easy to determine when to use them and why? It is algebra that teaches us the logic of using the basic operations that we learn in arithmetic. Moreover, formulas are models of worded situations. In my opinion, and from my experience, i don't want students to have a copy of their formulas during exam bec. that makes their learning process a memorization instead of analysis. We teach how to analize in our math subjects and not to memorize the formulas. A student should be able formulate equations from a given situation. And if a student understood how or why a particular formula looks like how it looks, he doesn't need a copy to recall it. He should be able to write it from the problem he is solving.

I don't think math books are for you to read. They are not novels. The math books always have exercises in them. They are in there not to be read but to be done. Working on exercises, referring to similar examples help a lot.