Elementary Algebra is a book for the student. The authors' goal is to help build students' confidence, their understanding and appreciation of math, and their basic skills by presenting an extremely user-friendly text that models a framework in which students can succeed. Unfortunately, students who place into developmental math courses often struggle with math anxiety due to bad experiences in past math courses. Developmental students often have never developed nor applied a study system in mathematics. To address these needs, the authors have framed three goals for Elementary Algebra: 1) reduce math anxiety, 2) teach for understanding, and 3) foster critical thinking and enthusiasm.

The authors' writing style is extremely student-friendly. They talk to students in their own language and walk them through the concepts, explaining not only how to do the math, but also why it works and where it comes from, rather than using the “monkey-see, monkey-do” approach that some books take.