The book is "Focus on Algebra: An Integrated Approach" ... In an effort to make formulas and numbers more accessible, the publishers have filled the 843-page text with color graphics, reproductions of paintings, biographical sketches and problems that supposedly represent real-life situations—a lot dealing with food and a lot with the environment....
One problem, dealing with a chili cookoff, asks students to describe ways that organizers could raise money. Students are asked to say what is the hottest kind of pepper they have eaten, and how they would set up a hotness scale.
In another, a zoo sponsors a creative-writing contest on endangered species. Students are asked what criteria would be used to judge the essay. In another problem, students are asked "what other kinds of pollution besides air pollution might threaten our planet?"
4/21/97
The Associated Press, April 21, 1997:
