Math Website Comparison

Are you looking for an online math course
for high school and beyond?

DESIRABLE FEATURES:

CONTENT
complete online content (no textbook purchase required)
SEQUENCING
sequenced lessons
SEARCHABLE
can easily search entire site for particular topic of interest
MATHEMATICS
correctly displayed mathematics (without using images)
CREDENTIALS
author(s) are highly credentialed, so you can trust the content
PRACTICE
unlimited, randomly-generated online and offline practice
QUIZZES
unlimited, easily generated quizzes/worksheets with answers to check yourself
RESOURCES
incorporates instruction on using high-quality, free online math resources
FREE
free of charge; keep distracting ads to a minimum

WEB AUTHORS:
Send me your site URL, if you think that it should be included in this list.
(Only free sites containing sequenced content for an entire course are included.)
‘Desirable Features’ that are not met are shown in red.

CONTENT
Algebra I (including pre-algebra), short course in Geometry (emphasis on proof),
topics in Algebra II, Precalculus (in progress), beginning Calculus
SEQUENCING
fully sequenced lessons
SEARCHABLE
search box on every page
MATHEMATICS
MathJax is used to create dynamic, correctly-displayed mathematics—no images! This state-of-the-art method of representing mathematics is what makes the randomly-generated exercises and worksheets possible.
PRACTICE
Every lesson has unlimited, randomly-generated online exercises that are tightly linked with the exposition, so you can check your understanding.
QUIZZES
Every lesson has unlimited, randomly-generated quiz/worksheet generation, with solutions. Students can print out practice sheets. Teachers can give a different quiz to each class, or to every student!
FREE
free of charge; the single ad at the top of each page doesn't show when you're reading the content; Adsense ads attempt to target things that are of interest to the user; Amazon purchases can support site; donations are gratefully accepted
RESOURCES
Where appropriate, students are taught how to use WolframAlpha.
The geometry course includes instruction on GeoGebra.
OTHER
Information on the mathematical language is incorporated throughout the course, so students learn how to read mathematics while they're learning mathematics.
This 10-page pdf file will give you a sense of what this ‘math language’ stuff is all about, and also gives a sample of the author's writing style. (The whole book is here, if you're interested!)

Algebra Pinball shows you just how fast some students have been able to do the skill exercises! Just TRY to beat them!

FUN STUFF is included in each Algebra I lesson (right column) for breaks!
‘Fun Facts’ are scattered throughout the site, so you can ‘get to know’ the author.

JSXGraph is used to create dynamic graphics (like this triangle exploration).

All these web sites are great.
Just as different students prefer different teachers,
one site may work better for you than another.
Take a look at all of them!
Purplemath
SEARCHABLE
search box on every page
MATHEMATICS
images and text are used for mathematics; for example, ‘pi’ is used instead of $\pi$
PRACTICE
no randomly-generated exercises
QUIZZES
no worksheets or quizzes
FREE
RESOURCES
unknown
OTHER
there is a ‘Mathway Widget’ at the bottom of some pages where you can try your own exercises
You can't learn mathematics without doing exercises.
LOTS OF THEM.
Only a couple of these sites offer extensive exercises.
Even if you prefer the exposition on one site,
you might want to make use of the exercises on another.
The Math Page
SEQUENCING
fully sequenced lessons
SEARCHABLE
not searchable
MATHEMATICS
images and text are used for mathematics
PRACTICE
no randomly-generated exercises
There are ‘hover to see the answer’ exercises throughout.
QUIZZES
no worksheets or quizzes
FREE
RESOURCES
unknown
OTHER
unknown
A site that is written by a single author has the nice feature
that all the writing is ‘in the same voice’.
You get used to the way a person ‘talks’,
and this familiarity can be calming.
CONTENT
arithmetic and pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, trigonometry and precalculus, calculus, probability and statistics, differential equations, linear algebra, applied math, recreational mathematics
SEQUENCING
fully sequenced lessons
SEARCHABLE
searchable
MATHEMATICS
this is a collection of online videos of varying lengths; you can get captions, where the math is (as much as possible) represented as text
PRACTICE
some lessons have randomly-generated exercises with correctly-displayed math using MathJax
QUIZZES
you can earn points, keep track of your progress, and more
FREE
free, but you do need to create a login
RESOURCES
unknown
OTHER
unknown
There is superb free online math technology available.
Emphasis should be moving away from ‘just calculating’,
because computers do it better than humans.
Students need to understand the beautiful IDEAS in math.
Students need to be exposed to the best available math tools,
and learn how to use them appropriately.