Most algebra stories revolve around Sara (short for Sarasvati), a bright young girl named after the Indian goddess of knowledge. Some stories feature her grandmother Nana, others involve Johnny, and still others include her friends. Through their everyday experiences, the stories introduce students to algebra in an entertaining and engaging way.
LEVEL 1 — Algebra Basics
Sara Loves Nana — Algebraic Expressions and Equations
Posters and Ice Cream — Algebraic Expressions, Elimination and Substitution
Easter Celebrations — Matrices and Cramer’s Rule
Nana Bakes Cookies — Ratios and Proportions
Sheldon and Topanga — The Battle of Nerds — Connections Between Algebra, Geometry and Arithmetic
LEVEL 2 — Exponents, Logarithms and Growth
Grandma’s Bedtime Story for Sara — Positive Exponential Functions
Cheerleader’s Sweet Tooth — Negative Exponential Functions
The Magic Carpet — Graphing on Semilogarithmic Paper
Johnny’s Question — Logarithmic Functions
LEVEL 3 — Quadratics and Complex Numbers
Can Smartphone Use Enhance Academic Performance? — Quadratic Functions
Ms. Clementine’s Assignments — Solving Quadratic Equations
Carmen’s Question — Imaginary and Complex Numbers
LEVEL 4 — Means, Sequences and Series
Trip to Langley Park — Arithmetic, Geometric and Harmonic Means
CBSE and SAT — Percentiles, Mean, Median and Mode
Twelve Days of Christmas — Summation of Arithmetic and Geometric Series
LEVEL 5 — Combinatorics and Probability
Sara and Johnny’s Graduation Party — Permutations and Combinations
Priya’s Homework — Principles of Probability
Jenna and Priya’s T-shirt Shop — Decision-Making Using Probability
LEVEL 6 — Advanced Algebra
Sara Gets Mad at Johnny — Binomial Theorem and Euler’s Constant