Free online courseIntermediate Algebra

Course Description

Build the algebra confidence you need for tougher math classes, standardized exams, or career paths that rely on quantitative reasoning. This free online course takes you beyond the basics and helps you work smoothly with the kinds of expressions and equations that often slow students down. Instead of memorizing isolated tricks, you will practice a consistent way of thinking: simplify with purpose, factor intelligently, and choose the right method to solve a problem.

You will develop strong factoring habits, starting with the greatest common factor and moving into trinomials, special products, and factoring-based approaches that turn messy expressions into manageable pieces. From there, you will connect factoring to solving equations, including quadratic equations written in standard form, and apply the same reasoning to word and application problems so the math feels less abstract and more usable.

The course also strengthens your skills with rational expressions and rational equations, focusing on careful simplification, finding common denominators, and avoiding common pitfalls when variables appear in denominators. You will practice operations with rational expressions, work with complex fractions, and use proportions and rational methods to model problem-solving situations that come up in school and real life.

As you progress, you will deepen your understanding of functions and graphs. You will work with lines and the meaning of slope, including parallel and perpendicular relationships, then move into non-linear functions, piecewise definitions, and variation. You will also practice inequalities and absolute value equations and inequalities, linking symbolic solutions to graphs and shaded regions.

Later sections build facility with radicals, rational exponents, and rationalization, then extend into complex numbers and radical equations, including geometric connections such as the Pythagorean Theorem. You will finish with key quadratic methods like completing the square and the quadratic formula, explore transformations and features of quadratic graphs, and expand into exponential and logarithmic functions with their properties. The journey concludes by connecting algebra to geometry through conic sections, helping you recognize how algebraic equations describe curves such as circles, parabolas, ellipses, and hyperbolas.

With video lessons plus targeted exercises, you can study at your own pace while steadily improving accuracy, speed, and problem-solving clarity. If you are refreshing skills, catching up, or preparing for what comes next, this course provides a structured path to more fluent intermediate algebra.