What resources do you suggest for someone trying to improve their math skills?

One very good set of books is the Barron’s E-Z series (which seems to have replaced the Easy Way series), for example Barron’s E-Z Math or Barron’s E-Z Algebra. The Teach Yourself Visually series has also started to publish books about math, including Teach Yourself Visually Algebra and Teach Yourself Visually Calculus. These book made their name by publishing easy-to-use computer books with full-color pictures showing each step in a process.

As far as web sites go, Maths Is Fun is one of the better ones. It’s a British site (hence “maths” instead of “math.”), and it has simple tutorials to teach people about all kinds of math problems. There are also worksheets and games to help you practice what you’ve learned. The site is geared toward children, but it works well for adults too.

One other great website is Purple Math, which was started by a former math teacher and has tutorials on algebra and word problems.

If you’re looking for more assistance on working with math problems for customers, check out SLRC’s Math for Librarians online course!