dgale>Well, I haven't taken the course but even so I don't know how to answer this question. I'd be most interested in anyone else's answer. We're certainly not talking about "modern algebra" a la Birkhoff-MacLane, so what is "high school algebra" about? I think of it as where you learn to say "let x be ..... " Sure. Polynomial arithmetic (maybe stopping short of resultants), factoring, apples&oranges, Anne&Mary, the quadratic eqn, "fundamental thm". The contents of a typical ca 1900 introductory text. (Not Chrystal's, except for Ubergeeks.) After 700 pages, I don't think my friend's algebra book got to factoring, but I can't check. He handed back the book and changed schools. dgale>PS. If your immediate reaction was, it's because of sex with sex workers, you belong to a large group. Do the survey takers count as sex workers? --rwg