Our Story
Our Formula: Student Success Above All
As a math instructor, it might be difficult to remember a time when the subject was daunting. After all, math is straightforward and unambiguous. Unlike philosophy, its problems have clear answers. But there are those who will always see math as an elite art, and believe themselves incapable of drawing a straight line.
XYZ Textbooks is committed to the success of all students. Our materials have been developed to excite and motivate, delivering light-bulb moments that serve to awaken an inner drive. Our methods have won over thousands of instructors and students since founder—and lifelong math instructor—Pat McKeague published our first title in 2010.
“It was even fun!”
Imagine hearing this kind of feedback in a college math class.
Our textbooks get reviews like that all the time, and they encourage us to keep iterating, finding new ways to teach math that make it accessible and rewarding. Since math concepts have been around unchanged for centuries, there can be a temptation to stick with tried-and-true teaching tactics as well. With all due respect to Euclid, XYZ believes students respond more eagerly when they are met in the moment. Our approach conforms to them, rather than the other way around.
XYZ students can therefore choose the tools best suited to their learning style: traditional printed textbooks, interactive textbooks, peer-conducted lessons and an online homework platform all work together, giving students multiple ways-to find their way. This is how we keep math accessible, by recruiting and training our tutors in the XYZ approach and keeping student costs as low as possible.
2008
our eBooks and signature video tutorials were born
10,000
instructional videos taught by tutors that reflect your student body
7 out of 10
students prefer XYZ to other college math materials
A lifetime nurturing achievement
You know you’re doing something right when you earn a lifetime achievement award while you’re still doing it.
After earning both his B.A. and M.S. in mathematics, Pat McKeague taught at both Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cuesta College. During this time, his students weren’t the only ones who were learning. Pat came to understand there are as many ways of teaching math as there are students in a classroom, and he applied this insight when he was invited to write a single textbook chapter on elementary algebra. When that chapter attracted the attention of three publishers and landed him a contract for an entire series, Pat realized his methods could benefit a much larger audience.
Eventually, Pat grew frustrated with profit-minded changes in the publishing industry, so he founded XYZ Textbooks to put student needs foremost. The company pioneered the now-standard practice of offering print and digital content simultaneously—at prices so low they seemed unsustainable. This student-first strategy proved not only sustainable, but transformative.
Knowing all this, it might not be surprising that Pat’s been honored by the American Mathematics Association for Two-Year College (AMATYC) twice with its Presidential Award and, since establishing XYZ, with its Herb Gross Lifetime Achievement Award for his commitment to mathematics education—a commitment we feel is reflected in everything we do.
What our users are saying
Daniel DiCkens
Quick update! Thanks to your site I placed into MAT 171 (Precalculus Algebra) for my first semester of college, the highest possible placement. Not bad for a guy who hadn’t touched a math text in 12 years! I can’t express enough thanks.
Terry Valentine
SUNY Columbia-Greene CC
I’ve been using your texts for the past two weeks, and the students are loving it. I actually have to remind them to get up and take a break, since each class meets in the math lab for just under 4 hours at a time. So far, they are doing great.
RASHID J.
Rockland Community College
I am 41 and I have recently returned to school in order to obtain a degree; algebra was a subject that I flunked way back when I was in high school 20+ years ago. Your tutorial videos have really helped me learn and grasp concepts that I had enormous trouble grasping! Thanks so much to all of you.
Our Catalog
Adopt an XYZ Textbook, you won’t regret it.
Sure, we have great books by a variety of great authors. But it wouldn’t matter one bit if students can’t afford it. We’re trying to do things differently here at XYZ Textbooks. If you agree with us, there’s one simple action you can take to show your support: Adopt one!
