In the preface of this book, the author outlines the common problem of new chemistry students faltering owing to a lack of understanding of basic chemistry math. Many students who end up closing the door on the science after their first experience with general chemistry suffer from difficulties due to math rather than chemistry. Essential Math for Chemistry Students addresses this shortcoming in chemical education by going through the standard general chemistry learning process step by step, outlining correct mathematical procedure for each new stage.

In the author's own words, "This book is meant to serve as a review of essential math skills for the chemistry student. Although most students have had algebra, it may have been so long ago or the knowledge may not have been used since that time. Many students have deficient math skills and are not truly prepared for chemistry." While new students may already have a fair grip on mathematics, they may still be thrown off by the application of math to the chemical sciences. "This book will help resharpen the math skills that are necessary for most introductory chemistry courses. It is not written to accompany any specific chemistry textbook, and should even be considered a stand-alone book. It is an appropriate supplement for chemistry textbooks on the preparatory, allied health/general-organic-biological (GOB), and science/engineering general chemistry level. It does not cover trigonometry or calculus, since most general chemistry texts do not use these topics directly."

The book begins with very basic concepts, such as scientific notation and units, and covers a broad range of common general chemistry topics. It is set up like a workbook, with student exercises and quizzes at the end of each chapter. The language of writing used is informal and accessible. Each chapter builds on information taught in the previous chapters, and it is advised that the student begin at Chapter 1 and progress from there, rather than jumping in at a later point or skimming. While it does not cover any advanced topics, this book lays out some all-purpose ground rules for commonly used chemical math concepts, and gives a good basic picture of general chemistry maths to the new student.