Pre-Calculus before I take it.

[dstebbins]

I'm a seventeen year old junior in high school who's taking the required Algebra 2 as his third math. I need one more math, but I get a choice as to what I get to take next year. I want to take pre-calculus and then take either statistics or college algebra as an elective. I want to impress my teacher with some knowledge of the class beforehand, but I don't have the money for a "pre-calculus for dummies" book. Can anyone link me to a website where I can get a little knowledge of Calculus before I take it this August? Thanks.

[DV8 2XL]

Pre-calculus, in our school system is a variety of isolated topics from analytical geometry and linear algebra.

[neurosis]

Yea, it's basically a review of algebra and geometry, so you'll probably do very well. Here's some specifics that I remember:

 

*Composition functions and how to compute them. Example of a composition function is cos x^2, since cos x is a function and x^2 is also one.

 

*learning how to graph functions by hand, and how to shift them up, down, left, right given an equation. Example: y = x^2 + 5 ... you take the basic parabola x^2, which has it's vertex at the origin, and you shift it up 5 units so that its vertex is at (0, 5)

 

* The conic sections (parabola, circle, ellipse, hyperbola) and how to graph them and what their equations are.

 

* Logranithms and exponential functions

 

*lograithmic expansion and contraction (ex: log 5 + log 7 = log 35, because 7*5 is 35 and they have the same base)

 

* basic series

 

That's mostly what comes to my mind. You won't get into any actual calculus in pre-calc...it's all just algebra and geometry that you will need to understand when you do get to calculus. If you want to learn a few things about actual calculus itself, I can give you a few starting points. I can't think of any websites off the top of my head, but I'm sure you could do a google search and find some.

[jowrose]

Depending on the teacher, you might get into some derivatives of functions, but that wouldn't be until the very end of the course. Basically it's just a review of algebra, geometry, and trig.

[CanadaAotS]

I assume this is grade 12 course right? (sounds like my pre-cal grade 12). Everything that guy before me said is on it, ours also had probability and combinations / permutations. I hated combs and perms lol

[JustStuit]

In my precalc last year the biggest thing was trig - learn about those equations, proofs, unit circle, etc.

[computerages]

Yea, pre-cal is just a review of algebra, gemoetry, and trignometry, as everyone else said. If you feel comfortable with these principles then you'd probably won't have any problem in the class.

 

Here's a good resource website for learning pre-cal: http://www.themathpage.com/aPreCalc/precalculus.htm

 

Good Luck.

[5614]

Try this site:

http://cow.math.temple.edu/

[Aeternus]

http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/search.php?searchid=119920

 

Dave started some Calculus tutorials, I'm sure if he no longer wants to continue them, then someone else would be happy to fork them or something.