Book description
The fun and easy way to learn pre-calculus
Getting ready for calculus but still feel a bit confused? Have no fear. Pre-Calculus For Dummies is an un-intimidating, hands-on guide that walks you through all the essential topics, from absolute value and quadratic equations to logarithms and exponential functions to trig identities and matrix operations.
With this guide's help you'll quickly and painlessly get a handle on all of the concepts — not just the number crunching — and understand how to perform all pre-calc tasks, from graphing to tackling proofs. You'll also get a new appreciation for how these concepts are used in the real world, and find out that getting a decent grade in pre-calc isn't as impossible as you thought.
Updated with fresh example equations and detailed explanations
Tracks to a typical pre-calculus class
Serves as an excellent supplement to classroom learning
If "the fun and easy way to learn pre-calc" seems like a contradiction, get ready for a wealth of surprises in Pre-Calculus For Dummies!
Table of contents
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Title Page
- Introduction
-
Part I: Set It Up, Solve It, Graph It
- Chapter 1: Pre-Pre-Calculus
- Chapter 2: Playing with Real Numbers
-
Chapter 3: The Building Blocks of Pre-Calc: Functions
- Qualities of Even and Odd Functions and Their Graphs
- Dealing with Parent Functions and Their Graphs
- Transforming the Parent Graphs
- Graphing Functions that Have More than One Rule: Piece-Wise Functions
- Calculating Outputs for Rational Functions
- Putting the Output to Work: Graphing Rational Functions
- Sharpen Your Scalpel: Operating on Functions
- Turning Inside Out with Inverse Functions
- Chapter 4: Digging Out and Using Roots to Graph Polynomial Functions
- Chapter 5: Exponential and Logarithmic Functions
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Part II: The Essentials of Trigonometry
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Chapter 6: Circling in on Angles
- Introducing Radians: Circles Weren’t Always Measured in Degrees
- Trig Ratios: Taking Right Triangles a Step Further
- Understanding How Trig Ratios Work on the Coordinate Plane
- Building the Unit Circle by Dissecting the Right Way
- Digesting Special Triangle Ratios
- Triangles and the Unit Circle: Working Together for the Common Good
- Measuring Arcs: When the Circle Is Put in Motion
- Chapter 7: Simplifying the Graphing and Transformation of Trig Functions
- Chapter 8: Identifying with Trig Identities: The Basics
- Chapter 9: Advanced Identities: Your Keys to Pre-Calc Success
- Chapter 10: Taking Charge of Oblique Triangles with the Laws of Sines and Cosines
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Chapter 6: Circling in on Angles
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Part III: Analytic Geometry and System Solving
- Chapter 11: Plane Thinking: Complex Numbers and Polar Coordinates
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Chapter 12: Slicing Cones or Measuring the Path of a Comet - with Confidence
- Cone to Cone: Identifying the Four Conic Sections
- Going Round and Round: Graphing Circles
- Riding the Ups and Downs with Parabolas
- The Fat and the Skinny on the Ellipse (A Fancy Word for Oval)
- Pair Two Parabolas and What Do You Get? Hyperbolas
- Expressing Conics Outside the Realm of Cartesian Coordinates
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Chapter 13: Streamlining Systems, Managing Variables
- A Primer on Your System-Solving Options
- Finding Solutions of Two-Equation Systems Algebraically
- Solving Systems with More than Two Equations
- Decomposing Partial Fractions
- Surveying Systems of Inequalities
- Introducing Matrices: The Basics
- Simplifying Matrices to Ease the Solving Process
- Conquering Matrices
- Chapter 14: Sequences, Series, and Expanding Binomials for the Real World
- Chapter 15: Scouting the Road Ahead to Calculus
- Part IV: The Part of Tens
- Cheat Sheet
Product information
- Title: Pre-Calculus For Dummies, 2nd Edition
- Author(s):
- Release date: June 2012
- Publisher(s): For Dummies
- ISBN: 9781118239599
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