Advanced Mathematics: Precalculus With Discrete Mathematics and Data Analysis [Hardcover]

Richard G. Brown (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 976 pages
• Publisher: Mcdougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin (June 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618007296
• ISBN-13: 978-0618007295
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #417,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Relatively Good, April 25, 2001

By 

C. Doke "crayt1024" (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Advanced Mathematics: Precalculus With Discrete Mathematics and Data Analysis (Hardcover)

Advanced Mathematics: Precalculus with Discrete Mathematics and Data Analysis. This book consists of: a refresher of Algebraic Expressions and Application in the form of the function (linear, quadratic, and other polynomial), Logarithms and exponents, a review of Analytic Geometry and Trigonometry, Discrete mathematics as it applies to Sequences and Series, Matrices, Combinatorics, Probability, Statistics, Modeling, and Limits and an introduction of Calculus in the form of the derivative.

The book states that an emphasis on application is an intrinsic part of it, this, however is not really the case. The book, while showing an appropriate number of application problems in certain sections, lacks that application horribly in others. However, these lacking sections are few enough that it deserves a fair amount of credit in the attempt.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Review From An Unimpressed Student, December 18, 2005

By 

puzzler620 (Newton, MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced Mathematics: Precalculus With Discrete Mathematics and Data Analysis (Hardcover)

This book fails to give adequate examples at the beginning of each section and provide enough information about the given topic. Further, the examples that are provided are either 1) easy in relation to the actual problems in the "written exercises" section or 2) not relevant to the actual problems in the "written exercises" section. Also, the examples that are given sometimes miss key steps and are therefore confusing. This leads to much frustration. The actual problems though can be quite challenging and appropriate if the reader actual understands the basic underlying principles of the problems. However, the book on occasion supplies inaccurate or incorrect solutions to these problems (the odd number problems in the "written exercises," the "class exercises," and "chapter test" solutions are located in the back of the book).

I happen to have on hand another trignometery book. Although old and coming from a pre-calculator age (never mind a pre-computer age as well), this book at least supplies accuarte examples at the beginning of each section. I recommend (although out of print): New Plane And Spherical Trigonometry, Surveying, And Navigation by G.A. Wentworth. Ginn And Company, 1903; or just about any other trigonometry math textbook or precalculus textbook ever published.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, July 14, 2006

By 

LeFromage (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced Mathematics: Precalculus with Discrete Mathematics and Data Analysis (Hardcover)

This is an EXCELLENT advanced mathematics book. I am currently a high school student using this book on my own. Never mind the criticism of the "unclear explanations" in each section by the other reviewers. The book briefly states what is needed to do the exercises, and the majority of the "major" theorems in advanced mathematics are proved in the exercises themselves (in fact, that is why so many of the exercises are so challenging). In this way (other books just prove the theorems for you and allow people just to memorize the proof), the author allows you to figure things out for yourself. This book also has a wide scope. However, one tiny fault of this book is that it does not convince you of some of the important facts (and these theorems are definitely not beyond the level of the book), for example the "Rule of 72." Also, this book is not for the average person. It requires a lot of critical thinking. Therefore, if you are not a real math person, I would suggest you get this book along with another advanced mathematics book with more detailed explanations so that you can compare and contrast the two.