Customer Reviews

An Electronic Companion to Precalculus¿

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An excellent study aid. My students gave it rave reviews!

This introduction to precalculus includes an ample amount of homework problems, but just as important, it includes problems that convey to the student how such math is used to solve problems in real-life situations that they can relate to. As an example, using the basic concepts of matrix algebra, the book gives real-life situations and problems which shows how such math concepts are immediately applicable (such as understanding how electric circuits work, chenical equations, computer graphics, etc.) . This same approach is used to describe trigonometric concepts and how they can be immediately used to solve practical problems. The companion CD also helps immensely in bringing these abstract ideas to real day applications in life.

It is a sad fact of American education in math and physics (from grammar levels to university level) that so much emphasis is limited soley to the rote memorization of formulas and plugging in of values as required by without any regard to the students' understanding of how this math which is learned is the underpinning of so much of how we understand how the physical world operates around us. This is the primary reason why so many high school students in the U.S. are loathe to pursue mathematics in university: they were never taught to appreciate how mathematics explains so much of the world around us in so many areas (economics, physics, electronics, you name it).