Pre-Calculus For Dummies [Paperback]

Krystle Rose Forseth (Author), Christopher Burger (Author), Michelle Rose Gilman (Author), Deborah Rumsey (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0470169842 | ISBN-13: 978-0470169841 | Edition: 1

Getting ready for calculus but still feel a bit confused? Have no fear. Pre-Calculus For Dummies is an unintimidating, 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 the help of this clear, easy-to-use resource, you’ll soon 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 precalc isn’t as impossible as you thought. Discover how to:

• Apply the major theorems and formulas
• Understand quadratic, square-root, absolute value, cubic, and cube-root functions
• Graph trig functions like a pro
• Flip-flop with inverse functions
• Find trig values on the unit circle
• Work with trig identities and advanced identities
• Tackle analytic geometry
• Solve oblique triangles with the laws of sines and cosines
• Use polar coordinates to express points on a plane
• Identify function limits and continuity
• Place vectors on a coordinate plane.
• Rotate and shift conic section forms
• Solve systems with mingling and matrices

If “the fun and easy way to learn pre-calc” seems like an oxymoron to you, order Pre-Calculus For Dummies today, and get ready to be surprised!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Brush up on algebra and trig concepts and get a glimpse of calculus

Understand the principles and problems of pre-calculus

Getting ready for calculus, but feel confused? Have no fear! This unintimidating, hands-on guide walks you through all the essential topics, from absolute value and quadratic equations to logarithms and exponential functions to trig identities and matrix operations. You'll understand the concepts — not just the number crunching — and see how to perform all tasks, from graphing to tackling proofs.

• Apply the major theorems and formulas

• Graph trig functions like a pro

• Find trig values on the unit circle

• Tackle analytic geometry

• Identify function limits and continuity

About the Author

Krystle Rose Forseth graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she majored in mathematics with an emphasis in education. She has been tutoring math for eight years and teaching for three. Currently, she is the head of the math department at Fusion Learning Center and Fusion Academy, where she teaches mathematics and oversees the math instructors. Teaching students math has made Krystle a more compassionate individual, and her enthusiasm for the subject makes learning fun.

Christopher Burger graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina, with minors in art and theatre. He has taught math for more than 10 years and tutored math subjects ranging from basic math to calculus for 20 years. Currently, he is the director of independent studies for Fusion Learning Center and Fusion Academy in Solana Beach, California, where he not only teaches students one-on-one, but also writes curriculum, oversees a staff of 35 teachers, and maintains high levels of academic rigor within the school. Christopher takes teaching and connecting with his students very seriously, and he believes he makes a difference not only in their math education, but in their lives.

Michelle Rose Gilman is proud to be known as Noah’s mom (Hi, Noah!). A graduate from the University of South Florida, Michelle found her niche early, and at 19, she was working with emotionally disturbed and learning-disabled students in hospital settings. At 21, she made the trek to California, where she found her passion for helping teenagers become more successful in school and life. What started as a small tutoring business in the garage of her California home quickly expanded and grew to the point where traffic control was necessary on her residential street.
Today, Michelle is the founder and CEO of Fusion Learning Center and Fusion Academy, a private school and tutoring/test prep facility in Solana Beach, California, serving more than 2,000 students each year. She is the author of The ACT For Dummies and other books on self-esteem, writing, and motivational topics. Michelle has overseen dozens of programs over the last 20 years, focusing on helping kids become healthy adults. She currently specializes in motivating the unmotivated adolescent, comforting their shellshocked parents, and assisting her staff of 35 teachers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (April 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470169842
• ISBN-13: 978-0470169841
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book but not perfect, May 26, 2008

By 

Bruno - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pre-Calculus For Dummies (Paperback)

The aim of this book is to introduce the subjects of pre-calculus in an easy, yet complete way. For the most part it accomplish it's objective, nevertheless, it has some typos and errors that will cause the student to get confused (i.e. the first time the student is shown the formula for the difference of cubes the book says something like this (a-b)(a^2+ab+b^3) which is wrong and in latter examples the formula takes the correct form of (a-b)(a^2+ab+b^2) which causes some confusion). Overall, this is a very good book specially for a review of the subjects.

UPDATE
P.105 Changing a Log's Base
log5/log3 does not equal ln3/ln5... it should read log5/log3 = ln5/ln3.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Another error from this book, January 16, 2009

By 

Reviewing for Calc Class (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pre-Calculus For Dummies (Paperback)

p. 107
#4
"Figure 5.5 illustrates this last step, which yields the parent log's graph". If you look at the graph, it is labeled f(x)=log^x. The parent log being graphed is f(x)=logx. Two very different equations.

I checked Wiley's website. I cannot find errata for this book.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Excercise Book but some mistakes and no errata???, June 6, 2009

By 

Mario Ghecea "Azazel" (Burbank, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pre-Calculus For Dummies (Paperback)

It seems the authors break their own rule in the first chapter on PEMDAS. This is a simple problem, but they wrote it out wrong in answers where they perform addition and subtraction first before multiplication. I think it should be the other way around. i.e. Ex 4 - Ch 1. abs(5 * 1 - 4 + 6) = 7 not 9. Every monkey knows multiplication is performed first. I'm not sure what the authors were thinking starting with subtraction first???I'm kinda blushing here...I punched this into my TI-89 Titanium and I get the same answer as I had come up with for the nominator. Calculators follow PEMDAS rule, so am I missing something here? Please, put an errata up people and have a forum, otherwise your books are useless. This is a refresher for me as I'm going in for calculus next fall. Mistakes as such would flunk a student in those courses...