Customer Reviews

Precalculus With Trigonometry

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This book covers a wider variety of topics and examples than any other precalculus or trigonometry book I've seen. (I'm a community college math instructor, so I've seen quite a few.) In many ways, it's the prototype of the kind of math textbooks we need in the era of graphing calculators and computer algebra systems. Many of the problems require considerable thought and insight, and go far beyond the kind of rote exercises that can be solved by technology alone.

Where this book falls short is in explaining why things work the way they do. Too often, it simply presents a theorem and basically says "use this", without little attention to justifying it, let alone proving it. That's OK up to a point - not everything that's taught in precalculus has a proof that's accessible at that level - but the generally casual approach to justifying what's being taught shortchanges those students who will go on to major in math or related subjects. A heavy-duty calculus class with proofs on limits and continuity would definitely be a shock to the system after a year with this book.

Still, it's a remarkable text simply for the breadth of what it presents (including, I'm slightly embarrassed to say, some things I never even knew before) and the level of thought that the problems require. I'd give it 3.5 stars (maybe even 3.6 :-) if I could.

It's got really bad binding and it's usually incomprehensible. I am good at math, but I got really lost when I tried to use it to figure anything out...but nice try, Foerster!