Precalculus

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Official Description[edit]

Precalculus (17-117)
A course to prepare students to take calculus. Topics include functions and graphs, equations and inequalities, and analytic geometry and trigonometry.

Overview[edit]

Precalculus is just what it's name implies. The first half of the course covers more advanced algebra than many students will have encountered, at least in class, during High School. The second half of the course is a crash course in Trigonometry.

What actually happens[edit]

The course begins with an introduction to the idea of a function as a sort of "number machine" and then goes on to explain the set definition of a function and what words like domain and range mean. Also emphasized are graph transformations like what the graphs of f(x-2) and 3*f(x) look like compared to f(x). After the general introduction to functions is complete, specific types are studied. First come the linear functions, then the quadratic, exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric. Each test (in Dr. Shepherd's class, at least) will cover one of those function types.

Students are not required to complete any proofs, but the book will often offer proofs of theorems if the proof is not too advanced.

While the opportunity for the abuse of form over content is ample in this course the mathematics department of Northwest does a fantastic job of stressing content over form, despite the amount of identities that must be memorized in order to succeed in Calculus I and Calculus II.


Mathematics:

Precalculus   |   Calculus I   |   Calculus II   |   Multivariate Calculus   |   Differential Equations   |   Discrete Math