Precalculus

In mathematics education, precalculus is a course with college-level algebra and trigonometry that is designed to prepare students for the study of calculus. Schools often distinguish between algebra and trigonometry as two separate parts of the coursework.

Precalculus prepares students for calculus somewhat differently from the way that pre-algebra prepares students for algebra. While pre-algebra often has extensive coverage of basic algebraic concepts, precalculus courses might see only small amounts of calculus concepts, if at all, and often involves covering algebraic topics that might not have been given attention in earlier algebra courses. Some precalculus courses might differ with others in terms of content. For example, an honors-level course might spend more time on conic sections, Euclidean vectors, and other topics needed for calculus, used in fields such as medicine or engineering. A college preparatory class might focus on topics used in business-related careers, such as matrices, or power functions.

Contents

Topics in precalculus may include:

• Sets
• Real numbers
• Complex numbers
• Solving inequalities and equations
• Properties of functions
• Functions and their inverses
• Function composition
• Polynomial functions
• Rational functions
• Trigonometry
• Trigonometric functions and their inverses
• Trigonometric identities
• Conic sections
• Exponential functions
• Logarithms
• Sequences and series
• Binomial theorem
• Euclidean vectors
• Parametric equations
• Polar coordinates
• Matrices
• Mathematical induction
• Limits

External links

• Exploring precalculus – William Mueller
• Precalculus – Math Forum
• Precalculus at MECCA (Memphis Educational Computer Connectivity Alliance)
• Precalculus information at Mathworld
• Precalculus course at TheMathPage