A course in precalculus is designed to prepare college students for the level of algebraic skills and knowledge that is expected in a calculus class. Such courses, standard at two-year and four-year colleges, review the material of algebra and trigonometry, emphasizing those topics with which familiarity is assumed in calculus. Key unifying concepts are those of functions and their graphs.
The present book is designed as a supplement to college courses in precalculus. The material is divided into forty-four chapters, and covers basic algebraic operations, equations, and inequalities, functions and graphs, and standard elementary functions including polynomial, rational, exponential, and logarithmic functions. Trigonometry is covered in Chapters 20 through 29, and the emphasis is on trigonometric functions as defined in terms of the unit circle. The course concludes with matrices, determinants, systems of equations, analytic geometry of conic sections, and discrete mathematics.
Each chapter starts with a summary of the basic definitions, principles, and theorems, accompanied by elementary examples. The heart of the chapter consists of solved problems, which present the material in logical order and take the student through the development of the subject. The chapter concludes with supplementary problems with answers. These provide drill on the material and develop some ideas further.