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I have never been exposed to calculus at all. Should I take pre-cal first or jump right into it with regular Calculus?
I have never been exposed to calculus at all. Should I take pre-cal first or jump right into it with regular Calculus?
I have never been exposed to calculus at all. Should I take pre-cal first or jump right into it with regular Calculus?
Here are some pre-calc topics you should make sure you know before Calculus. If you are really unfamiliar with these, you might want to review or take pre-calc.
-Graphing basic algebraic functions; shapes of graphs (parabolic, hyperbolic, square, cube etc.); basic components of graphs (x- & y-intercept, slope, points of inflection, asymptotes)
-Solving basic quadratics, determinants
-Basic aspects of functions (roots/degrees of polynomials, odd/even)
-Logarithms (what they are, changing bases, natural logs, graphs of exponential & natural log fxn)
-Polar/spherical coordinates
-Complex numbers, conjugates, plane; imaginary numbers
-Vectors (cross/dot products, normal vectors, algebra of vectors)
-Rational/irrational numbers
-Trigonometry
-Sequences & series
Good list. Wish I thought of it
Just some thoughts: As far as Vectors and Sequences and series goes,
depending on the Calc course you wont need it/they teach it to you there for the first time.
Some of this stuff I don't even remember. I was an algebra tutor so maybe I know more than I think I know.
This guy will help out quite a bit.
http://justmathtutoring.com/
Iirc, pre-calc only helped in introducing all of the topics briefly. You might be able to skip pre-calc if you feel confident enough in your math skills. Also noticed that you're from Texas, if you're attending UT, this guy will really pay off since he tutors UT students if I remember right. Either way, still helpful.
-Graphing basic algebraic functions; shapes of graphs (parabolic, hyperbolic, square, cube etc.); basic components of graphs (x- & y-intercept, slope, points of inflection, asymptotes)
-Solving basic quadratics, determinants
-Basic aspects of functions (roots/degrees of polynomials, odd/even)
-Logarithms (what they are, changing bases, natural logs, graphs of exponential & natural log fxn)
-Polar/spherical coordinates
-Complex numbers, conjugates, plane; imaginary numbers
-Vectors (cross/dot products, normal vectors, algebra of vectors)
-Rational/irrational numbers
-Trigonometry EDIT: Make sure you know the basic trig. identities and basic trig. graphs!
-Sequences & series
Here are some pre-calc topics you should make sure you know before Calculus. If you are really unfamiliar with these, you might want to review or take pre-calc.
-Graphing basic algebraic functions; shapes of graphs (parabolic, hyperbolic, square, cube etc.); basic components of graphs (x- & y-intercept, slope, points of inflection, asymptotes)
-Solving basic quadratics, determinants
-Basic aspects of functions (roots/degrees of polynomials, odd/even)
-Logarithms (what they are, changing bases, natural logs, graphs of exponential & natural log fxn)
-Polar/spherical coordinates
-Complex numbers, conjugates, plane; imaginary numbers
-Vectors (cross/dot products, normal vectors, algebra of vectors)
-Rational/irrational numbers
-Trigonometry
-Sequences & series
There was a REEEALLLLYY good book on calc that I used when I was taking it, but I cannot remember the name. It was like a "for dummies" kind of book, but not from that series. It had a yellow cover and comic book style fonts and artwork. And it was actually pretty funny. If anyone knows the name of that book, buy it OP, and you will be fine jumping straight into calculus.
If you go to A&M and sign up for i think Math 171 you dont need to know vector stuff. Or even series stuff. Polar might help but isnt needed. You just need to now some trig identities and values, basic functions, logs and exponents. You dont use complex numbers until like Diffy Q at A&M math. Polar doesnt get used till Calc 2/3 and only for integration
If you need help for Calc at TAMU there is the math help desk and SI sessions for calc I
I'm taking Math 147-Calc bio majors.
Like everyone else said, don't worry about precalculus. Take calc and just do all the homework and do a lot of practice problems and you should be fine.
YES!!!!! That book is incredible. I have some friends who are incompetent at math, and they aced calculus just by using that book. It is amazing. Incredible well-written, with awesome explanations of all the topics, and detailed step-by-step solutions for a lot of very common calc I midterm questions. Get on it!
Is this book for Calc I, or just Calc II and beyond? The reason I ask is because in all of the reviews on Amazon, people are talking about using it for calculus II.
This is key. Be the kid who sits in your TA's/professor's office hours doing problem after problem and asking questions. It's the only way you learn math - by doing.
There are two variations of the book. One is for Calc 1/2/3 and the other is for the rest of Calc.
Honestly, if you are decent at math, just doing the assigned HW problems should suffice. I agree though- doing math is the only way to learn it.
Totally agree.
Here are some pre-calc topics you should make sure you know before Calculus. If you are really unfamiliar with these, you might want to review or take pre-calc.
-Graphing basic algebraic functions; shapes of graphs (parabolic, hyperbolic, square, cube etc.); basic components of graphs (x- & y-intercept, slope, points of inflection, asymptotes)
-Solving basic quadratics, determinants
-Basic aspects of functions (roots/degrees of polynomials, odd/even)
-Logarithms (what they are, changing bases, natural logs, graphs of exponential & natural log fxn)
-Polar/spherical coordinates
-Complex numbers, conjugates, plane; imaginary numbers
-Vectors (cross/dot products, normal vectors, algebra of vectors)
-Rational/irrational numbers
-Trigonometry
-Sequences & series
Same. No one needs to know any of that for starting in Calculus I.The bold topics are calculus II/III topics at my school.
Same. No one needs to know any of that for starting in Calculus I.
I don't think you need precalc if you understand what Ponyo has listed. If you have time before enrolling I would check out what is recommended to know at the Khan academy, as well as what others have recommended.
http://www.khanacademy.org/#precalculus
Calculus 1 isn't hard. As long as you work, you'll be fine.
I wasn't talking about high school calculus. AP courses often have different schedules from their college equivalents. In my Calculus I class in college, we didn't cover any of that.Aside of determinates and vectors, we covered those bold topics in high school Calculus.
As to the OP, I though precalc was much more difficult than calculus. Calculus was very straightforward to me. You learn a few core subjects (derivatives/integrals/etc) and build off those the entire year. It is very self-referential, much like orgo. So if you are good with those types of classes, it shouldn't be too bad.
I wasn't talking about high school calculus. AP courses often have different schedules from their college equivalents. In my Calculus I class in college, we didn't cover any of that.
But yes, Precal has a ton of random useless junk that is needlessly difficult.
Good to hear. I was a little worried going into Calc without pre cal, but I've heard from others that pre cal in college is useless and that you can pick up on the essentials in the first few weeks (assuming you have a good to moderate algebra background.)
Don't do it unless you're confident in your skills in Algebra. It would definitely help if you're good at trigonometry and, of course, basic math.
Calculus is easy if you're allowed to use a calculator, though.
Hey, OP, since we go to the same school, I am gonna give u my advice.
And I did took Calc 2 at A&M, I will tell you that it is not for the weak-minded.
Personally, I took Calc BC in high school, took the credit for calc 1 and retake calc 2 at A&M, even though I took Calc 2 repeatedly for 2 consecutive semester technically, I had to put in considerable amout of work to make the A. This is the Calculus sclss for science major (math 171/172); I cant imagine what happen in the engineering math class (rumor had said that only 5% of the class get A).
In general, anything related to calculus at A&M is not recommended unless you have a strong foundation in math (which mean you take classes such as physics C, calc in high school). I took another calculus statistic class at the same semester and it is definitely the hardest class that I've ever taken. It is not hard because of the concepts, but it is the tests that is hard, they just give you problems that you've never seen before.
Edit: if you are talking about the math class for bio major (like 131 or something) then that class is super easy, dont worry about it.