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I'm planning on starting postbacc in Fall 07 (two years from now), but haven't had math of any kind since high school pre-calculus ten years ago. I wasn't great at math (or, by extension, the sciences that required heavy math use)at that time--I was generally in the B+/A- neighborhood--but then again, I never really tried to master the material either, having convinced myself that excellence in the subject was simply beyond my grasp. Anyway, I want to start the postbacc with rock-solid math skills, and as you can see, my "master plan" includes plenty of time to acquire that background. HOWEVER, I don't really want to register for a formal set of math courses, for reasons of finance, scheduling, and learning style. I need to be able to work at my own pace for the next two years--there will be times when I can study math exclusively for days on end, and others when I won't be able to touch it for weeks. Given all the above, I'm wondering what the most effective materials would be. The textbooks I remember having used in the past seem to have been long on problem sets and short on actual instruction, since that would be provided by the course leader. I've considered the "[blank] For Dummies" series, which purports to be a complete do-it-yourself package. I have also seen a few computer programs, but I don't want to drop $50 on one of those and then find out that it's geared toward REVIEW rather than INITIAL INSTRUCTION. Anyone have advice/recommendations?
Also, is geometry necessary, or can I stick to pre-algebra, algebra/trig, pre-calc, and calculus?
Also, is geometry necessary, or can I stick to pre-algebra, algebra/trig, pre-calc, and calculus?