Jan
25
What are the essential topics in pre calculus that will allow one to go on to calculus?
ByI am a junior, and taught myself pre calculus during the past semester out of a textbook, and have a pretty good understanding of it. My parents are going to test me on it though to make sure I know what I need to move on. This being said what are the main topics that I need to know?
3 Comments
January 25th, 2010 at 7:59 am
Algebra, specifically solving quadratics / factoring… and basic trig…
I would brush up on factoring, the quadtractic formula, and your sine / cosine / and tangent functions…
January 25th, 2010 at 8:17 am
You star! Well done! I suggest you do the summary test in the back of the book to see if you know enough. Or get another pre calculus and do the test in the back of that book.
January 25th, 2010 at 8:32 am
If you understand the following, you should be able to enter Calculus with no trouble.
1. Kinematics (position, speed, acceleration). Calculus definitions among the three.
2. IROC and AROC, rates of change. How are they different, how are they related?
3. Trigonometry of right triangles.
4. Trigonometry functions defined for all angles. Including reciprocal trigonometry function names.
5. Angle measure in radians.
6. Exponentials and Logarithms. How are they related? What is the significance of the number e?
7. Limits
8. Derivative definition using limits
9. Riemann sums for integration.
10. Meaning of derivatives and integrals.