Best Pre-Calculus Books for High School Students | Expert Recommendations

[Government$]

Hi everyone.
I am a bit bored, so i wanted to renew my knowledge of pre-calculus. I am currently in high school so starting in September we will be doing calculus. So can you recommedn me some good pre-calulus book and also what do you think about "Precalculus a Concise Guide"?

Thank you

 

[brocks]

I like Stewart's precalc text, and IMO Swokowski and Larson are also good. I'm not familiar with the one you mentioned, but you might look on Amazon and see if it's reviewed there.

 

[jcw99]

Axler's Precalculus or Axler's Algebra and Trigonometry

 

[Sankaku]

Axler's Precalculus or Axler's Algebra and Trigonometry

I am a fan of Axler's Linear Algebra book and wondered what these two more elementary books were like. Have you read them?

 

[jcw99]

I'm just about finished with chapter 1 of the alg/trig book. I can compare it only to a book of the same title written years ago by Rees & Sparks which I worked most of the way through. Axler's book requires a lot more thought than the other one! The odd-numbered exercises are solved by the author, which provides continuity with the text material. After the exercises there are problems, some of which are the 'show that' type; some of these are quite interesting (read challenging for yours truly), none of which have solutions, which is fine with me. At the end of the chapter there are review questions, also with no solutions. The book is about 750 pages, which is quite a bit smaller than some of the other mainstream offerings, especially given the full solutions to the odd exercises. The precalc book is about 600 pages and I did a cross-reference of the tables of contents as best I could and I would say that everything in the precalc book is in the alg/trig book. The alg/trig book seems to have more exercises per each section and it also has a bit more trigonometry and about 60 pages on systems of equations, most of which is not in the other book. Matrices and matrix algebra are there, but I don't see anything on determinants.

The exercises in chapter 1 introduce the Greek letter epsilon in a problem with absolute values, inequalities, sets, and intervals; seems like precalculus to me!

 

[Sankaku]

Thanks for the quick review.

The precalc book is about 600 pages and I did a cross-reference of the tables of contents as best I could and I would say that everything in the precalc book is in the alg/trig book.

Interesting. I would have thought there would be a bit more in the precalc book. I am sure it is mostly a marketing move to have 2 separate books, though...

 

[Ivan92]

I like Sullivan's Precalculus 8th ed. It is everything I want out of a Pre-Cal text with some good exercises and detailed explanations.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0132256886/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[nickadams]

bumping this because I am looking for a rigourous precalculus book as well. I'm taking calculus next semester and my math is weak! I want to master pre-calculus concepts and also get familiar with proofs. I have over a month break coming up where I can devote ~8 hours per day to studying so hopefully I can make some serious progress before jumping into calc


Axler sounds really good but I am wondering if I should get precalculus or algebra and trigonometry?


Edit: How is this guy's advice?

Go with the rigorous ones. You can easily learn precalc in class. Most students don't even use textbooks when learning precalc, it is that shallow. You will get hit hard in college if you don't know how to write proofs, and as it is a difficult skill to develop, you would do wonders starting out now. University will ASSUME you can write basic proofs at the level of geometry or basic number theory (see Niven).

I am not familiar with any of your books except Alendeofer. Your free time should be spent on developing proof skills if you intend to pursue a math major. School will prepare you in terms of calculation and technique. Other titles I recommend at your level are as follows:

How to Prove It - Velleman
Numbers: Rational and Irrational - Niven
Trigonometry - Gelfand
Geometry Revisited - Coexeter

that sounds like what I'm looking for but there is no algebra book there...

 

[nickadams]

^bumping this. Pls help i have asked this question everywhere!