- #1
Angry Citizen
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I'm going to be taking a five-week Calculus I class this summer. It's going to be intensive, but I'm very good at math, so I think I should be okay. However, I'm a little worried about my prequisites. Due to circumstances which I won't go into, pretty much all my formal math education has come from three college classes in intermediate algebra, college algebra, and precalculus.
I found a website which had a series of subjects in precalculus, and I definitely didn't cover several of them (and most of the beginning and middle stuff I'd covered in the other two classes). Here's the website for reference: http://www.themathpage.com/aprecalc/precalculus.htm
Anyway, I identified the following areas in which I had no preparation whatsoever: Factorials, Permutations and Combinations, the Binomial Theorem, Multiplication of Sums, and Mathematical Induction, Sequences and Series (summation), and Matrices (these last two not listed on the site, but I was made aware of my deficiency in them through other means). I am also shaky on my trigonometry, but I have the basics down fairly well, and I can solve simple-to-intermediate trig equations.
My question is, which of these should I try to focus on for the next month? Which will matter most in the first calculus course? Which will I kick myself for not at least brushing up on? I find myself not knowing what it is I need to know; so I hope you folks can help me out.
I found a website which had a series of subjects in precalculus, and I definitely didn't cover several of them (and most of the beginning and middle stuff I'd covered in the other two classes). Here's the website for reference: http://www.themathpage.com/aprecalc/precalculus.htm
Anyway, I identified the following areas in which I had no preparation whatsoever: Factorials, Permutations and Combinations, the Binomial Theorem, Multiplication of Sums, and Mathematical Induction, Sequences and Series (summation), and Matrices (these last two not listed on the site, but I was made aware of my deficiency in them through other means). I am also shaky on my trigonometry, but I have the basics down fairly well, and I can solve simple-to-intermediate trig equations.
My question is, which of these should I try to focus on for the next month? Which will matter most in the first calculus course? Which will I kick myself for not at least brushing up on? I find myself not knowing what it is I need to know; so I hope you folks can help me out.