MHB Michael Sullivan Precalculus Textbook Arrived Today

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers around the transition from David Cohen's precalculus textbook to Michael Sullivan's Precalculus 5th Edition. The original poster finds Cohen's book overly complex, particularly due to its focus on the unit circle, which may be better suited for honors courses. In contrast, Sullivan's textbook is viewed as more accessible for a general student audience, despite its own challenges. The poster has a long history with Sullivan's book, having used it since 2006, and notes its widespread adoption in high school and military online math courses. There is a request for a link to a free online version of Sullivan's textbook, highlighting its perceived ease of understanding compared to Cohen's work.
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I finally got my Michael Sullivan Precalculus 5th Edition textbook today. I have decided to part ways with my David Cohen book. It makes no sense to keep it. It is truly over my head.

By this I don't mean that Sullivan's book is a walk in the park. It can be intense depending on the topic and/or chapter. Cohen's book concentrates more on the unit circle as a guide through most of the problems. It is probably meant for an honors precalculus course.

So, parting ways after so many years. I had the 5th edition Sullivan precalculus textbook back in 2006. Soroban helped a lot back in 2006. Sullivan's book is directed more for a general student population as opposed to a group of talented or advanced math students.
 
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Sullivan is a great textbook but I have a free download PDF of the book
I also have the hard copy with the DOE gave me

Just about every HS and military online math classes uses it.
 
karush said:
Sullivan is a great textbook but I have a free download PDF of the book
I also have the hard copy with the DOE gave me

Just about every HS and military online math classes uses it.

Can I please have the link to the free online Sullivan textbook? Sullivan is so much easier to read than David Cohen. Do you have the 5th edition of the precalculus book?
 
The book is fascinating. If your education includes a typical math degree curriculum, with Lebesgue integration, functional analysis, etc, it teaches QFT with only a passing acquaintance of ordinary QM you would get at HS. However, I would read Lenny Susskind's book on QM first. Purchased a copy straight away, but it will not arrive until the end of December; however, Scribd has a PDF I am now studying. The first part introduces distribution theory (and other related concepts), which...
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