Pre-calc book for an international student?

[YYaaSSeeRR]

hi
I am going to graduate from High school in 2 weeks from now...
my major will be Electrical engineering at Cleveland state university.
anyway ,I want a self-study book so that I can build my foundation before starting classes.
I will have around 6 months before enrolling in college.
I have already bought PreCalculus for dummies,what do you think about it?
are there any better books out there?
what about Community college classes ,do you think that is a better idea than buying a book?
if I want to take Pre-calc classes at CC ,how many hours should I expect?

 

[lurflurf]

Serge Lang's Basic Mathematics is a nice book, you can probably get a different book cheaper (especially if used). Some ok books are those by Brown, Larson, and, others. Precalculus is not a well defined course, many people never take it as high school algebra and trigonometry are enough. Others take similar courses with assorted names like advanced math, basic math, integrated math, algebra/trig, introduction to analysis, or analytic geometry. So decide if you know algebra and trigonometry really well, you proabbly do not need to study precalculus. If you have problems with algebra and trigonometry or never studied them, you should probably study proabbly do not need to study precalculus either on your own or with a class depending on learning style. As far as time most community college classes meet for between 75 and 150 hours some outside study the amount of which depends on background and ability.