I'm a currently taking trigonometry at my college, and I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice that I should know going into pre-calculus. Even Calculus 1,2, or 3 in that matter.
Extra Info: I am almost done with Trigonometry, and I made a 96 on my last test. This class is VERY is easy to me, and it seems lately that a lot of people are concerned about calculus because of the difficulty. I'm hoping someone who has taken up to Calc 3 could tell me some "important" equations I should know that they would recommend. Also, any other helpful information that you could share would be greatly appreciated!
Extra Info: I am almost done with Trigonometry, and I made a 96 on my last test. This class is VERY is easy to me, and it seems lately that a lot of people are concerned about calculus because of the difficulty. I'm hoping someone who has taken up to Calc 3 could tell me some "important" equations I should know that they would recommend. Also, any other helpful information that you could share would be greatly appreciated!
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Precalculus for me was very easy. I got an A because it was easy. Well, what you learn before you take precalculus will help you in this class. You basically learn about determinants(easy), matrixes(easy), logarithims(somewhat easy), exponential functions, radians, degrees, trigonometric identities(study these going into Calculus), solving right triangles, and learning the Law of sines and law of cosines. This is just some of the things you can expect, but this isn't everything.
After you get done with Pre-Calculus, you are ready for CALCULUS. This class will challenge you to the extent. Calculus is basically how things change. Your gonna learn about Limits, Derivatives, Applications of Derivatives, Integrals, Antiderivatives, Techniques of Integrals, Partial Derivatives and more. Your gonna expect to memorize your trig identites and learning more about memorizing your inverse trig identities and derivatives of logarithmic functions. It will eventually get easy if you can understand the concepts and apply them to your problems.
After you get done with Pre-Calculus, you are ready for CALCULUS. This class will challenge you to the extent. Calculus is basically how things change. Your gonna learn about Limits, Derivatives, Applications of Derivatives, Integrals, Antiderivatives, Techniques of Integrals, Partial Derivatives and more. Your gonna expect to memorize your trig identites and learning more about memorizing your inverse trig identities and derivatives of logarithmic functions. It will eventually get easy if you can understand the concepts and apply them to your problems.
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Calculus can be hard or easy
It matters somewhat how good the lectures are, and the professor may or may not be a great teacher (my high school teacher was great, I was kind of bad though)
I think there are some different ways a calculus curriculum can be set up. It can be taught at different levels - maybe just for engineers, or maybe just for teachers, or maybe just for artists, or maybe for an AP class, or maybe for an honors class. I had an AP class. Our teacher went very carefully over the definition of a limit, properties of a limit, definition of the derivative, properties of the derivative, applications of the derivative, definition of the integral, properties, applications of the integral. In figuring out the definition of the limit and how it works, there's some careful work with intervals, functions, and logic. The properties can be proved from the definitions. If you understand coordinates and graphing, and are pretty good at algebra, then you can do this kind of calculus, as long as you make sure to go through the material step by step, and don't leave out any important steps. In honors courses you might see the same material without so much detail, leaving you to fill in more of the steps on your own, and you'll see maybe more historical background, and some more abstract approaches, and different approaches to the topic - I don't know that much about those really - basically, more advanced and detailed treatment of the same topics. (I should have taken more of those.)
It matters somewhat how good the lectures are, and the professor may or may not be a great teacher (my high school teacher was great, I was kind of bad though)
I think there are some different ways a calculus curriculum can be set up. It can be taught at different levels - maybe just for engineers, or maybe just for teachers, or maybe just for artists, or maybe for an AP class, or maybe for an honors class. I had an AP class. Our teacher went very carefully over the definition of a limit, properties of a limit, definition of the derivative, properties of the derivative, applications of the derivative, definition of the integral, properties, applications of the integral. In figuring out the definition of the limit and how it works, there's some careful work with intervals, functions, and logic. The properties can be proved from the definitions. If you understand coordinates and graphing, and are pretty good at algebra, then you can do this kind of calculus, as long as you make sure to go through the material step by step, and don't leave out any important steps. In honors courses you might see the same material without so much detail, leaving you to fill in more of the steps on your own, and you'll see maybe more historical background, and some more abstract approaches, and different approaches to the topic - I don't know that much about those really - basically, more advanced and detailed treatment of the same topics. (I should have taken more of those.)