Yang Kuang

Functions can be categorized in many different ways. Here, you see functions in terms of the operations being performed. Here, though, you see classifications that work for all the many types of functions. If you know that a function is even or odd or one-to-one, then you know how the function can be applied and whether it can be used as a model in a particular situation.

As you work through pre-calculus, adopting certain tasks as habits can help prepare your brain to tackle your next challenge: calculus. In this article, you find ten habits that should be a part of your daily math arsenal. Perhaps you’ve been told to perform some of these tasks since elementary school — such as showing all your work — but other tricks may be new to you.

Every good thing must come to an end, and for pre-calculus, the end is actually the beginning — the beginning of calculus. Calculus includes the study of change and rates of change (not to mention a big change for you!). Before calculus, everything was usually static (stationary or motionless), but calculus shows you that things can be different over time.

Here you find some pretty amazing curves that are formed from some pretty simple function equations. The trick to drawing these polar curves is to use radian measures for the input variables and put the results into a polar graph. A polar graph uses angles in standard positions and radii of circles; it’s not your usual rectangular coordinate system.

When you study pre-calculus, you are crossing the bridge from algebra II to Calculus. Pre-calculus involves graphing, dealing with angles and geometric shapes such as circles and triangles, and finding absolute values. You discover new ways to record solutions with interval notation, and you plug trig identities into your equations.

The factor theorem states that you can go back and forth between the roots of a polynomial and the factors of a polynomial. In other words, if you know one, you know the other. At times, your teacher or your textbook may ask you to factor a polynomial with a degree higher than two. If you can find its roots, you can find its factors.

You can graph a secant function f(x) = sec x by using steps similar to those for tangent and cotangent. As with tangent and cotangent, the graph of secant has asymptotes. This is because secant is defined as The cosine graph crosses the x-axis on the interval at two places, so the secant graph has two asymptotes, which divide the period interval into three smaller sections.

The parent graph of cosine looks very similar to the sine function parent graph, but it has its own sparkling personality (like fraternal twins). Cosine graphs follow the same basic pattern and have the same basic shape as sine graphs; the difference lies in the location of the maximums and minimums. These extremes occur at different domains, or x values, 1/4 of a period away from each other.

Polar coordinates are an extremely useful addition to your mathematics toolkit because they allow you to solve problems that would be extremely ugly if you were to rely on standard x- and y-coordinates. In order to fully grasp how to plot polar coordinates, you need to see what a polar coordinate plane looks like.