Product Description

This market-leading text continues to provide both students and instructors with sound, consistently structured explanations of the mathematical concepts. Designed for a one- or two-term course that prepares students to study calculus, the new Seventh Edition retains the features that have made Precalculus a complete solution for both students and instructors: interesting applications, cutting-edge design, and innovative technology combined with an abundance of carefully written exercises.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75788 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1031 pages

About the Author
Ron Larson received his PhD. in mathematics from the University of Colorado and has been a professor of mathematics at The Pennsylvania State University since 1970. He has pioneered the use of multimedia to enhance the learning of mathematics, having authored over 30 software titles since 1990. Dr. Larson has also conducted numerous seminars and in-service workshops for math teachers around the country about using computer technology as a teaching tool and motivational aid. His Interactive Calculus (a complete text on CD-ROM) received the 1996 Texty Award for the most innovative mathematics instructional material at the college level, and it was the first mainstream college textbook to be offered on the Internet.

The Pennsylvania State University, The Behrend College Bio: Robert P. Hostetler received his Ph.D. in mathematics from The Pennsylvania State University in 1970. He has taught at Penn State for many years and has authored several calculus, precalculus, and intermediate algebra textbooks. His teaching specialties include remedial algebra, calculus, and math education, and his research interests include mathematics education and textbooks.

Customer Reviews

Beware, no passkey for EduSpace is included
I bought this for two of my classes. Although the description talks about accessing Eduspace you should know that the passkey is NOT included with this product. You will have to spend an additional $67 on the Eduspace site to buy that passkey.

It's a good text, but there are probably better ones.
I'd say that probably the only flaw I found with this book is that the word problems should be included in the solution's manual because those are quite difficult even starting out in the first chapter.

My Pre-Calculus instructor picked one out and basically it was a Physics problem, which is a class I haven't taken in some time and I think she filled like a board and a half trying to explain it to us (which she didn't do a very good job of). It would help if there were more applications relevant to the word problems in the textbook.

Most of the exercises at the end of each section aren't complicated, but I've noticed that sometimes things that should be in there are not listed as far as I know. Like converting DMS to decimal degrees and all that (it was listed as problems to do but they didn't go over that in the section). Luckily I had already learned that in a previous class and had kept that textbook to see how you'd do it again. I haven't noticed any errors (unless I'm getting the same errors) with the problems in the book. I think they give you a wider scope on what there is to do with what you've just learned, but I think a few more examples would go a long way in furthering the student's knowledge and make it a lot easier to tackle the homework. It'd be good to see the problems done in all sorts of different ways so you can apply what you know to the homework. The graphing ones especially. *Two or three general examples aren't majorly helpful.

Apart from that, I find the book to be a great help in understanding Pre-Calculus. I wouldn't say it'd be one of those books that are a fantastic thing to hold onto if you really enjoy math though like Calculus by Michael Spivak. It will, however, teach you a lot of the technical stuff.

Not bad, use it and learn
When it come to the subject of pre-calculus mathematics you could do a LOT worse. It's a textbook worth learning from without the need for any supplemental material. It gets helps you learn each concept fairly well and doesn't given you any unnecessary headaches while still being accurate. A nice mix of abstract and practical problems that are well set-up for each topic. The chapters are arranged in a logical order for learning each topic unlike some textbooks I've had to deal with over the years.