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Algebra/Trig Review
Introduction
This review was originally written for my Calculus I class but it should be accessible to anyone needing a review in some basic algebra and trig topics. The review contains the occasional comment about how a topic will/can be used in a calculus class. If you aren’t in a calculus class you can ignore these comments. I don’t cover all the topics that you would see in a typical Algebra or Trig class, I’ve mostly covered those that I feel would be most useful for a student in a Calculus class although I have included a couple that are not really required for a Calculus class. These extra topics were included simply because the do come up on occasion and I felt like including them. There are also, in all likelihood, a few Algebra/Trig topics that do arise occasionally in a Calculus class that I didn’t include. Because this review was originally written for my Calculus students to use as a test of their algebra and/or trig skills it is generally in the form of a problem set. The solution to the first problem in a set contains detailed information on how to solve that particular type of problem. The remaining solutions are also fairly detailed and may contain further required information that wasn’t given in the first problem, but they probably won’t contain explicit instructions or reasons for performing a certain step in the solution process. It was my intention in writing the solutions to make them detailed enough that someone needing to learn a particular topic should be able to pick the topic up from the solutions to the problems. I hope that I’ve accomplished this. So, why did I even bother to write this? The ability to do basic algebra is absolutely vital to successfully passing a calculus class. As you progress through a calculus class you will see that almost every calculus problem involves a fair amount of algebra. In fact, in many calculus problems, 90% or more of the problem is algebra. So, while you may understand the
Introduction
This review was originally written for my Calculus I class but it should be accessible to anyone needing a review in some basic algebra and trig topics. The review contains the occasional comment about how a topic will/can be used in a calculus class. If you aren’t in a calculus class you can ignore these comments. I don’t cover all the topics that you would see in a typical Algebra or Trig class, I’ve mostly covered those that I feel would be most useful for a student in a Calculus class although I have included a couple that are not really required for a Calculus class. These extra topics were included simply because the do come up on occasion and I felt like including them. There are also, in all likelihood, a few Algebra/Trig topics that do arise occasionally in a Calculus class that I didn’t include. Because this review was originally written for my Calculus students to use as a test of their algebra and/or trig skills it is generally in the form of a problem set. The solution to the first problem in a set contains detailed information on how to solve that particular type of problem. The remaining solutions are also fairly detailed and may contain further required information that wasn’t given in the first problem, but they probably won’t contain explicit instructions or reasons for performing a certain step in the solution process. It was my intention in writing the solutions to make them detailed enough that someone needing to learn a particular topic should be able to pick the topic up from the solutions to the problems. I hope that I’ve accomplished this. So, why did I even bother to write this? The ability to do basic algebra is absolutely vital to successfully passing a calculus class. As you progress through a calculus class you will see that almost every calculus problem involves a fair amount of algebra. In fact, in many calculus problems, 90% or more of the problem is algebra. So, while you may understand the