Course Syllabus

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Course Description:

This Precalculus course is intended for college-level Precalculus students. Since Precalculus courses vary from one institution to the next, this course is our attempt to meet the needs of as broad an audience as possible, including all of the content that might be covered as the core of any particular precalculus course. 

As the name implies, this course serves as a preparation for Calculus and will cover a wide variety of topics including polynomial, absolute value, radical, rational, exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions and their graphs as well as analytic geometry and polar coordinates.

What are we going to learn together?

Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to:

  1. Graph functions and relations in rectangular coordinates and polar coordinates;
  2. Synthesize results from the graphs and/or equations of functions and relations;
  3. Apply transformations to the graphs of functions and relations;
  4. Recognize the relationship between functions and their inverses graphically and algebraically;
  5. Solve and apply equations including rational, linear, polynomial, exponential, absolute value, radical, and logarithmic, and solve linear, nonlinear, and absolute value inequalities;
  6. Solve systems of equations and inequalities;
  7. Apply functions to model real-world applications;
  8. Identify special triangles and their related angle and side measures;
  9. Evaluate the trigonometric function of an angle given in degree and radian measure;
  10. Manipulate and simplify a trigonometric expression;
  11. Solve trigonometric equations, triangles, and applications;
  12. Graph the basic trigonometric functions and apply changes in period, phase and amplitude to generate new graphs; and
  13. Prove trigonometric identities

These broad set of outcomes will be achieved as we progress through the modules of the course.  To see the module click Modules on the side tab or click here.

Feedback

We will have two types of assignments that will anchor the daily practice of what you have learned and we will have overarching assessments  by each "chapter" or "module."  Lastly, we will have check-ins to serve as a deep dive into what we are learning.  

Video Assignments:

The video assignment is shorter and has a video embedded with each problem to support your first time through the content.  These will occur every day or every other day throughout the summer.

Assignments (canvas-based Problem Sets):

These problem sets are a bit longer and more closely follow all the problem types shown in the text and videos.  They are intended to provide comprehensive exposure to all the relevant information and give you a look at the variety of ways we will engage with the mathematics on a particular topic.  

Assessments:

This is one way we will check for understanding of your learning.   Each module will have an assessment that covers all the topics within the module.  These will largely be embedded in Canvas and look similar to the assignments you have been completing.  A smaller part of assessing your learning will be given on DeltaMath as well as Khan Academy.

Check-ins:

Some of these will be as a group and others will be individual.  It may be a virtual meeting where I listen and watch you all work together on a set of problems or it might be one-on-one check-ins.  In whatever form it may occur, these will be ways to check in more deeply about the content and your learning.

Textbook

We will rely on a mixture of text and video throughout the course and will have exams and problem sets that are closely aligned to the problem types in the textbook.  While this textbook is only one means of accessing the content for the course, it is an important one. 

Great news: your textbook for this class is available online, accessible anywhere and anytime!

Precalculus from OpenStax by Rice University, ISBN 1-947172-06-9

You have several options to access this book:

You can use whichever formats you want. Web view (online) is recommended -- the responsive design works seamlessly on any device and allows for notes and annotations as well.

Timing and Schedule

We will be formally starting on June 15th and ending on August 14th.  The best way to keep track of the timing of this course (due dates, etc.) is using the Calendar feature in Canvas or using Google Calendar below:

 

Important Links

Closing Reminders:

  • Academic dishonesty and plagiarism will result in a one-on-one conversation with Nooha and yourself and may result in a failing grade on the assignment. Using someone else's ideas or phrasing and representing those ideas or phrasing as our own, either on purpose or through carelessness, is a serious offense known as plagiarism. "Ideas or phrasing" includes written or spoken material, from whole papers and paragraphs to sentences, and, indeed, phrases but it also includes statistics, worked problems, graphs/images, etc.  
  • Work will be a mixture of online assignments delivered within Canvas, as well as digital and paper-based problems that will need to be completed outside of the Canvas environment.

Licenses and Attributions:

The contents of this course shell were developed by David Lippman and modified by Krystal Meier and Roy Shahbazian at Santa Ana College and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Creative Commons License except where noted.

The videos from Mathispower4u by James Sousa are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The textbook is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License v4.0. 

The Classroom Activities are authored by Mathematics Vision Project licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Links to external content may be licensed under different open or non-open licenses. 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due