teeterbunch Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 My son is going to make it 3/4's of the way through MUS precalculus this year, so we need to do precalculus again next year. I'd like to use a different curriculum so we aren't just repeating. Any suggestions that would be a little step up from MUS in preparing him for calculus? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 MUS's precalculus is really just a semester long trig class disguised as PreCalc. What did he use for Algebra 2? If he did MUS then too, he is really missing some more advanced Algebra skills. You might consider something like Lial's PreCalculus (or College Algebra with Trig it is the same thing). This will really shore up his Algebra skills as well as adding to his trig skills. Another option would be Foersters's PreCalculus. Math without Borders has videos to go with this text if he is used to and prefers video based instruction. This is probably slightly more challenging than Lial's (at least the Algebra books are). Either one of those will be mostly new material, with some repetition in Trigonometry, but with considerably more difficult problems when he is encountering repeated concepts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 You may also want to consider an online class which provides more instructor input and feedback such as Derek Owens or Wilson Hill Academy. While definitely more challenging than MUS they would better prepare him for any future math courses to follow. If you don't want an online course then as Momto2Ns suggested Lials or Foerster are good choices. The one thing to consider is how much teacher involvement will be required on your part? Are you expecting this to be mostly independent? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Here is a listing of Pre-Calculus options from the recent High School math thread: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/542418-homeschool-high-school-math/?do=findComment&comment=6191110 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Have you looked at Teaching Textbooks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I like Lial's College Algebra + Trig better than I like their Precalculus:Graphing Approach. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenC Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 I like Lial's College Algebra + Trig better than I like their Precalculus:Graphing Approach. Could you tell me what the difference is between these two books and why you like College Algebra + Trig better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad S Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 In addition to the link Derek provided above, there is another recent precalculus thread which discusses various precalculus texts, rigorous and not. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/546309-rigorous-precalculus/?hl=%2Brigorous+%2Bprecalculus&do=findComment&comment=6288484 I am not a fan of the Lial text as I don't think it teaches good problem-solving skills as some others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Could you tell me what the difference is between these two books and why you like College Algebra + Trig better? I specifically don't like the way the graphing approach text does trig. It introduces them as circular functions, gives a few values, and then goes straight to graphing the trig functions (as you might expect from the title). I'd have no problem with this if it were review (it is a good way to get them to thinking of them as real-valued functions) but people who haven't had a lot of prior experience with trig tend to find this section horribly confusing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenC Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 I specifically don't like the way the graphing approach text does trig. It introduces them as circular functions, gives a few values, and then goes straight to graphing the trig functions (as you might expect from the title). I'd have no problem with this if it were review (it is a good way to get them to thinking of them as real-valued functions) but people who haven't had a lot of prior experience with trig tend to find this section horribly confusing. That's helpful, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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