Chapter 6. Precalculus and your calculator

Precalculus encompasses a set of important math skills, both on their own and as a foundation on which to build your calculus education. Precalculus is generally taught after algebra, and it includes topics like polar graphing, sets and series, real and complex numbers, trigonometry, and exponents and logarithms. In chapter 4, you learned about lists and their uses for holding sets. In chapter 5, you explored polar and sequence graphing. This chapter will fill in the rest of the precalculus skills your calculator can help you with.

We’ll start with imaginary and complex numbers. In the first five chapters of this book, you dealt only with real numbers. Now you’ll be able to represent numbers that include √(–1), called imaginary numbers. When a number has both a real and an imaginary part, it’s called a complex number. You’ll learn to type and manipulate complex numbers, and you’ll see an example of calculating imaginary roots from the Quadratic Formula. You’ll move on to your calculator and trigonometry, focusing on using the trigonometric functions your calculator provides. In the midst of the lesson, you’ll also learn about the unit circle and inverse trigonometric functions.

6.1. Imaginary and complex numbers

6.2. Experimenting with trigonometry

6.3. Understanding limits

6.4. Exponents and logarithms

6.5. Summary