Introduction

About This Book

You can benefit from reading this book if you are interested in supplementing pre-calculus math studies with a secondary book or seeking a non-traditional approach to introductory studies of mathematics. This book is suitable for game developers because it provides a playful approach to learning math. Its use of Visual Formula provides a ready way for anyone to explore pre-calculus math in a ready, creative way.

Who Should Read This Book

This book is suitable for anyone who is seeking fundamental knowledge of algebra and trigonometry. It is also ideal if you are seeking friendly software to help you along with your studies of math. While it does not provide a comprehensive examination of either subject, it focuses on those areas that prove essential to success in pre-calculus studies. This book also provides you with software that allows you to explore its topics in a way that is engaging and easy to manage.

The Chapters

Chapter 1 provides you with an introduction to the philosophy of this book. It also provides you with a first glimpse of Visual Formula.

Chapter 2 dwells on number systems and the properties you can apply to them. In addition, you explore notions concerning sets and ways to work with sets. You also experience your first user session with Visual Formula.

Chapter 3 takes you into a review of exponential and radical numbers.

Chapter 4 allows you to explore the essentials of such notions as domains and ranges, factoring, and functions.

Chapter 5 provides a deeper view of working with functions and extends the discussion into inequalities.

Chapter 6 furnishes you with discussion of the lines, slopes, and intercepts.

Chapter 7 includes the distance formula, translation, and shifting. The topics also include uses of inverse and absolute values.

Chapter 8 ventures into polynomial equations, the FOIL method, and long division involving polynomials.

Chapter 9 centers on solving quadratic equations. Among the topics are completing the square and working with the discriminant.

Chapter 10 showcases the use of Visual Formula. Although you explore Visual Formula in almost every chapter in the book, Chapter 10 provides you with a multitude of examples that allow you to deepen and broaden your knowledge of how to use Visual Formula.

Chapter 11 involves you in a discussion of systems of equations and matrices. You explore equations with two, three, and more variables.

Chapter 12 finishes off your study by introducing several topics of trigonometry. Among these are the six basic ratios of trigonometry and their associated functions.

Appendix A provides you with solutions to the problems the book provides.

Appendix B shows you how to install Visual Formula and obtain support packages from Microsoft.

The CD

You can find Visual Formula on the CD that accompanies this book. Instructions for installing Visual Formula appear in Appendix B, which is also on the CD. In addition, you can find an additional software package called Visual Code on the CD. While Visual Code allows you to explore programming pre-calculus problems using C#, no reference is made to it in the book.

Answers to the Exercises

You’ll find the solutions to almost all of the problems in this text in Appendix A, which is available as a PDF file on the CD. The solutions are worked out. Most math books do not provide worked out problems, so the appendix that contains them is fairly long and must be presented electronically.

Worked-out means precisely that: rather than just an answer, you find the solution to each problem presented in steps, much as you might expect to find them in an instructor’s guide.

In addition to the CD, you can find the solutions on the book’s Internet site (www.courseptr.com). If additions or corrections are added to the versions you find on the CD, then notice of these will be posted on the Internet site. Otherwise, you can assume that the Internet and CD versions are the same.