Precalculus: Pathways to Calculus

From the Preface: (…) The book is addressed to students on various levels, to mathematicians, scientists, engineers. It does not pretend to make the subject easy by glossing over difficulties, but rather tries to help the genuinely interested reader by throwing light on the interconnections and purposes of the whole. Instead of obstructing the access to the wealth of facts by lengthy discussions of a fundamental nature we have sometimes postponed such discussions to appendices in the various chapters. Numerous examples and problems are given at the end of various chapters. Some are challenging, some are even difficult; most of them supplement the material in the text. In an additional pamphlet more problems and exercises of a routine character will be collected, and moreover, answers or hints for the solutions will be given. This first volume of concerned primarily with functions of a single variable, whereas the second volume will discuss the more ramified theories of calculus (…).

Investigate infinite sequences and test for convergence of infinite series

Active Prelude to Calculus is designed for college students who aspire to take calculus and who either need to take a course to prepare them for calculus or want to do some additional self-study. Many of the core topics of the course will be familiar to students who have completed high school. At the same time, we take a perspective on every topic that emphasizes how it is important in calculus. This text is written in the spirit of Active Calculus and is especially ideal for students who will eventually study calculus from that text. The reader will find that the text requires them to engage actively with the material, to view topics from multiple perspectives, and to develop deep conceptual understanding of ideas. Many courses at the high school and college level with titles such as “college algebra”, “precalculus”, and “trigonometry” serve other disciplines and courses other than calculus.

Calculus 1