Precalculus

Rating:
Summary: Best Suited for Math Majors
Review: As an undergraduate community college student, this was the text used for my Precalculus course. I entered the course confidently, since I had always fared well in mathematics courses.
This book seems to be geared toward students with a more extensive mathematics background than myself, a Business Administration major. There is not enough background material on some precalculus methodologies, and this puts the student at a considerable disadvantage if a class is missed. Matters become especially complicated (for the non-math major) if the professor skips sections. It would be best to proceed through this book in order, but that is not possible in one semester.
The shining parts of this book are the "real life examples." These scenarios clearly demonstrate useful applications of the material in each chapter, and answer the age-old question: "Why bother learning THIS?"
Another positive aspect of this book is also a negative: The chapters are very short, due to a lack of background information.
For the student who attends every class, pays attention, and takes good notes, this book is an asset. The book would be less useful as a learn-on-your-own tool, except for true math prodigies.
My most major complaint is the price of the book. When is price gouging of textbooks going to end? Unfortunately, students have no choice but to pay, and the publishers take advantage of the situation. I always buy a used book whenever possible. ...

Rating:
Summary: A gem. But beware of Amazon bugs!
Review: I reported them to Amazon months ago - nothing's changed.
There are two different books on amazon.com:

BOOK 1: "Precalculus 5/e" by Larson & Hostetler (search for 0618052852 on amazon.com). It has a very good supplement - "Study and Solutions Guide" by Dianna Zook (0618072713).
Both books were published by Houghton Mifflin Company, which has nice resource site http://college.hmco.com/mathematics/students/.
I have no affiliation with this publisher. From the pull-down "Precalculus" window Select Title "Precalculus 5/e Larson/Hostetler ((c)2001)". You'll be very pleased with the links you find there. If you seriously want to ace Precalculus - get both - "Precalculus" and "Study...".

BOOK 2: "Precalculus Functions and Graphs: A Graphing Approach/Precalculus With Limits: A Graphing Approach (Student Study Guide)" by Larson (0618074104).

Here's one bug:
Somehow reviews posted for BOOK 1 got mirrored onto BOOK 2 or vice versa (compare books' reviews).
Another bug:
Book 2 in reality has a title "Study and Solution Guide" and its authors are Bruce Edwards and Dianna Zook (not Larson). Compare it with "Study and Solutions Guide for Precalculus Functions and Graphs : A Graphing Approach and: Precalculus With Limits : A Graphing Approach" (0669417297), which is older: 2/e, (c)1997.

Book 2 gives solutions to odd-numbered excersizes and to all Chapter Practice Tests and to Chapter and Cumulative Tests in both "Precalculus Functions and Graphs...3/e" (0618052909) and "Precalculus with Limits...3/e" (0618052917).

Those two books were published in 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. On http://college.hmco.com/mathematics/students/ from the pull-down "Precalculus" window select either of their titles. Click on "Purchase this Product or Study Aides" and you'll see the whole learning package which includes aforementioned "Study and Solution Guide" ISBN: (0-618-07410-4) (for some reason Bruce Edwards is dropped and only Dianna Zook is listed as author; apparently, amazon.com doesn't hold monopoly on making mistakes).

Make sure you are reading reviews relevant to the book you consider buying.


Rating:
Summary: Precalculus
Review: I think that the book is very good.

Rating:
Summary: its a calc book
Review: If you want to learn precalculus, this is as good a book as any.

Rating:
Summary: Very good if you follow the #1 rule for math & sci success
Review: This book consists of about 10 chapters.
(your precalc professor will probably only cover 8 of them).
Each chapter consists of about five or six topic sections.
Each section contains about 5 pages of reading and another 2 pages with review questions (approximately 90-120+ questions).

I initially bought the fifth edition and weeks later upgraded to the 6th. I see only two differences between the old and new edition. The prerequisite chapter (covering review material from previous math class) is located in the front of the 5th edition, but in the back of the 6th edition. As for the five pages of reading material per section, I found them to be exactly the same (as far as I could tell). However the review questions in the back have a somewhat different order. In my opinion, about 90% of the review question (the examples that professors assign for homework) are present in both edition. However, in the sixth edition, some of the questions are in slightly mixed order. What this means to people buying the fifth edition, is that after each math class, you'll need to compare and match the review questions in your book with those of your fellow classmate's sixth edition text. Personally I don't believe that it's worth the effort to buy the old edition, since you can find the new sixth edition ... on Amazon.com, ..., etc.
Something I strongly recommend is purchasing the solutions guide. The titles are Study and Solutions Guide by Dianna Zook, but the title is misleading. It is ONLY a solutions guide, with answers for the odd-numbered questions broken down into four steps. The text book only supplies the odd-numbered answers without being broken down into steps. ... Just keep in mind that the sixth edition textbook and solutions guide has a publish date of 2003 or 2004. The fifth edition textbook and solutions guide has a 2000 publish date.

6th edtion TEXTBOOK ISBN 0618314342
6th edition SOLUTIONS guide ISBN 0618314377

5th edition TEXTBOOK ISBN 0618052852
5th edition SOLUTIONS guide ISBN 0618072713

Another suggestion, if you're purchasing this book used, is to buy the instructor's edition version (ISBN 0618314369). I say used because the publisher doesn't allow the sales of these books to non-educators, so you'll have to purchase them from amazon's used section, ..., etc. The only difference between the standard and instructor's edition is that the standard student edition has the odd-numbered answers and the instructor's has the odd and EVEN-numbered answers. Unfortunately these answers are only answers and not broken down solutions. You'll have to buy the solutions guide to have those and even then you'll only get the odd-numbered broken down solutions.

As for the #1 rule of math and science courses:

It's a well accepted rule of thumb that a student should study 2 hours per week for every 1 hour in class. For example if you're taking a four credit hour precalculus course, you should be studying an additional eight hours per week on top of the four in class. For those of you who work and don't have that kind of time, I would recommend that you study at least 1 hour per week per hour you're in class. That means you'd be in class four hours per week and would study another four outside class. Trust me, if you don't do this, you won't pass! Another note about this book, don't let the reading discourage you; a lot of this text reads as if speaking to a mathematician, not a lonely undergraduate student. Even if you don't understand all the theorems thrown at you (trust me you won't) continue reading and MOST IMPORTANT: do the review quesions. At least do the review questions that your teacher assigns, but if you can do them all or at least the odd-numbered ones, it would serve you well to do so.
If you haven't looked at a math book for over five years, might I recommend that you purchase a math video tape tutorial. It won't substitute for going to class or buying the text book, but it's a great introduction and was very helpful to me in calculus. On Amazon.com just type "Standard Deviants pre-calculus" (free shipping over $25 is good incentive to buy from here) or go directly to company's website if you want descriptions of what these VHS / DVD discs are about. Word of caution, buy "standard deviants" NOT "standard deviants school" which are much bigger volumes geared toward school learning environments.

...

Good luck,

Rob

Rating:
Summary: Pre - Calculus Larsen
Review: This is the best precalulus book I have ever read. It tackles the subject from several different points of view, yet in a cohesive and easily undestandable manner. The balance between the theory, examples and practical applications is superb. This is the only precalculus book you will ever need and every high school student should have it on his desk.

Rating:
Summary: Great Precalculus primer and review
Review: This is the best resource I found for studying Precalculus and laying down the required fundamentals necessary to succeed in Calculus. There are plenty of examples, real-life examples, and informative insets.

More than half of the book is a review of algebra and trigonometry, slowly building up to chapter seven, where the Precalculus really begins.

Rating:
Summary: Mostly a Good Book; some parts not clear
Review: When I first started to use the book I was impressed by the pre-requisite chapter, and I also thought the book was easy to read. I used this book for a summer session. Due to my very busy life, I found it necessary to read ahead of the instructor to be ready for tests. I found the writing in the last third of the book hard to follow. Our instructor told us not even to read these chapters because he didn't like the way the material was presented. I would give this 5 stars if the CD was included, but that is an extra [$$$]
If bought for self study, you may find you need the CD, online help or solutions manual.