Prerequisites: No formal prerequisites. Columbia College students do not receive any credit for this course and must see their CSA advising dean.
Textbook: James Stewart, Lothar Redlin, Saleem Watson Precalculus: Mathematics for Calculus, 7th edition.
- The textbook is available at the bookstore, and directly from the publisher.
- Some sections may use WebAssign.
Target Audience: This course is for students who wish to study calculus but do not know analytic geometry.
Course Topics:
The course covers most of the material in the first eight chapters in the textbook.
- Properties of real numbers, exponents, linear and quadratic equations, coordinates (Chapter 1)
- Functions, graphs and their properties, transforming functions (Chapter 2)
- Polynomials, graphing polynomials, polynomial division, root finding, complex numbers, rational functions (Chapter 3)
- Exponentials and logarithms (Chapter 4)
- Trigonometry (Chapters 5 – 7)
- Polar coordinates, as time permits (Chapter 8)
Typical Syllabus:
A sample syllabus is available.
Calculus Director: Prof. Michael Woodbury (woodbury@math.columbia.edu)
Barnard Calculus Director: Prof. Dusa McDuff (dusa@math.columbia.edu)
Help Room Schedule: 333 Milbank Hall, Barnard Campus
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