|
|
Introducing "Applied Precalculus" "Applied Precalculus" by Erin Denette and Barbara Kaskosz is a free PDF textbook written primarily for students in the life sciences and pharmacy who plan to advance to an applied calculus course or simply wish to strenghten their background in mathematics. Click on the image below to open the book (right-click to download it):
https://www.math.uri.edu/~bkaskosz/precalc/applied-precalculus.pdf About the Book As the title of the book suggests, our emphasis is on the real-life meaning of precalculus concepts. We want our students to master the basic concepts of precalculus while building a solid understanding of those concepts in practical contexts and the skills to apply mathematical tools to real-life processes. To illustrate our approach, take for example the family of linear functions. When talking about linear functions, our emphasis is on the practical meaning and the units of the slope as well as on the units and the practical meaning of the horizontal and vertical intercepts. Such practical understanding is built through many applied examples and their careful analysis. We show how to use linear functions to model real-life processes which are described through tabulated data. At the same time, we try to ensure that students build the algebraic proficiency necessary to successfully apply linear functions. We present all the main precalculus topics while stressing their practical meaning and their real-life applications. Those topics include:
Our intended audience is primarily students in the life sciences and pharmacy. These students can be divided generally into two groups. The first group consists of students for whom this course is a terminal mathematics course, who wish to learn tools of before-calculus mathematics and to develop solid skills of applying those tools to real-life problems. The second group consists of students who plan to continue their study of mathematics and intend to tackle next an applied calculus course. At URI we use the textbook for MTH 103: Applied Precalculus. We use it together with the free online homework system WeBWorK. About the Authors Erin Denette serves as a Senior Lecturer for the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathemaical Sciences of the University of Rhode Island. She received her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Rhode Island. She earned her M.S. from the University of Rhode Island and her B.S. from Fitchburg State University. Barbara Kaskosz serves as a Professor for the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathemaical Sciences of the University of Rhode Island. She received her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences and her M.S. in Mathematics from the University of Warsaw. Contact For more information contact:
License The book is distributed under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives) license:
|
