Okay-- so I don't know WHY, exactly, Precalc now includes some topics that weren't addressed previously until calculus (you know, when you NEEDED them) and at this point it really doesn't matter that much.
My DD's Precalc class has no instruction. It uses a crappy textbook (Glencoe's Advanced Mathematical Concepts: Precalculus with Applications).
I have provided her with Lial and Hornsby's Precalculus, which is definitely a more thorough and better-written text.
The problem is that she is truly floundering with material that she has NEVER seen before, and for which the course itself seems to think that she should memorize a particular algorithm (apparently)-- but then barely demonstrates it at all, and provides no practice.
Only assessments.
The assessment level clearly (I've looked at them, recall)-- requires MASTERY of the material, including some that hasn't been presented at all.
The teacher is AWOL, basically-- no help there.
Khan was somewhat helpful here, but the way that the course has presented Parametric functions and polar coordinate systems is so-- so-- well, it's so stupidly backwards and over-simplified that DD is having a LOT of trouble figuring out WHY they are using particular approaches.
Honestly, geometry preparation (now) isn't sufficient to adequately lay a foundation for trig at this level. But it's not like we can go back and completely remediate THAT at this point, even if we wanted to. So we're going to be patching things as she goes.
HELP.
I need some additional resources for:
Trig identities
Parametric Equations
(DD knows vectors inside and out after Physics)
Conics and analytic geometry
Polar Coordinates
Complex Numbers
Probably I'm also going to need this for:
combinatorics
exponentials (well, maybe not-- I think this stuff is intuitive to her)
Anyone know of anything where DD can actually get some practice with feedback? She's not learning it thoroughly enough just from reading and watching video. She's getting super discouraged, and the more so because this grade is going onto a college transcript, being a dual-enrollment class.
Is there a Schaum's outline with this kind of thing in it??
