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I need opinions on my son's high school schedule.
He has completed:
Alegbra 1 (Saxon Math Algebra 1/2 & ALEKS Beg Algebra)
Algebra 2 (ALEKS Inter Algebra)
Geometry (ALEKS)
Business Math (ALEKS)
can he (should he?) enroll in ALEKS Pre-calc next, or, should he do the College Algebra course first? I know he "can" get credit for college algebra too, but I want to know if he needs it in his brain before trying pre-cal???
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Precalculus is College Algebra plus Trigonometry.
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What is Pre calc? I never had to take it. The highest level math I took in highschool was Trig. When I went to college i took a entrance exam and tested into Calc I, and then went on to 2 and 3. Is pre calc no dirivates or no limits? why does it teach you before Calc I?
To responsed to this thread you need to take trig before Calc. I think there is a math class that is Business calc and it doesnt do any trig functions. But with regular Calc I you will need to know how to use the sin cos tan functions and they are the harder problems in the course.
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I wouldn't say you NEED it per se, but most colleges want you to learn algebra at the college level since it's kind of the starting block.
Pre-calc is pretty much just all the math you've learned up until that point without going in to derivatives and logarithms and all that all boring crap :p
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MA2 Wrote:I wouldn't say you NEED it per se, but most colleges want you to learn algebra at the college level since it's kind of the starting block.
Pre-calc is pretty much just all the math you've learned up until that point without going in to derivatives and logarithms and all that all boring crap :p
What's confusing me is that I'm using college maths for his high school courses. If he were taking the next high school math, it would be called "precalc/trig" which would directly precede Calc AB (Calc 1). Since we are using college maths, what's the point of college algebra? I mean is is very different than Algebra 2? If he was being traditional, any high school kid who has taken calc 1 doesn't go back and take "college algebra" .... or do they? Is Intermediate Algebra (ALEKS) aka Algebra II not enough prep or is it? I don't want to leave a hole, but I also don't want him to feel like he's doing the entire algebra sequence again kwim?
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Yenisei Wrote:Precalculus is College Algebra plus Trigonometry.
Thank Yenisei. So do you think Algebra II is enough prep for precal?
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algebra is algebra, High school just takes a longer time to teach it. College algebra is prolly just high school algebra I and II. All you need is high school level Algebra I and II, Trig and you can have sucess in Calc I. The lowest level math I ever took in college was Calc I. I was a CS major and the math requirements were Calc I and II. If you take Calc I and II you will be good for any major.
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cookderosa Wrote:... I know he "can" get credit for college algebra too, but I want to know if he needs it in his brain before trying pre-cal???
My opinion is "no". If he's already taken the equivalent (or better) to a full high school year's worth of algebra than "college algebra" in any form won't really teach him anything new. The only reasons I see that people take college algebra at all is if they are a non-science/tech major and the school "makes them" or they happen to not need it but find it easy/have an aptitude and just use it to fill up some credit requirement slot. Just about everybody who has a "sciencey" major starts their math progression at either pre-calc or calc1 via AP tests, SAT/ACT scores, high school level work or college entrance tests.
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BA in Math & Psych double-major - Excelsior
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excellent. Done. Precal it is.
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If he's good at math I would say pre-calc. But just because he took Algebra in high school doesn't mean college Algebra would be identical.
Think of it this way. In elementary school, you learn the Boston Tea party was a bunch of guys dressed like Native Americans throwing Tea in to the ocean.
In middle school, you learn it was a way of them rebelling the Tea tax that England passed on the colonies.
In high school, you learn it was the Sons of Liberty which composed of some notable figures that shaped early America.
In college, you learn more about the Sons of Liberty... and so on.
It's not like what you learned in high school about the Boston Tea Party, or Algebra, is all there is to learn about the subject.
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