College Algebra

Overview & Synopsis

College Algebra is an introductory text for a college algebra survey course. The material is presented at a level intended to prepare students for Calculus while also giving them relevant mathematical skills that can be used in other classes. The authors describe their approach as "Functions First," believing introducing functions first will help students understand new concepts more completely. Each section includes homework exercises, and the answers to most computational questions are included in the text (discussion questions are open-ended). Graphing calculators are used sparingly and only as a tool to enhance the Mathematics, not to replace it. The authors also offer a Precalculus version of this text, which has two extra chapters covering Trigonometry.