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2 Calculus Workbook For Dummies

How to Use This Book

Like all For Dummies books, you can use this book as a reference. You don’t need to
read it cover to cover or work through all problems in order. You may need more prac-
tice in some areas than others, so you may choose to do only half of the practice prob-
lems in some sections, or none at all.
However, as you’d expect, the order of the topics in Calculus Workbook For Dummies
follows the order of the traditional curriculum of a first-year calculus course. You can,
therefore, go through the book in order, using it to supplement your coursework. If I do
say so myself, I expect you’ll find that many of the explanations, methods, strategies,
and tips in this book will make problems you found difficult or confusing in class seem
much easier.

Foolish Assumptions

Now that you know a bit about how I see calculus, here’s what I’m assuming about you:

You haven’t forgotten all the algebra, geometry, and trigonometry you learned
in high school. If you have, calculus will be really tough. Just about every single
calculus problem involves algebra, a great many use trig, and quite a few use
geometry. If you’re really rusty, go back to these basics and do some brushing
up. This book contains some practice problems to give you a little pre-calc
refresher, and Calculus For Dummies has an excellent pre-calc review.
You’re willing to invest some time and effort in doing these practice problems.
Like with anything, practice makes perfect, and, also like anything, practice
sometimes involves struggle. But that’s a good thing. Ideally, you should give
these problems your best shot before you turn to the solutions. Reading through
the solutions can be a good way to learn, but you’ll usually learn more if you
push yourself to solve the problems on your own — even if that means going
down a few dead ends.

How This Book Is Organized

Like all For Dummies books, this one is divided into parts, the parts into chapters, and
the chapters into topics. Remarkable!

Part I: Pre-Calculus Review

Part I is a brief review of the algebra, geometry, functions, and trigonometry that you’ll
need for calculus. You simply can’t do calculus without a working knowledge of alge-
bra and functions because virtually every single calculus problem involves both of
these pre-calc topics in some way or another. You might say that algebra is the lan-
guage calculus is written in and that functions are the objects that calculus analyzes.
Geometry and trig are not quite as critical because you could do some calculus with-
out them, but a great number of calculus problems and topics involve geometry and
trig. If your pre-calc is rusty, get out the Rust-Oleum.