Schaum's Outline of Precalculus

If you want top grades and thorough understanding of precalculus, this powerful study tool is the best tutor you can have! It takes you step-by-step through the subject and gives you more than 600 accompanying related problems with fully worked solutions. You also get plenty of practice problems to do on your own, working at your own speed. (Answers provided to show you how you're doing.) Famous for their clarity, wealth of illustrations and examples, and lack of dreary minutiae, Schaum's Outlines have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and this guide will show you why!

While it is certainly no substitute for a good teacher, I found it to be better than my text book, which really isn't of much use. The example used in the book are clear and easy to understand.

This book is also much, much cheaper than my textbook.

Trust me, I stink at math, and I have not been in a math class in 10 years. But, this book is making it easier. For the first time in 16 years, I am passing a math class on the first attempt.

Two nights ago, I used it cram for my mid-term. It really helped a lot. It especially helped me understand difference quotients, which were giving me a lot of trouble.

I intend to buy more of the Schaum's books as I have two more math classes to go. I have to -- I attend a school that values math above all else.

I guess I'm just really glad because I took my midterm last night, and I left class feeling euphoric. I should probably add that I have a great teacher.

I do not think you would regret buying this book if you are having trouble in precalculus.


Immense help   July 3, 2000
Kevin (Hamilton, NJ United States)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

I bought this book while taking a 6 week college pre-calc summer course. Being that the course was dramatically shortened from the normal 16 weeks to 6 weeks due to the summer curriculum, any extra help available was crucial. By using this book in conjunction with the regular school book, it made it a lot easier to understand things like functions, graphs, logs, and quadratics. This text pretty much follows right along with the in class book but provides many examples with more detailed solutions and different ways of solving them. I received a "B" in the class. Without this book, how knows?


Best Prep for Pro-Math Students   April 18, 2003
18 out of 18 found this review helpful

I bought this book in order to learn precalculus because we skipped most of it in my class in order to goto Calculus. Initially the book started out slow because it talked about basic algebraic principles and such, but it got better. This book, I would say, is more for math-oriented students. I myself am not great in math, but spending time with the problems in this book is well worth it. I spent 27 minutes on one problem, and I understood it afterwards, and the satisfaction is great! But yes, this book has very good explanations and almost always never leaves anything out. The only thing I did not like about this book is it skipped some steps which made me take more time with a given problem.


Great for studying for COMPASS math placement test   August 1, 2006
calvinnme (Fredericksburg, Va)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

Although this would also make a nice supplement for college students taking Precalculus, it really shines as a test preparation manual for students preparing to take the COMPASS math placement test that is required in many junior colleges. It starts with very basic material on the sets of numbers used in algebra, axioms for the real number systems, and precedence of operators and then moves on to cover everything that you should have seen in two years of high school algebra, trigonometry, and analytical geometry. Plus it even has a few chapters at the end on solving systems of linear equations and even some material on partial fraction expansion.

This is not a book with any proofs in it. It is strictly applied mathematics - a "how to" book. The outline is careful to define all terms used, and shows general methods and alternate methods of solutions for different types of problems using clearly numbered steps. The examples and exercises are both excellent illustrations of the concepts involved.

Thus, if you are starting out in college calculus or if you need to pass a college math placement exam at the precalculus level so that you are eligible to enroll in calculus, this is the book that I recommend you use. Remember that it is important for many college students to be eligible to enroll in calculus, since the vast majority of engineering and science undergraduate degrees do not count any math class of a lower skill level than calculus as credit toward their degree plans.