is precalculus necessary for calculus?

Question

i was just wondering if i could skip precalculus and go straight to calculus. i was wondering if there was really any necessary information in precalculus that you need to do calculus.

Answer 1

I think that it is beneficial for you to take precalculus before calculus, but I guess it just depends on how good you are in math. My precalculus prof. said that the leap from basic math to precalculus is much larger than from precalculus to calculus. So basically, if you do really well in precalc, you'll do even better or the same in calc. Good luck!

Answer 2

Usually, you'd either take Alg2/Trig or precalculus, with precalculus being better preparation for calculus (hence its name). At the school I went to, people who didn't plan on taking calculus took Alg2/Trig, and strong students who did plan on taking calculus took precalculus instead. @ironduke, maybe you should learn how the curriculum works before bashing "liberal educators." Precalculus has nothing to do with dumbing people down. Quite the opposite, it's a more challenging version of algebra 2/trigonometry that is intended for the brightest math students, those who will go on to take calculus while still in high school. Perhaps the reason no such course existed at your high school is that your high school didn't offer calculus. Or if it did, maybe the course people took before calculus was just called something different, but still had the same content as precalculus classes today.

Answer 3

Certainly some information is needed. Before I finished precalculus, I went straight to calculus. You'll feel sad though, you know calculus, but you can't do precalculus. That's some funny stuff.

Answer 4

I don't think it is necessary. I took it in college. I did learn different techniques to solving problems. Math is about rules, being able to see where rules can be applied and applying them properly. Practice of the rules in math makes it much easier.



In Calc1 I did most of the problems in the book even though the instructor did not grade homework. I got an A and I am getting an A in Calc2 because that practice is paying off.

Answer 5

Well, in my high school, you must attend pre-calculus before calculus. I'm not in that course yet, so I don't have a sufficient explanation, but this is the order for what math courses:



Algebra 1

Geometry

Algebra 2

Pre-Cal.

Calculus

Answer 6

no its not, learn some trig and ull be cool



i skipped precalc and went straight to calc

Answer 7

DEFINETLY!!! TRUST ME!!!