Precalculus 09 -10 Skill List

Semester 1:
1. Interval and Inequality (interval notation [IN]) introduced IN
2. Add/Sub Complex Numbers
3. Multiply Complex Numbers  teased out a lot of multiplication misconceptions
4. Solve Inequalities (soln in IN) solving was okay, using IN harder for them
5. Identify Domain (IN)  IN difficulties at the beginning esp. w/ open vs closed
6. Identifying inc/dec Intervals (IN)
7. Identifying Extrema
8. Finding Inverse Functions  lowest average of all skills
9. Basic Function Composition
10. 1st Degree – writing equations from data surprisingly took a while for them to
remember
11. 2nd Degree – writing equations from data see above
12. Complete the Square some had seen before, some (claimed) had not.
13. Polynomial Division (long or synthetic)  went well after some practice
14. Find Rational Zeros  iffy
15. Identify Asymptotes super-iffy. Didn’t have a lot of time to re-attempt

Semester 2:
16. Exponentials – Basic solve for x
17. Exponentials – Find the equation (given data table)
18. Logarithm Laws (expanding/consolidating) many students stuck on this one for a long
time
19. Rewriting Exponentials Logarithmic equations critical!
20. Exponentials – Intermediate solve for x
21. Logarithmic – Basic solve for x
22. Degree  Radians
23. The 5 Trig Functions
24. Trigonometry – Beg. Solve for x  should add intermediate level
25. Graphing Basic Sine/Cosine
26. Inverse Trig Functions tough! Work on these more next year
27. Trig Identities  see #26