An experienced math instructor and teacher trainer helps to make PreCalculus easy--even for students who feel intimidated by more advanced math topics. His orderly, step-by-step approach begins with concepts and skills typically introduced in a first-year high-school-level algebra course then progresses to advanced algebra and trigonometry, needed for the study of calculus. The lesson format and step-by-step demonstration examples are designed for self-teaching and rapid learning. Special math tips help resolve student difficulties and are strategically located throughout the text. Major topics include: algebra; graphs and graphing calculator methods; complex numbers; polynomial and rational functions; exponential and logarithmic functions; fitting lines and curves to data; trigonometry and polar coordinates; conic sections and parametric equations; counting and probability; binomial theorem; and probabilities. Check-up exercises at the end of each chapter help students monitor their progress.