WELCOME TO PRE-CALCULUS AND AP PRE-CALCULUS

FIRST BLOCK – PRE-CALCULUS  (8:35 am – 10:00 am)

SECOND BLOCK – CONFERENCE (10:05 am – 11:25 am)

THIRD BLOCK – PRE-CALCULUS (11:30 pm – 12:50 pm)

FOURTH BLOCK – TSI COLLEGE PREP MATH (1:30 pm – 2:50 pm)

FIFTH BLOCK – TSI COLLEGE PREP MATH (2:55 pm – 4:15 pm)

In Pre-Calculus, students continue to build on the K-8, Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry foundations as they expand their understanding through other mathematical experiences. Students use symbolic reasoning and analytical methods to represent mathematical situations, to express generalizations, and to study mathematical concepts and the relationships among them. Students use functions, equations, and limits as useful tools for expressing generalizations and as means for analyzing and understanding a broad variety of mathematical relationships. Students also use functions as well as symbolic reasoning to represent and connect ideas in geometry, probability, statistics, trigonometry, and calculus and to model physical situations. Students use a variety of representations (concrete, pictorial, numerical, symbolic, graphical, and verbal), tools, and technology (including, but not limited to, calculators with graphing capabilities, data collection devices, and computers) to model functions and equations and solve real-life problems.  As students do mathematics, they continually use problem-solving, language and communication, connections within and outside mathematics, and reasoning (justification and proof). Students also use multiple representations, technology, applications and modeling, and numerical fluency in problem-solving contexts. Here is a copy of the current syllabus.

AP Precalculus centers on functions modeling dynamic phenomena. This research-based exploration of functions is designed to better prepare students for college-level calculus and provide grounding for other mathematics and science courses. In this course, students study a broad spectrum of function types that are foundational for careers in mathematics, physics, biology, health science, business, social science, and data science. Furthermore, as AP Precalculus may be the last mathematics course of a student’s secondary education, the course is structured to provide a coherent capstone experience rather than exclusively focusing on preparation for future courses. Throughout this course, students develop and hone symbolic manipulation skills, including solving equations and manipulating expressions, for the many function types throughout the course. Students also learn that functions and their compositions, inverses, and transformations are understood through graphical, numerical, analytical, and verbal representations, which reveal different attributes of the functions and are useful for solving problems in mathematical and applied contexts. In turn, the skills learned in this course are widely applicable to situations that involve quantitative reasoning. AP Precalculus fosters the development of a deep conceptual understanding of functions. Students learn that a function is a mathematical relation that maps a set of input values— the domain—to a set of output values—the range—such that each input value is uniquely mapped to an output value. Students understand functions and their graphs as embodying dynamic covariation of quantities, a key idea in preparing for calculus. With each function type, students develop and validate function models based on the characteristics of a bivariate data set, characteristics of covarying quantities and their relative rates of change, or a set of characteristics such as zeros, asymptotes, and extrema. These models are used to interpolate, extrapolate, and interpret information with different degrees of accuracy for a given context or data set. Additionally, students also learn that every model is subject to assumptions and limitations related to the context. As a result of examining functions from many perspectives, students develop a conceptual understanding not only of specific function types but also of functions in general. This type of understanding helps students to engage with both familiar and novel contexts. Here is a copy of the current syllabus.