Personally, pre calc 11 was more enjoyable to learn than math 10 was. I was not interested in math 10 at all but pre calc was actually fun to learn and felt really good when you fully understood what you were doing. We learned a lot of new things that we did not learn in math 10. My top 5 things I learned in pre calc this year are as follows:
1. Absolute values. I think that the absolute values chapter of pre calc 11 was the hardest to wrap my brain around. There were so many little things I didn’t understand no matter how much I tried to learn them. But I did have a few big takeaways from the chapter. I learned how to reciprocate graphs and draw them with all of the fancy stuff like the asymptotes and 2 opposite functions. I also learned how to put an absolute value into piece wise notation where you have 2 different forms of 1 equation.
2. Quadratic functions. Personally my favourite thing I’ve learned this year in pre calc 11 was how to deal with quadratic functions. They are so complex and have a numerous amount of parts to them. They are fun to graph as parabolas and also fun to factor. I really liked learning about these and think that it will help me in pre calc 12 very well.
3. Factoring. A big part of quadratic functions is being able to factor. Without factoring you aren’t able to go that far with quadratic functions. Factoring gives you the ability to find the X intercepts of a quadratic function. The X intercepts help you graph and better understand the function. Without the X intercepts it would be hard to graph precisely by hand. Factoring also helps us when dealing with quadratic functions in algebra.
4. Updated trigonometry. Trigonometry from math 10 carried over to pre calc 11. All of the basics of trigonometry still stayed true. But the biggest difference was that we learned how to deal with non right triangles and still solve them fully. With using techniques such as the sine law and cosine law, we were able to solve any 180 degree triangle for all of its sides and all of its angles.
5. Arithmetic sequences. Probably the best real life take away from this course. Arithmetic sequences applies to real world problems with money and things growing. Geometric sequences also help too but arithmetic sequences are the most helpful. When dealing with arithmetic sequences you are able to solve for terms within a certain pattern. You can also use the arithmetic series to solve for the total sum of your sequence. Personally this was my favourite all around chapter.