Week 8 Precalculus Reading Guide

Precalculus Reading: Ch 6.1, 6.2 pp 369-70, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5

  • Ch 6.1 is important for introducing the sinusoidal graphs so you’ll need to read this closely throughout the week for definitions and properties. Fortunately the Monday Math Lab will be focused on a close reading of Ch 6.1, so you’ll have another chance to go through the material in detail.
  • In Ch 6.2 we’ve only asked you to read the first two pages to become familiar with the graph of the tangent function. The Monday Math Lab will have a short section of work covering the definitions and graphs of the other trig functions. If you want a preview of them you can read Ch 5.4 pp 333-334 for the definitions in terms of sine and cosine.
  • Ch 6.3 is important mostly to become more familiar with the inverse trig functions that you’ve already been using. Notice that they only have an inverse over a very short section of the horizontal axis around the origin (see p379). You should read through this section fairly easily. Be sure to read the examples and do the Try-it-now exercises that follow each example.
  • In Ch 6.4 we want you to see how to solve some equations having trig functions. Focus on the examples. You’ll have a chance to see Ch 6.4 close-up during the Monday Math Lab, so reading this section will greatly help you with that part of the lab.
  • Ch 6.5 is mostly examples of applications. The examples are quite long, so focus on Example 4, Try-it-now 2, and Example 6.