Pros:

1. Excellent for the first semester of precalculus, especially the study of different families of functions.
2. Does a good job of explaining topics in detail and providing examples of problems.
3. Provides plenty of problems for practice of concepts.
4. Provides excellent end of chapter tests for review and feedback.

Cons:

1. Trignometry section is lacking. Needs more detail on trignometric identities.
2. Lacks information in the second semester of precalculus. Does not have anything on vectors, parametric equations, polar equations, statistics, or limits.
3. Does not have anything on rotating conic sections.

It was a great book, gave me what I needed at the pace I found acceptable. I also jumped into the middle of the book once to give a friend a hand and it was on polynomial functions. In ten minutes flat I was already calculating them! Amazing! If I continue at this rate, I can slack off in my Pre-Calculus college class and still pass! No, but seriously though, it's an awesome book and have recommended it to all my friends.

I received this book 2 weeks before my college entrance exam to smooth over what I momentarily learned in high school I Do not want to end up in a lower than Calculus math class, paying for a class that does not give me any college credit. So far I have been getting through a chapter each day, in about hour and a half of on and off study.

It is continuing to get me more comfortable with my math skills in a very short time. I Recommend it to anyone who fears there college entrance exam, or interested in learning Precalc on their own.

I am one of those pathetic cases who should have been a math major, but could not stay awake during the freshman pre-calc lectures conducted by bored and boring grad students. Now, nearly 40 years later I am determined to self-educate my way through calculus.

At first I took a crack at the Wiley "Precalculus A Self Teaching Guide". Holy cripes, what a disaster! Unnerving to find such an improbable number of errors, especially for student picking up after decades of non-study.

Then, I grabbed Rhonda Huettenmeuller's fine work, and am doing the practice at the end of chapter four. I actually remembered some of my advanced algebra and managed to work my way through the problems.

Well written and clear, she provides enough dimensions on problems to give you insight, then gives you room enough to have to think a bit. The answers are all provided, and are *correct*. Well, at least we agree, so that is certainly a good sign.

I especially appreciate how she teaches this from the perspective of tackling calculus as the next step, pointing out issues that particularly apply, and how, to more advanced mathematics.

Now, if we can just get her to write more books...

Greetings! I have to agree with the other reviewers, this book has just about everything needed... nice layout, clear explanations, correct answers and clear examples. The author's talent for teaching and obvious experience teaching shines in the examples. They are put forth in plain language, and amply illustrated by graphs where applicable. The teaching is done mostly through examples. The basic format is: basic theory, illustration of theory through numerous examples, practice, chapter review. By virtue of the step-by-step explanations, this book really does make it possible to learn the fundamentals of precalculus on your own.

About the 4 1/2 stars; my main gripe about this book (and I admit, I may be a little unreasonable with this) is that it doesn't have enough practice material. I personally prefer lots of practice material to become 'fluent' in the math at hand. Also, a cautionary note; this book is probably most useful to the person looking to master the manipulatives of pre-calc, that is, doing the rote processes of solving equations. If you are enrolled in a class with a very rigorous teacher who likes to emphasize theory or uses a lot of set notation, you might want to look for another book. (A good book, if you can find it, is College Algebra, 7th. ed. by Sparks and Rees. It covers every bit of material covered by this book and more theory besides.) I am not trying to emphasize minutiae, just to describe the book accurately. Thanks for bearing with me and I hope this review helps.

I applaud Rhonda Huettenmueller and whole heartedly agree with the R. Orchanian review (the New York teacher). The very best available that absolutely takes the mystery out of this area of mathematics. The sequence of the chapters is superb, clear, concise and very, very accurate. It includes process steps that are left out of many *so called* self-teaching guides which leaves many students scratching their head. Just quite simply the very best book written on the subjct, hands down. I hope Ms. Huettenmueller doesn't stop here.

A great help in my Precalculus I class. The information is presented in a better manner than the textbook for the course.

Dr Huettenmueller was my professor at UNT for Pre-Calculus. She is an amazing instructor. She really has a way of getting to the key concepts in a clear and concise manner.