4 ms·
Precalculus Mathematics in a Nutshell by George Finlay Simmons is one I go back to from time to time to make sure I have mastery of basic math. Someone gave it
by pevey 5y ago
Precalculus Mathematics in a Nutshell by George Finlay Simmons is one I go back to from time to time to make sure I have mastery of basic math. Someone gave it to me in high school.
It’s a tiny book but powerful. It helped me a prepare for college. There’s something very inspiring about understanding geometry, trig, and algebra well enough that you can flip through a few pages, follow along, and basically cover the whole of those subjects as taught in high schools.
I later used it to study for the GMAT and GRE and got a 99 percentile math score both times. I’m reasonably intelligent but not a math whiz. The book definitely helped. It is brief but densely-packed with everything you really need to know.
- ithrow 5y agoHmm I'm looking for an algebra/trig book, curious, that looks more like a book for memorizing stuff than for understanding things? 128 pages seem to little for those three subjects.
- jonsen 5y agoThere are better explanations out there, but don't judge it on page count alone. It's a compact, to the point, and no-fluff exposition. That's definitely a quality by itself. I've used it with success to teach a young man who for reasons could not attend high school. EDIT: Exercise problems are good and with answers to all, and full solutions to some.