Preparation for Calculus Functions and How They Change

With a unique framework, Macmillan's innovative online learning system Achieve, and a fresh approach guided by students' needs, Preparation for Calculus: Functions and How They Change equips students with the necessary skills and confidence to succeed in their current precalculus course and beyond as a calculus student. The authors have written a text for today's precalculus students: focusing on challenges observed in the modern classroom, rather than retrofitting antiquated practices to fit the present-day student. Preparation for Calculus promotes the deep integration of digital resources with easy-to-understand textbook content to develop strong calculation skills and mathematical sophistication.

Preparation for Calculus is intended to support instructors who seek to effectively prepare their students for subsequent courses in calculus. Through the text's informal, intuitive, and early introduction to rates of change and limits, students are offered a dynamic view of functions that ties together the oftentimes intimidating and seemingly varied topics in precalculus. Preparation for Calculus presents these ideas as foundational for mathematical understanding, instead of as add-ons at the end of the book. The early and consistent presentation of these topics also allows for a capstone final chapter, which summarizes key precalculus concepts and applications. This demonstrates the unifying concepts between precalculus and calculus, while serving as a springboard for success in calculus.

Macmillan's ground-breaking online learning tool, Achieve, redefines assessment and student engagement by providing flexible support for every instructor and detailed guidance for every student, all in an intuitive, accessible platform. Emulating the text's focus on preparation, Achieve's wide selection of both homework and multimedia resources is purposefully designed to support learning before, during, and after class. Assessment in Achieve is designed to teach by correcting students' misconceptions through targeted feedback, warnings, and detailed step-by-step solutions. Achieve boasts a variety of resources, including videos and animations, guides for active learning, and interactive graphs and figures that help students visualize graphical relationships through Macmillan's strategic partnership with Desmos.