Based on the OpenStax textbook, Precalculus, by Jay Abramson, this comprehensive course covers topics including linear, polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic, periodic, and trigonometric functions, along with equations, identities, conic sections, sequences, the binomial theorem, limits, and basic concepts of calculus. The revised and modified course includes complete text, practice problems, videos, problem sets, practice exams, and online assessments.
Modules 1-4 discuss various types of functions and their applications, providing a foundation for the remainder of the course. Modules 5-8 focus on trigonometry, first introducing angles and the unit circle, as opposed to the right triangle approach often used in college algebra and trigonometry courses. Modules 9-12 present some advanced precalculus topics in a non-cumulative order that each build on concepts introduced earlier in the text.
Jim Smart of Tallahassee Community College was the lead editor of the text revision and also designed the outcome aligned online assessments.
Course Improvements
We believe in making continuous improvements to our courses in order to enhance and facilitate student learning. This newest version of the course includes a vast number of data-driven improvements to assessment questions and text content in order to better illustrate, clarify, and evaluate concepts.
About Lumen
Lumen Learning courseware is based on open educational resources (OER). When we can find well designed, effective OER that are appropriately licensed, we use them in our courseware. When we can’t find pre-existing OER, we create original content and license it as OER (under a Creative Commons Attribution license).
Lumen’s authoring process doesn’t end when our courseware is released. Our choice to adopt open educational resources means that we have the copyright permissions necessary to engage in continuous improvement of our learning content. Consequently, our courses are continually being revised and updated. Errata reported for our courseware are fixed in a matter of days, as opposed to the traditional model in which errors persist until the next “edition” is printed (often a year or more). Students and faculty can suggest improvements to our courses directly from within the courseware as they use it. And we conduct regular analyses to determine where students are struggling the most in our courseware, and make improvements that specifically target these areas.
Given our unique approach, our list of authors and other contributors may look different than the lists you are used to seeing. We provide both a list of the primary content authors (the people involved in the initial creation of the course) and a list of everyone who has contributed suggestions and other improvements to the course since it was first released. We invite you to join us as we create courseware that supports student learning more effectively each semester.
If you’d like to connect with us to learn more about adopting this course, please Contact Us.
You can also make an appointment for OER Office Hours to connect virtually with a live Lumen expert about any question you may have.