PRECALCULUS – TENTH EDITION

APPENDIX A – PRECALCULUS

1. Working with sets

A set is a WELL-DEFINED collection of elements.

By Well Defined we refer that the set has rules that allows us to know if an specific element belongs
to a set or is an element of the set.

D= { 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 }

If the set is empty, it will be called an empty set or a null set. And it is denoted by the symbol ∅

D={}

The set of digits represented by the symbol “D” is:

D= { 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 }

There are 2 methods to denote sets:

 Roster Method:
D= { 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 }

 Set-Builder Notation:
D= { x ∨x is a digit }
Read as: D is the set of all X such that X is a digit

We could compare both methods using it on the same cases:

E={ 0,2,4,6,8 }={ x∨x is an even digit } = E is the set of all x such that X is a even digit

O= {1,3,5,7,9 }={x∨x is an odd digit } = O is the set of all x such that O is an odd digit

Characteristics of sets:

 Every set has no repeated elements, every element must be unique.

 The set {1,2,3,2} is the same as {1,2,3}
 The order in sets doesn’t matter, it could be written as {1,3,2} or {1,2,3} or {2,3,1} or {2,1,3}
and still the same set.

SUBSETS
Let’s take the following sets:

A={1,2,3 }

B={1,2,3,4,5}

We could notice that the elements on the set A appears in part of the set B.

When this is present, we refer of set A as subset of set B.

In mathematical notation, is:

A ⊆B

The subset is represented by the letter that has the curvy line near from it.

INTERSECTION

Let’s take the following sets:

A={4,2,7}

B={1,2,3,4,5}

We could also notice that the elements {2,4} are present in the two sets.

In this case, we are talking about intersection.

A ∩ B={2 , 4 }

The intersections in sets A and B is {2,4}

UNION

Let’s take the following sets:

A={1,12,6 }

B={1,2,5,6}

What happens if we combine both sets into one?

In this case, we are talking about unions

A ∪ B={1,2,5,6,12 }

Although there are some repeated elements in both sets, we do not care about, because by its definition, a
set is a collection of well-defined unique elements.

SAMPLE EXERCISES:
A={ 1, 3 , 5 , 8 } B={ 3 ,5 , 7 } C={2 , 4 ,6 ,8 }

a ¿ A ∩ B={3,5}

b ¿ A ∪B={1,3,5,7,8 }

c ¿ B ∩ ( A ∪ C )={3,5 }

COMPLEMENT:

If A is a set, the complement of A, denoted A’.

We could define universal sets that represents all the elements existing in the universe. This will helps us
to limit the scope of the problems and not working with infinites and stuff.

U ={ 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 }

A={ 2,3,5,7,8,9 }

A' = {1,4,6 }

2. Real Numbers

Real numbers are defined by symbols like 23, 0, -5, ½, .125, sqrt(2), pi, ….

 Natural numbers: The set of accountable numbers: {1,2,3,4…}

Ellipsis are the three points at the last element of the set, indicates that the pattern continues indefinitely

 Integer Numbers: The set of negative and positive numbers {- Infinity, ….., -3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,4,…,
+Infinity}
 Rational Numbers: Numbers that can be expressed as the quotient of 2 numbers a/b where b
cannot be 0, by default, every denominator is 1 in integers
 Irrational Numbers: Real numbers that are not rational, like √ 2 , π , differentiate from the rational
numbers because their representational results neither terminate nor repeat.

Common Properties:
Suposing that a,b and c are real numbers

 Distributive Properties: a * (b +c) = ab + ac

Distributive Property is used to remove parenthesis from an equation
2 ( x+3 )=2 x+2∗3=2 x +6
 Zero-Product Property

If(a*b = 0){

a = 0 || b = 0 || a & b = 0

 Inigualdades Estrictas: ¿∨¿>¿

 Inigualdades No Estrictas: ≤∨¿ ≥
 Absolute Value: Distance from 0 to a:
If we say -4, we are talking about 4 units left to the real number zero
If we say +6, we are talking about 6 units right to the real number zero (origin)
|4| = 4
|-4| = 4
Variable are letters to represent any number from a given set of numbers
Constants represent fixed values
If we combine both, we will have algebraic expressions
3
x +6+ + 2 x−7
2
 Domain: Set of values that a variable may assume
A=π r 2 where “r” is restricted to the real positive numbers

1
Where x cannot be 0
x

Finding Domains:
5
1.
x−2

Domain: { x| x ≠ 2}
Because if the denominator is 0, becomes not defined.

Leyes de los exponentes

n
a m an=a m+n ( a m ) =amn
(ab)n =an bn
am m−n 1
n
=a = n−m si a ≠ 0
a a
 x 5 −2
∗y
a) x5 y−2 x 3 5−3 −2−(+1 ) 2 −3 x 2∗1 x 2
= =x ∗y =x ∗y = 3 = 3
x3 y ❑ y y y

−2
x6 x6 x6 9 x6
−2
x −3 ( x−3 )
b) ( )
3 y−1
= = = =
( 3 y −1)−2 3−2∗ y 2 1 ∗y 2 y 2
= 2
y
9 9
Square Roots
A number is squared when we raise it to the 2 power
When we are doing the inverse operation, we are seeking for the square root.
The roots of negative numbers doesn’t exist because there is no real number whose square is
negative
 Perfect Squares

Concepts and Vocabulary:

1. An variable is a letter used in algebra to represent any number from a given set of numbers
2. On the real number line, the real number number zero is the coordinate of the origin.
3. An inequality of the form a>b is called a(n) strict inequality
4. In the expression 2^4, 2 is the base and 4 is the exponent or power.
5. A>=0

PRACTICE EXPRESSIONS AND EVALUATIONS

 POWER
 MULTIPLY PROPERTIES
 MEMBER FUNCTIONS
 RATIONALS
 IRRATIONALS

Geometry Essentials

Exercises

POLYNOMIALS

SYNTHETIC DIVISION

RATIONAL EXPRESSIONS

SOLVING EQUATIONS
COMPLEX NUMBERS

PROBLEM SOLVING

INTERVAL NOTATION AND SOLVING INEQUALITIES

nTh Roots, Rational Exponents