Precalculus 2: Polynomials and rational functions

Mathematics from high school to university

Chapter 1: Polynomials

1. Introduction to the course

You will learn: about this course: its content and the optimal way of studying.

2. A general presentation with the large picture and some spoilers

You will learn: why polynomials are important and why they are lovable; you will also get some general information about polynomials and rational functions, which will help you build up some important intuitions around the subject of the course.

3. Powers, expressions, and polynomials

You will learn: about powers with natural, integer, and rational exponents and the computation rules holding for them (the product rules, the quotient rules, the power rule); basic terminology concerning polynomials (term, degree, monomial, binomial, trinomial, monic polynomial); polynomial arithmetic (addition, subtraction, scaling, multiplication), composition of polynomials.

4. Linear equations and systems of equations

You will learn: how to solve n-by-n systems of linear equations and why you need it for your works with polynomials and rational functions.

5. Second degree polynomials

You will learn: solving quadratic equations by using qualified guesses for factoring, completing the square, and the quadratic formula; plotting parabolas by finding the coordinates of the vertex and transforming the parabolas y=x^2 and y=ax^2 to this vertex; Vieta's formula with proof and some applications.

6. Factoring polynomials is the same as finding zeros of polynomials

You will learn: polynomial divisibility; polynomial division, various methods: long division (two different notations), division with help of undetermined coefficients, Ruffini-Horner Scheme for division by monic binomials; consequences of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra; Vieta's formulas; methods of finding rational zeros of polynomials with integer coefficients; Cauchy's Bound for zeros.

7. Factoring polynomials: school versus reality

You will learn: that the reality is not as nice as school.

8. Polynomial equations and inequalities

You will learn: solve polynomial equations and inequalities by factoring polynomials and analysing the signs (with help of the table or a sketch); you will also gain a geometrical understanding of the solution sets (graphically). Factoring of polynomials is omitted in this section, because this was the topic of the previous section, but at school you will have to factor polynomials in order to solve polynomial equations and inequalities.

9. Intermezzo: Some topics from Calculus

You will learn: what it means that a function is continuous and that polynomials are continuous functions; the concept of the derivative; compute the derivatives of polynomials; why the curves of polynomials are rounded while intersecting the x-axis in multiple zeros of the polynomials; limits in the infinities and infinite limits.

10. Plotting (sketching) polynomials

You will learn: how to sketch graphs of polynomial functions: how to establish the domain, the range, the x- and y-intercepts, the intervals of monotonicity (increasing, decreasing), and local extremums (max, min).

11. More advanced future topics on polynomials

You will learn: in what other domains you will enjoy your gained knowledge about polynomials; I will not teach you about this topics, I will just give you some information on where to find them.

Chapter 2: Rational functions

12. Rational functions and their domains

You will learn: the definition of rational functions; how to determine their domains, their zeros, and y-intercepts.

13. Rational equations and inequalities

You will learn: add, subtract, multiply and divide rational expressions; solve rational equations and inequalities and understand the link between rational and polynomial equations and inequalities.

14. Asymptotes

You will learn: horizontal and vertical asymptotes (intuitively; the concepts come back in the Calculus class).

15. Plotting (sketching) rational functions

You will learn: to sketch some simple graphs of rational functions using graph transformations of y=1/x and y=1/(x^2+1); understand the link to polynomial division and polynomial / rational equations and inequalities.

16. Partial fraction decomposition

You will learn: how to perform partial fraction decomposition of rational functions.

17. More advanced future topics on rational functions

You will learn: about significant terms for polynomials near zero and in the infinity: the huge difference between computing indefinite limits of rational functions in zero (like in Taylor approximations) and in the infinity (for plotting graphs of rational functions, finding asymptotes, etc); importance of partial fraction decomposition for integrating rational functions. I will not teach you this stuff, I will only prepare you for some future topics and motivate why you should study rational functions.

18. Some words about power functions and algebraic functions

You will learn: the definition and examples of power functions and algebraic functions.

19. Extras

You will learn: about all the courses we offer, and where to find discount coupons. You will also get a glimpse into our plans for future courses, with approximate (very hypothetical!) release dates.

Also make sure that you check with your professor what parts of the course you will need for your final exam. Such things vary from country to country, from university to university, and they can even vary from year to year at the same university.

A detailed description of the content of the course, with all the 211 videos and their titles, and with the texts of all the 160 problems solved during this course, is presented in the resource file “List_of_all_Videos_and_Problems_Precalculus_2.pdf” under video 1 ("Introduction to the course"). This content is also presented in video 1.