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Algebra: Are You Ready For

Students interested in taking Calculus should be comfortable with algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and able to solve problems in those areas without a calculator. The document provides 15 sample problems assessing skills in algebra, geometry, analytic geometry, and trigonometry that students should be able to solve before taking Calculus. It concludes by providing the answers to the problems.

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Esmeralda Gonzalez
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50 views3 pages

Algebra: Are You Ready For

Students interested in taking Calculus should be comfortable with algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and able to solve problems in those areas without a calculator. The document provides 15 sample problems assessing skills in algebra, geometry, analytic geometry, and trigonometry that students should be able to solve before taking Calculus. It concludes by providing the answers to the problems.

Uploaded by

Esmeralda Gonzalez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Art of Problem Solving Online School

Are You Ready For


Calculus

Students enrolling in Calculus should be very comfortable with algebra (including complex num-
bers and logarithms), geometry (including analytic geometry), and trigonometry. In particular,
students who do not have a solid algebra background should take our Intermediate Algebra
course rather than Calculus.

Students entering this course should be able to solve all of the following problems—without using
a calculator—with little or no difficulty.

Algebra

1. Expand (x + 2y)3 .

2. Find the sum and the product of the roots (real and complex) of x3 + 3x2 + 7x − 11 = 0.

3. Solve for x:
3 2 5
+ = 2 .
x−2 x+2 x −4

4. If Richard can paint their living room in 4 hours, and Vanessa can paint the same living room
in 5 hours, then how long will it take them to paint the living room working together?

5. Determine the sum of the infinite geometric series with first term 3 and common ratio 25 .

6. Compute log9 27.

7. Factor completely x6 − 1 over the real numbers.

Geometry and Analytic Geometry

8. Find the area of the shaded region below (lying inside a circle of radius 5):

9. Find the equation of the line passing through the points (2, 3) and (5, −1).

c 2014 AoPS Incorporated. All rights reserved.



1
Art of Problem Solving Online School
Are You Ready For
Calculus

10. Find the area of the region bordered by the lines 4x + 7y = 14, x = 1, and y = −2.

11. Sketch the graph of the equation

x2 + y2 + 2x + 4y = 11.

Trigonometry

12. Evaluate
 the following quantities:
(a) sin π6

π
 
(b) cos 2

 
5π
(c) tan 4

13. Find all θ with 0 ≤ θ ≤ 2π such that:


3
(sin θ + cos θ)2 = .
2

14. Sketch the graph of y = 3 sin(2x + 1).

π π 9
 
15. Simplify cos 12 + i sin 12 .

Don’t look at the next page until you’ve attempted all the problems!

c 2014 AoPS Incorporated. All rights reserved.



2
Art of Problem Solving Online School
Are You Ready For
Calculus

The answers to Are You Ready for Calculus are below. (The answers to problem sets and challenges
given in the class will include full detailed solutions as opposed to the mere answers provided
below.)

1. x3 + 6x2 y + 12xy2 + 8y3

2. Sum: −3, Product: 11

3. x = 3
5
20
4. 9 hours

5. 5
3
6. 2

7. (x − 1)(x + 1)(x2 + x + 1)(x2 − x + 1)


√
25 3
3π
25
8. − 4

9. (y − 3) = − 43 (x − 2) or y = − 34 x + 17
3 or 4x + 3y = 17 or equivalent
72
10. 7

11. Circle with center (−1, −2) and radius 4


1
12. (a) 2 (b) 0 (c) 1
π 5π 13π 17π
n o
13. θ ∈ 12 , 12 , 12 , 12

 
The key features are passing through − 12 , 0 , crossing the
14. x-axis at periods of every π/2, and having an amplitude
(height) of 3.

√ √
2 2
15. − 2 +i 2

c 2014 AoPS Incorporated. All rights reserved.



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