Pre-Calculus at Lathrop High School Back to JeffBaldwin.org

Pre-Calculus is offered at Lathrop High School to prepare students for AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC. Since we are on Block Schedule, we are able to offer both AP Calculus programs. First year AP Calculus AB is offered in the Fall, and second year AP Calculus BC is offered in the Spring. In May the students are able to take the AP Calculus BC test which will also have an AB sub-score. It’s a two-for-one offer, you get two AP scores for taking only 1 test. Our Pre-Calculus program specializes in preparing students for the course work in both of the AP courses.

The content of the Pre-Calculus class includes Functions and Graphs, Polynomials, Quadratics and Conics, Solving Systems, Matrices, Trigonometry, Complex Numbers, Sums, Series and Sequences, Polar Coordinates, Parametric Equations, and other topics.

The class is rigorous and rapid. It is analytical in nature and the students are warned that it will be difficult in content and speed. Mr. Baldwin will do anything he can to help, but the students will need to remain totally engaged during class and be re-engaged at home every night for studies. Students may call Mr. Baldwin anytime, 24-7, for math help, his phone number is 594-1894. His work e-mail is jbaldwin@musd.net, his home e-mail is baldjeff@comcast.net, and his business email is bald@jeffbaldwin.org. His cell phone is (360) 640-0093. Parents are invited to communicate with Mr. Baldwin at any time for any reason. Also, please check your child’s progress in this class daily using Parent Portal.

Parents: Your child is expected to put at least two hours of energy into their Pre-Calculus work each and every night regardless of assigned homework. Regardless of what they may tell you, there is NEVER a night where they do not have two hours of homework. The result of not doing this will be poor test and quiz performance and therefore poor grades. I am available on a 24-7 basis. If your child is not performing to your specifications, please remove all the distractions from their nights. This would include Internet, television, cell phones, texting, emailing, and possibly more, such as sports and cheerleading. Many students fail Pre-Calculus, and later tell me that they continued in their other interests to the tune of 3 to 5 hours a day. This really is a deal-buster for an analysis class. Sorry for the bad news, but I am brutally honest. Other things in their lives that take hours a day will destroy their Pre-Calculus performance. Period. The intensity will not seem that great at first, but it will suddenly hit like a bat, and those who are not in the habit of time-devotion are going to be the ones that fail.

There are a few subjects that have the same thing in common, and that is if you are in it all the way it will be the coolest thing you’ve ever seen, but if you get behind and confused, it will be the worst thing you’ve ever experienced. They would be logs, trig, matrices and sums. Your energy in can’t be high enough. I’ll say “I told you so” later on when you’re there and you haven’t put that energy in.

This class is specifically designed for students who are planning on becoming engineers, doctors, and otherwise members of the technological community. If you are taking this class for other reasons, such as to increase your transcript status, please be aware that it will be paced quickly and rigorously for the intent of this high level of expectation. Please increase your level of rigor and personal performance minimum standards to this degree.

One more thing to mention parents. Many kid who get into a Pre-Calculus class are those straight-A students who always gets As in their math classes. They do this by memorizing a chapter’s content, puking it out to the teacher in a test, then forgetting that material so they can move on to the next thing to memorize. This will not work in an analytical math class. The student must be able to continue on with the material and use it by thinking, not regurgitating. If your straight-A student suddenly is getting lower grades, please remember that you have been told this and the ability to think a problem through may not yet exist and must be developed. Chronically retaking exams is not the answer, so please do not beg me for this service. Not getting an A may be the wake-up call you child requires to learn how to think rather than responding with memorized junk.

Here ae some group workings by the kids.

Just before Halloween in 2015 our Pre-Calculus class determined the distance from Mr. Baldwin’s doorknob and Mr. McGrath’s doorknob. The problem is that the buildings themselves are in the way. So Way 1 to determine this was to go from Baldwin’s doorknob to the flagpole by the theatre, then from the theatre to McGrath’s doorknob, determine that angle, and use the Law of Cosines to determine this distance [assuming the Earth is flat, which it isn’t]. Here is a student created chalkboard picture of the problem drawn by Prassad.

A tree was in the way between Baldwin’s room and the pole, and another tree was in the way between the pole and McGrath’s room. Issues were solved.

Meanwhile, three students measured down the building from McGrath’s room, then along his building, then down the hall to Baldwin’s building, then over to Baldwin’s door, and the total east distance was computed, the total south distance was computed, and the Pythagorean Formula was used to hopefully match the Law of Cosines formula. Here is the chalkboard work by Giri.

A table was set up by the flag pole to mark directions to the doors. They were drawn on the table and the angle was measured back in the classroom. Yang used a mirror to align the ruler to point directly at each door. This enabled him to not have to look through the flag pole [impossible].

Lots of hard working Pre-Calculus students.

Our Approximate Schedule

	Pre-Calculus Fall 2020
		Approximate Schedule and Pacing Guide
Chapter	Date	Subjects
1	8/6/2020	Field of Real Numbers, Sets of Numbers
1	8/7/2020	Linear Equations and Graphs
1	8/10/2020	Relations and Functions
1	8/11/2020	Transformations
1	8/12/2020	Composition of Functions
1	8/13/2020	Inverse Functions
1	8/14/2020	Bone-Up
1	8/17/2020	Test Ch 1
2	8/18/2020	Quadratics and Parabolas
2	8/19/2020	Polynomials
2	8/20/2020	Polynomials and Synthetic Division
2	8/21/2020	Polynomials, Factor Theorem, Graphs
2	8/24/2020	Complex Numbers
2	8/25/2020	Rational Functions
2	8/26/2020	Rational Functions
2	8/27/2020	Nonlinear Inequalities
2	8/28/2020	Bone-Up
2	8/31/2020	Test Ch 2
3	9/1/2020	Exps, Logs
3	9/2/2020	Graphs fo Exps, Logs
3	9/3/2020	Properties of Logs
3	9/4/2020	Exp and Log Equations
3	9/8/2020	Solving Problems with Logs
3	9/9/2020	Solving Problems with Logs
3	9/10/2020	Money
3	9/11/2020	Money
3	9/14/2020	Bone-Up
3	9/15/2020	Test Ch 3
4	9/16/2020	Unit Circle, Radians, Degrees
4	9/17/2020	Trig Functions
4	9/18/2020	Right Triangle Trig
4	9/21/2020	Trig of Any Angle
4	9/22/2020	Graphs of Sines and Cosines
4	9/23/2020	Other Trig Graphs
4	9/24/2020	Inverse Trig
4	9/25/2020	Bone-Up
4	9/28/2020	Test Ch 4
4	9/29/2020	Trig Identities
5	9/30/2020	Proofs
5	10/1/2020	Proofs
5	10/2/2020	Solving Trig Equations
5	10/5/2020	Sum/Diff formulae
5	10/6/2020	Double Angle Formulae
5	10/7/2020	Half Angle Formulae
5	10/8/2020	Bone-Up
1, 2, 3, 4, 5	10/9/2020	Midterms / Test Ch 5
5	10/19/2020	Identities, Proofs
5	10/20/2020	Identities, Proofs
5	10/21/2020	Identities, Proofs
5	10/22/2020	Test Ch 5
X	10/23/2020	Expansion
X	10/26/2020	Expansion
6	10/27/2020	Laws of Sines and Cosines
6	10/28/2020	Laws of Sines and Cosines
6	10/29/2020	Laws of Sines and Cosines
6	10/30/2020	Vector
6	11/2/2020	Vectors, Dots, Projections, Angles
6	11/3/2020	Trig form of Complex Numbers
6	11/4/2020	de'Moivre's Theorem
6	11/5/2020	de'Moivre's Theorem
6	11/6/2020	Bone-Up
6	11/9/2020	Test Ch 6
8	11/10/2020	Substitution and Addition Methods
8	11/12/2020	Matrices
8	11/13/2020	Matrices
8	11/16/2020	RREF
8	11/17/2020	RREF
8	11/18/2020	Multiplication, Identities, Inverses, Determinants
8	11/19/2020	Cramer's Rule, Cross Products
8	11/20/2020	Cramer's Rule, Cross Products
8	11/23/2020	Bone-Up
8	11/24/2020	Test Ch 8
9	11/25/2020	Sums, Series, Sequences
9	11/30/2020	Sums, Series, Sequences
9	12/1/2020	Arithmetic and Geometric Series
9	12/2/2020	Infinite Geometric Series
9	12/3/2020	Infinite Geometric Series
9	12/4/2020	Math Induction
9	12/7/2020	Math Induction
9	12/8/2020	Binomial Theorem
9	12/9/2020	Binomial Theorem
9	12/10/2020	Bone-Up
9	12/11/2020	Test Ch 9
Chapter 1- 9	12/14/2020	Bone-Up
	12/15/2020	Bone-Up
	12/16/2020	Finals
	12/17/2020	Finals
	12/18/2020	Finals