Hey nerds, I’m planning on going back to school in a few years and want to smash the math proficiency test so I don’t have to spend years relearning things that will probably only take me a few months at most. What books do you all recommend to get me from college algebra to Calc II or III?
Bonus points for stats and physics recs, as well.
Try a precalculus module from either Khan Academy as someone else suggested, or from the ones some universities make available to the public. If anything it’ll let you know which parts you struggle the most and which ones you have more ease remembering. Then focus on those.
Math is largely about practice, and once you’ve done enough peoblems, you’ll catch the little details that make things click, or that point you towards a certain kind of solution rather than another.
I would focus on making math feel natural (at least until Calc 1) before moving onto physics or stats, since having a solid grasp of math will make learning the actual concepts much easier, rather than spending time and energy figuring out how the math bit of those two work before actually learning.
As for books, Stewart’s calculus (I think he also wrote a pre-calculus book, too) is kind of the default for most non-math major college calculus classes. It’s very thorough, has lots of problems and examples, but it will not replace a lecturer. It’s not the best book, but you could certainly do a lot worse.