Wheater - Algebra II

No one likes a know-it-all. Most of us realize theres no such thinghow could there be? The world is far too complicated for someone to understand everything there is to know. So when you come across a know-it-all, you smile to yourself as they ramble on because you know better.

You understand that the quest for knowledge is a never-ending one, and youre okay with that. You have no desire to know everything, just the next thing. You know what you dont know, youre confident enough to admit it, and youre motivated to do something about it.

At Idiots Guides, we, too, know what we dont know, and we make it our business to find out. We find really smart people who are experts in their fields and then we roll up our sleeves and get to work, asking lots of questions and thinking long and hard about how best to pass along their knowledge to you in the easiest, most-accessible way possible.

After all, thats our promiseto make whatever you want to learn As Easy as It Gets. That means giving you a well-organized design that seamlessly and effortlessly guides you from page to page, topic to topic. It means controlling the pace youre asked to absorb new informationnot too much at once but just what you need to know right now. It means giving you a clear progression from easy to more difficult. It means giving you more instructional steps wherever necessary to really explain the details. And it means giving you fewer words and more illustrations wherever its better to show rather than tell.

So here you are, at the start of something new. The next chapter in your quest. It can be an intimidating place to be, but youve been here before and so have we. Clear your mind and turn the page. By the end of this book, you wont be a know-it-all, but your world will be a little less complicated than it was before. And well be sure your journey is as easy as it gets.

Mike Sanders
Publisher, Idiots Guides

Publisher: Mike Sanders

Associate Publisher: Billy Fields

Executive Acquisitions Editor: Lori Hand

Development Editor: Kayla Dugger

Cover Designer: Laura Merriman

Book Designer: William Thomas

Production Editor: Jana M. Stefanciosa

Compositor: Brian Massey

Proofreader: Laura Caddell

Indexer: Brad Herriman

PRODUCTION, LONDON

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DIGITAL OPERATIONS, DELHI

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First American Edition, 2015
Published in the United States by DK Publishing
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Copyright 2015 Dorling Kindersley Limited
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eISBN: 9781615648696
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2015937087

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Introduction

Sequels, as anyone who has gone to the movies knows, are a tricky thing. A successful film may lead to a whole collection of follow-ups, each better than the one before. On the other hand, a second film, based on a fabulous previous hit, may leave you wondering what in the world the filmmakers were thinking. You never know how things will turn out.

Likewise, I have no way to know if your first algebra course was a hit or a flop. Ill assume that if youre tackling algebra II, you had some reasonable success the first time around, but I dont know if you loved it, if every moment was a struggle, or if it was something in between. So trying to craft a sequel youll enjoy is a tricky matter.

I know you can handle algebra II. A teachers job is to make that happen, to find the ways to present material, to explain, and to guide you until you have a firm understanding. The thing thats difficult, from a teachers viewpoint, is that any sequel course is built on assumptions about what you learned in the first course. What I think you should have learned in algebra I and what you actually learned (and what you remember) may be very different. While youre unfortunately not able to tell me, Im going to try to make sure that you have the essential background, and that my explanations are clear and straightforward.

Its time to get down to the work this book was written for: algebra II. I hope this will be clear and helpful to you, and that you will enjoy your adventures in algebra.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is presented in six parts. Each part contains a chapter or chapters that have some common themes. Heres a roadmap of where youre about to go.

, Foundations, is where I try to make sure that, when it comes to your previous experience in algebra, you and I are on the same page. In the first chapter, youll review what I consider the essentials, and then, in the second chapter, Ill present you with functions. Functions may or may not have come up in algebra I. If they did, it was probably just an introduction and not a thorough look at them. Functions are crucial for algebra II and beyond, so this will give you a deeper look.