<p>Hey guys I'm taking AP calculus AB right now and its the first week so far. But that class is pretty confusing and hard right now. I passed algebra 2 with an A and I took precal over the summer at my cc and also got an A. But the things we are doing are kinda confusing and it is stressing me out cause I don't want to do bad on that class. Should I just wait a little longer to see if I start to get it or just switch into AP Statistics? Any input is appreciated, thanks.</p>
<p>First few week should typically be review from precalc, but it might be that at your school they expect you to already know some of the material. I’d give it another week or two and then ask the teacher for some extra help. If the situation doesn’t get better by then, switch into Stats.</p>
<p>First few weeks shouldn’t be difficult. I took Calc 1 as dual enrollment at my high school and we just went over reviewing some basic functions from precalc in the first chapter of Calc. In the second chapter, I think we defined a limit but that shouldn’t be too hard. Post what you’re having trouble with or PM me and I’ll see if I can make it clearer. Sometimes putting it in nontechnical terms makes it easier.</p>
<p>Omg… My ap calc teacher is new to the school & everything so it’s the first week and we’re factoring quadratic equations…</p>
<p>Ok this is a problem I don’t get.</p>
<p>Let f(x)=l3x-2l+2lxl-5. For values of x in the interval (0,2/3) f(x)=
A) -x-3
B) 5x-7
C)-5x-7
D)x-7
E) x+3</p>
<p>So how would you do this??</p>
<p>@Smarty1201: Ha! Factoring… You certainly have time if it’s a separate AB/BC class. Well especially in the BC class. The BC class I’m in reviews AB for the first week and a half and takes time and days off to do practice MC/FR from AB periodically throughout the year.</p>
<p>As for some teachers, they make the first week or so hard on purpose (it’s actually funny to see students struggle) and sometimes have an intention to get students to drop. For my class we had like an all of Calculus in one class period thing and did delta epsilon right away. Give it time and you may understand it. Things build upon past concepts. Think about what you’re learning.</p>
<p>l3x-2l+2lxl-5
Since on the interval x is always positive, you can simplify it to
l3x-2l+2x-5
But consider the piecewise function of absolute value, when the argument is negative, you have to multiply it by (-1). In this case on that interval it is always negative if you test the endpoints (plug in 0 and 2/3) so therefore you multiply the insides by (-1). -3x+2+2x-5
-x-3 is it :)</p>
<p>As tangentline solved it for you, you just have to figure out how to get rid of the absolute value. For these problems, it’s simply a matter of figuring out what the numbers inside the absolute value (the argument?) always equal in that interval. Once you do that, it’s only simplifying. To clarify, an absolute value can either be the positive OR negative of the argument. In this case, since from the open interval 0 to 2/3, 3x-2 is always negative, you add a negative again (to make it positive, since an absolute value MUST be positive or zero). I hope that didn’t make it more confusing. Another way to look at it is abs(a) = a for all positive values of a and -a for all negative values of a.</p>
<p>Watch PatrickJMT’s Videos
on Youtube If you get stuck. I wish you Good Luck!</p>
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</p>
<p>First week?? In my BC class he handed us a sheer the first day, said it was homework, and the next day we learned something new.</p>
<p>My story is the same as yours , last year I blew through algebra II with an A and pre cal over the summer with an A… I have no idea how to do that problem (even after it was explained, I’m still pretty confused) this kinda makes me worried for ap Calc ab next week… We will see:( …the only time we used the word interval in precal was for interval notation… (. ,] and stuff like that…</p>
<p>"teaspoons, you may want to familiarize yourself with the definition and maybe look it up since intervals are pretty important in calc. Especially in integration when you’re doing definite integrals since you’re looking for the area under a curve over a specific interval.</p>