I’m looking into minoring in business. Im going to be a high school senior, but I can’t decide which math class is more important to take. I’ve never succeeded in algebra 2. I have a poor foundation, and I just don’t understand algebra. I’ve heard AP stats does not require any background algebra knowledge…but would it be better to take pre calc if I were minoring in business and majoring in music? or the other way around…?
It sounds like math isn’t your thing. I’d take AP Stat.
You can look at the curriculum at your target school - but, most biz programs are looking for Stats and a business calculus.
I’m not sure from where you heard that AP Statistics doesn’t require any background knowledge in algebra, but that’s false. Pretty much any math you take from here on out is going to require knowledge of algebra. Algebra is the foundation of statistics; statistics involves a lot of manipulation of mathematical abstractions and symbols and the observation of patterns, which is what algebra is.
However, pre-calculus also requires a lot of algebra - because most classes that are called “pre-calculus” are usually classes with advanced algebra and trigonometry. You learn a little bit of matrix algebra, a little bit about the nature of mathematical/algebraic functions, a lot about trigonometric functions (sine, cosine, tangent), etc.
Algebra is essential to both. Either one would be useful to business - many business majors require business calculus, but many also require a semester of statistics. So which one you choose doesn’t really matter, but you should choose one in which you feel confident you can do well and feel most comfortable.