I know there are a lot of math guys here, so hopefully I can get some good info. I need to brush up on my math skills before I jump back into school, but I don't want to buy a crap book that won't show me everything I need to know. Hell, if anyone has a fairly recent book from their own classes lying around that's worthless to you I may pick it up for some green.

Thanks!

I'd love to help you, but the last time I needed a precalc book I was 16 and I had to return it at the end of the semester.

If you can answer all of the questions in this booklet (without a calculator) you should be good: http://cs.smu.ca/apics/calculus/Booklet.html

If you can add 1 to a polynomial fraction you'll be ahead of the curve. It sounds sad, but even if you know almost nothing about mathematics you aren't going to be alone. Schools are going to have some sort of placement test or mechanism, and if you get stuck in a precalc course or higher algebra it isn't the end of the world.

Damn it all!

Thanks, I'll read that over, see what I think.

I'm likely going to have to take the placement test, but hopefully a brush up on things will put me in a better place. My biggest problem right now is I can't remember many of the basic formulas. Doing the math isn't that hard. The only thing I ever really needed a calculator for in HS was to speed up larger number crunching or to graph things. I HATE graphing on paper... takes so long.

Formulas?

Universities generally teach pure mathematics (e.g. anything taught by the department of Mathematics that doesn't have 'Applied' in the name.) It's not about the memorization of formulas or important results at all. Without knowing more about the school, the program and the exact courses you're going to take, I can only guess at what they'll require you to remember. Here's a list of (basically) everything you (should) learn in high school, and will need for university calculus:

Logic* and logical operators* (and, or, not, implies*, if and only if*)
Basic set theory, set builder notation, interval notation*, and set operations (union, intersection, setminus*, power set**)
Definitions of the Naturals, Integers, Rationals, Reals*, Extended Reals* and Complex numbers**.
Simple arithmetic and algebra: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division of real numbers and polynomials.
Properties of equivalence relations (equality,) properties of order relations.
Properties of radicals and exponents.
Abstract idea of what a function is.
Abstract idea of what the inverse of a function is.
Absolute value and properties*.
Triangle inequality*.
Partial fraction decomposition*.
Quadratic formula/discriminant.
Factorial*.
Binomial coefficient*.
Binomial theorem*.
Trigonometric functions.
Basic trigonometric identities (e.g. the Pythagorean identity. Basically if you can draw a right triangle inside a circle you know it.)

(* They will definitely re-teach it.)
(** They will definitely re-teach it, and you aren't even likely to see it in first year calculus.)

(Note: Depending on level of rigor, absolutely everything - including the idea of the real number - may be built up from nothing.)

I used this one when I took precalc.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Precalculus-by-David-Cohen-D_W0QQitemZ220569791583QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Texbook_Education?hash=item335afbec5f#ht_500wt_1182

It's over 1000 pages and I remember it being pretty good.

Jon, thanks for that link to that little primer for college calc. It's quite the good refresher for my Econ classes, which are usually just some complex derivatives.

complex derivatives or complicated derivatives?

just curious. I know very little about the kind of math you hit in econ, although I hear it's pretty intensive. you need complex analysis for the gaussian distribution, at least.

By complex I meant just some tricky derivatives here and there. It actually has more to do with the algebra than the calculus as I will explain further, so that's why that little packet with it's little summary (especially regarding logs) is nice little refresher. A lot of the classes I took this year were deep in theory, so my math is a little weaker than it should be. I'm taking Econometrics and some of the higher math courses soon, so looking to get back in the groove. Really wanna kick ass too look good for grad.

Up until intermediate most of the time you are dealing with basic first order conditions for production functions and growth functions. Basically using derivatives to find the marginal productivity of labor, capital, marginal utility, etc. For microeconomics probably the most important use of calculus is using it for the Lagrangian, which in the end isn't even necessary for the Econ purposes (lot of other ways to figure it out). Actually, as for what I've encountered so far, it is not so much the calculus that really matters so far, it's how well you know your fundamentals with some basic algebra when it comes to canceling things out, dividing, replacing, and generally recognizing certain relationships. Much of the problem sets I receive have to do with manipulation of formulas, but usually involve taking the derivative only once. This will change it looks like with some of the more advanced classes.

For undergrad Econ, all you need is Calc and then usually 2nd semester calc with some Diffe Qs / Integration / Vectors. However if you are pursuing Econ at graduate level, they make you take the regular calcs + statistics, but recommend you take these when applying for grad school. They say that you don't need to be extremely strong in them, but it's important simply so you can read the literature and understand it.

Econometrics
3rd Semester Calculus
Linear Algebra
Theory of Probability / Theory of Single Variable Calculus (basically proof classes)
Advanced Calculus (analysis)

LOL yes I said formulas.

Like I said, I took a pre-calc class in HS, but that has been about 4 years ago. So I don't remember much, but I do remember learning a lot of formulas...

Regardless, I'm going to attempt to relearn or overview everything from pre-calc before I attempt to move into serious higher maths.