A Note on Using This Lesson

Although this lesson appears at the beginning of the materials, its placement should not be confused with any sort of prerequisite status. In fact, like all of the lessons, you should consider this material only when it seems appropriate to your immediate learning goals.

What this lesson offers is a broad, metaphorical overview of the themes of precalculus and their relationship to the broader themes that run through calculus. Perhaps you are uninterested in this sort of perspective at the moment — you may just wish to get started. In this case, please proceed to one of the other lessons, and return here only when you wish to place your explorations in context. You may not wish for unity and closure untill you have completed all of the other lessons. That's fine: This introduction also makes a perfectly legitimate epilogue.

Some learners, however, benefit from a big-picture-first presentation when embarking on a new educational endeavour. Such a mental framework, however broadly sketched and indistinct at first, can provide a comfortable storage place for arranging new discoveries.

You needn't decide one way or the other about your learning strategy. The point is that this material doesn't need to be mastered until you are ready for it. Consider it now, in whole or in part, or consider it later. You may come back — as you may with all of the lessons — as many times as you'd like.