Students should grasp fundamental math concepts before attempting college algebra classes. Most college algebra courses necessitate prerequisites such as intermediate or high school algebra. Some colleges, such as West Texas A&M University, offer online tutorials for students and nonstudents that help prepare them for college-level algebra courses. Students should possess a basic understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of fractions and rational expressions in addition to an understanding of quadratic equations, inequalities and graphing. Some schools also cite geometry as a prerequisite.
College algebra courses include many problems that involve functions. Linear, graphing, exponential, polynomial and logarithmic functions comprise a good portion of college algebra. Students graph solutions to linear functions by solving for a letter and placing it on a grid using coordinates. At Oklahoma City Community College, students use exponential functions to solve problems relating to compound interest, population and other statistical results. Logarithmic functions typically require scientific calculators and employ exponential expressions to form statements for a solution.
College algebra courses include problems that necessitate formulas. One of the most popular, the quadratic formula, challenges students to properly arrange numbers and their coefficients. According to Elizabeth Stapel of the Purplemath online algebra help center, this formula comes from the process of completing a square and involves the square root sign and the "ax(squared) + bx + c = 0" equation. Students sometimes graph the results.
Finding the domain is a common process in college algebra that involves solving or simplifying rational expressions. According to Stapel, a rational expressional is a polynomial fraction containing polynomials and letter variables. This process employs the quadratic formula in some instances. Students must simplify the expression by canceling factors in situations where rational expressions contain no solution.
Students learn to draw lines, angles and planes on graphs using graphing calculators during the precalculus and geometric portions of college algebra. Problems begin with rational expressions which, when solved, provide coordinate solutions for students to graph on a grid. Results create geometric figures, such as parabolas, ellipses and hyperbolas, which students use to calculate the axis of architectural structures such as bridges and nuclear towers.