Preface To All
¶HTML, PDF, and print.
This book is freely available as an HTML eBook, a PDF for reading on a screen, and a PDF intended for printing. Additionally, a printed and bound copy is available for purchase at low cost. All versions offer the same content and are synchronized such that cross-references match across versions. They can each be found at pcc.edu/orcca.
There are some differences between the HTML eBook, PDF screen version, and PDF-for-print version.
The HTML eBook offers interactive elements, easier navigation than print, and its content is accessible in ways that a PDF cannot be. It has content (particularly in appendices) that is omitted from the PDF versions for the sake of economy. It requires no more software than a modern web browser with internet access.
Two PDF versions can be downloaded and then accessed without the internet. One version is intended to be read on a screen with a PDF viewer. This version retains full color, has its text centered on the page, and includes hyperlinking. The other version is intended for printing on two-sided paper and then binding. Most of its color has been converted with care to gray scale. Text is positioned to the left or right of each page in a manner to support two-sided binding. Hyperlinks have been disabled.
Printed and bound copies are available for purchase online. Up-to-date information about purchasing a copy should be available at pcc.edu/orcca. Contact orcca-group@pcc.edu if you have trouble finding the latest version online. Any royalties generated from these sales support OER development and maintenance at PCC and/or scholarships to PCC students.
Copying Content.
The source files for this book are available through pcc.edu/orca, and openly licensed for use. However, it may be more conveneient to copy certain things directly from the HTML eBook.
The graphs and other images that appear in this manual may be copied in various file formats using the HTML eBook version. Below each image are links to .png, .eps, .svg, .pdf, and .tex files for the image.
Mathematical content can be copied from the HTML eBook. To copy math content into MS Word, right-click or control-click over the math content, and click to Show Math As MathML Code. Copy the resulting code, and Paste Special into Word. In the Paste Special menu, paste it as Unformatted Text. To copy math content into LaTeX source, right-click or control-click over the math content, and click to Show Math As TeX Commands.
Tables can be copied from the HTML eBook version and pasted into applications like MS Word. However, mathematical content within tables will not always paste correctly without a little extra effort as described above.
Accessibility.
The HTML eBook version is intended to meet or exceed web accessibility standards. If you encounter an accessibility issue, please report it.
All graphs and images should have meaningful alt text that communicates what a sighted person would see, without necessarily giving away anything that is intended to be deduced from the image.
All math content is rendered using MathJax. MathJax has a contextual menu that can be accessed in several ways, depending on what operating system and browser you are using. The most common way is to right-click or control-click on some piece of math content.
In the MathJax contextual menu, you may set options for triggering a zoom effect on math content, and also by what factor the zoom will be. Also in the MathJax contextual menu, you can enable the Explorer, which allows for sophisticated navigation of the math content.
A screen reader will generally have success verbalizing the math content from MathJax. With certain screen reader and browser combinations, you may need to set some configuration settings in the MathJax contextual menu.
Tablets and Smartphones.
PreTeXt documents like this book are “mobile-friendly.” When you view the HTML version, the display adapts to whatever screen size or window size you are using. A math teacher will usually recommend that you do not study from the small screen on a phone, but if it's necessary, the HTML eBook gives you that option.
WeBWorK for Online Homework.
Most exercises are available in a ready-to-use collection of WeBWorK problem sets. Visit webwork.pcc.edu/webwork2/orcca-demonstration to see a demonstration WeBWorK course where guest login is enabled. Anyone interested in using these problem sets may contact the project leads. The WeBWorK set defintion files and supporting files should be available for download from pcc.edu/orcca.
Odd Answers.
The answers to the odd homework exercises at the end of each section are not printed in the PDF versions for economy. Instead, a separate PDF with the odd answers is available through pcc.edu/orcca. Additionally, the odd answers are printed in an appendix in the HTML eBook.
Interactive and Static Examples.
Traditionally, a math textbook has examples throughout each section. This textbook uses two types of “example”:
- Static
These are labeled “Example.” Static examples may or may not be subdivided into a “statement” followed by a walk-through solution. This is basically what traditional examples from math textbooks do.
- Active
-
These are labeled “Checkpoint.” In the HTML version, active examples have WeBWorK answer blanks where a reader may try submitting an answer. In the PDF output, active examples are almost indistinguishable from static examples, but there is a WeBWorK icon indicating that a reader could interact more actively using the eBook. Generally, a walk-through solution is provided immediately following the answer blank.
Some readers using the HTML eBook will skip the opportunity to try an active example and go straight to its solution. That is OK. Some readers will try an active example once and then move on to just read the solution. That is also OK. Some readers will tough it out for a period of time and resist reading the solution until they answer the active example themselves.
For readers of the PDF, the expectation is to read the example and its solution just as they would read a static example.
A reader is not required to try submitting an answer to an active example before moving on. A reader is expected to read the solution to an active example, even if they succeed on their own at finding an answer.
Reading Questions.
Each section has a few “reading questions” immediately before the exercises. These may be treated as regular homework questions, but they are intended to be something more. The intention is that reading questions could be used in certain classroom models as a tool to encourage students to do their assigned reading, and as a tool to measure what basic concepts might have been misunderstood by students following the reading.
At some point it will be possible for students to log in to the HTML eBook and record answers to reading questions for an instructor to review. The infrastructure for that feature is not yet in place at the time of printing this edition, but please check pcc.edu/orcca for updates.
Alternative Video Lessons.
Most sections open with an alternative video lesson (that is only visible in the HTML eBook). These video play lists are managed through a YouTube account, and it is possible to swap videos out for better ones at any time, provided that does not disrupt courses at PCC. Please contact us if you would like to submit a different video into these video collections.