Preface To All

HTML, PDF, and print.

This book is freely available in the following formats: HTML, ePub, PDF-for-screen, PDF-for-print, and Braille. Additionally, a printed and bound copy is available for purchase at low cost. All versions offer essentially the same content and are synchronized such that cross-references match across versions. (The printed and bound versions omit the appendix exercises.) Information about all versions can be found at pcc.edu/orcca.

There are some notable differences between the HTML version, PDF-for-screen, and PDF-for-print.

The HTML version offers interactive elements, easier navigation than print, and its content is web accessible.
Two PDF versions can be downloaded. 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 grayscale. 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.

Copying Content.

The source files for this book are available through pcc.edu/orcca', and openly licensed for use. However, it may be more convenient to copy certain things directly from the HTML version.

The graphs and other images that appear in this book are available in various file formats. While viewing the book with a web browser, right-click on an image to view it in a new tab. The web browser will reveal the path to the image. In almost all cases, you will initially see an .svg version of the image. But editing that extension to .png, .eps, .pdf, and .tex will provide access to these other formats.

Mathematical content can be copied from the HTML version. To copy math content into MS Word, right-click or control-click over the math content, and click to Show Math As MathML Code. Click “Copy to Clipboard”. In Word, use Paste Special to paste the content 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 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 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 activate more accessibility tools, including the ability to display speech strings for math expressions. Setting the speech strings to the “Clearspeak” rules produces speech strings that are intended to match how the math would be spoken aloud.
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 version gives you that option.

WeBWorK for Online Homework.

Most exercises are available in a ready-to-use collection of WeBWorK problem sets. Anyone interested in using these problem sets may contact the project leads. The WeBWorK set definition files and supporting files should be available for download from www.pcc.edu/orcca.

Odd Answers.

The answers to exercises are not printed in the PDF versions for economy. But the HTML version offers answers to odd-numbered exercises in an appendix.

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 HTML version. Most of the time, a walk-through solution is provided immediately following the answer blank.

Some readers using the HTML version 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.

Alternative Video Lessons.

Most sections open with an alternative video lesson (that is visible in the HTML version and linked using a QR code in PDF). These video playlists 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.

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