Some Essential Algebra
Algebra is the language of calculus. You can’t do calculus without the following basic rules you learned in Algebra I or Algebra II. At a minimum, you need to be on top of the topics covered here: powers, roots, logs, factoring, the quadratic formula, and lines (including slope, one of the most important ideas used in calculus).
Power rules
![list of power rules](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-alebra-essentials-power-rules.png)
Root rules
![list of root rules](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-algebra-essentials-root-rules.png)
Log rules
![list of log rules](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-alebra-essentials-log-rules.png)
Factoring patterns
![list of algebraic factoring patterns](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-alebra-essentials-factoring-patterns.png)
Quadratic formula
![quadric forumula](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-algebra-essentials-quadratic-formula.png)
Algebra for lines
![algebra for lines formulas](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-algebra-essentials-algebra-for-lines.png)
Some Important Geometry Formulas
Formulas for triangles
![list of formulas for triangles](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-geometry-triangle-formulas.png)
Formulas for other two-dimensional shapes
![geometry formulas for other two-dimensional shapes](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fdgeometry-other-two-dimensional-shapes-formulas.png)
Formulas for three-dimensional shapes
![list of formulas for geometry three-dimensional shapes](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-geometry-three-dimensional-shapes-formulas.png)
Coordinate geometry formulas
![list of coordinate geometry forumulas](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-coordinate-geometry-formulas.png)
Some Basic Trigonometry
Trig comes up in many calculus problems, so, if your trig is a bit rusty, you can refer to this handy list of basic trig concepts.
Right triangle trig
SohCahToa
![SohCahToa](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-trig-sohcahtoa.png)
Radians and degrees
Identities
![radians and degrees](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-trig-radians-and-degrees.png)
Reciprocal identities
![reciprocal identities](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-trig-reciprocal-identities.png)
Quotient identities
![Quotient identities](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-trig-quotient-identities.png)
Pythagorean identities
![Pythagorean identities](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-trig-pythagorean-identities.png)
Formulas
Half-angle formulas
![half-angle formulas](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-trig-half-angle-formulas.png)
Double-angle formulas
![double-angle formulas](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-trig-double-angle-formulas.png)
Reduction formulas
![reduction formulas](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-trig-reduction-formulas.png)
Limits
In your calculus class, you learn a few techniques for evaluating limits. Some of those techniques take a little doing. But for the basic limits on the list here, the best approach is to simply memorize them (or “cheat” by using this “sheet”).
![list of basic limits](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-basic-limits.png)
Differentiation Rules
Here are 20 of the most frequently used differentiation rules. You may or may not need to memorize all 20 (depending on your teacher), but you will certainly want to memorize rules 1 to 6 and 9 to 11. (Note the way I’ve written the product and quotient rules. Your textbook may list these rules in a slightly different, though equivalent, way. I recommend memorizing them the way they’re written here, where both rules begin with the derivative of the first thing you read, namely, the u. That’s the easiest way to memorize these rules.)
![list of 20 differentiation rules](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-differentiation-rules.png)
Integration Rules
And here are 20 of the most frequently used integration rules. If you want to commit some of them to memory, I’d start with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, and 16. Next would be 17, 18, and 19.
![integration rules](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-integration-rules.png)
Infinite Series: Convergence/Divergence Tests
Following are 10 tests for the convergence or divergence of an infinite series.
As a memory aid, you can group them as follows: there are three tests for series with names (geometric series, p-series, and telescoping series), three comparison tests (direct, limit, and integral), two “R” tests (ratio and root), and, finally, two tests that bookend the other eight (the nth term test and the alternating series test, which also involves the nth term).
The nth term test
![the nth term test](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-nth-term-test.png)
Geometric series test
![geometric series test](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-geometric-series-test.png)
The p-series test
![The p-series test](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-p-series-test.png)
Telescoping series test
![telescoping series test](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-telescoping-series-test.png)
Direct comparison test
![direct comparison test](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-direct-comparison-test.png)
Limit comparison test
![limit comparison test](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-limit-comparison-test.png)
Integral comparison test
![integral comparison test](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-lintegral-comparison-test.png)
The ratio test
![the ratio test](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-ratio-test.png)
The root test
![the root test](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/calculus-aio-fd-root-test.png)
Alternating series test
An alternating series converges if two conditions are met:
- Its nth term converges to zero.
- Its terms are non-increasing — in other words, each term is less than or equal to its predecessor (ignoring the minus signs).
(Note that you are free to ignore any number of initial terms when checking whether condition 2 is satisfied.)