An introductory course which will prepare students for college level algebra. MAT 090 may be taken as a pre-requisite to or as a corequisite with MAT100. This course does not offer college-level credit. Topics include real numbers, operations between real numbers and their properties, signed numbers and the rules of signs, exponents and powers, fractions, fractional exponents and roots, an introduction to real variables and symbolic algebraic manipulations, analysis of rational expressions and functions, an introduction to the graphical representation of data, linear functions, linear equations, and solving and graphing quadratic equations. MAT 090 is a precollege level course and cannot be used to fulfill a degree requirement, nor is it calculated in a student's Grade Point Average (GPA). A graphing calculator is required. Instruction will be presented using a TI-84+.