Functioning in the Real World contains the course material that grew out of the mathematical Modeling/Precalculus Reform Project, which received major funding from NSF. This text seeks to prepare and motivate students for mastering the new generation of calculus courses, and offers a dramatically different alternative to standard Precalculus and College Algebra and Trigonometry texts. The goal of the text is to emphasize the qualitative, geometric and computational aspects of mathematics, within a framework of mathematical modeling at a level appropriate to precalculus students. It capitalizes on the fact that most students are more interested in applications of mathematics than in theory. Consequently, applications drive all the mathematical development, making the topics more accessible to students who may not have experienced success in mathematics.