The listing, Basic College Mathematics: An Applied Approach (Special Edition for Fashion Institute) Paperback has ended.
Chapters 1 through 6 and chapters 8 and 9 are refresher topics from 9th and 10th grade arithmetic. Topics covered are: counting, fractions, decimals, ratios and proportion, percents (money), and business and consumer problems.
Chapter 7 and chapters 10 through the end of the book, cover college prep math topics. These chapters DO prepare you for college Algebra.
This is a good book if you need a boost in preparing for college.
In addition, it has the following excellent ancillaries for students.
--Student help Web sites
--Practices tests
--SmartThinking, a live online tutoring (I suspect it costs extra).
Caveat: It does not prepare a person for calculus.
For an excellent pre-calculus text try: Precalculus: Mathematics for Calculus, Enhanced Review Edition by James Stewart, Lothar Redlin and Saleem Watson&
Good luck in your college pursuits.