Can you provide a beginner's problem to solve for somebody who wants to learn pre-calculus?
Sure! Here's a sample problem for a pre-calculus student:

Yu're standing on the ground and throw a baseball, whose trajectory follows the function:


$$
f(x) = -(x+2)^2 +4
$$

Where $x$ is the distance in meters from where you're standing, and $f(x)$ is the height the baseball troughout it's trajectory.

How far does the baseball reach from where you where standing?

Furthermore, what's the higuest point the baseball reached?
That doesn't really seem like a beginner's problem. How do you solve it?

Also, it would seem the value for f(x) is going to be negative, which doesn't really make sense for the problem as you explained it.