Cumulative Review

Hello!

Well... it's Friday after school and I feel horrible about the test today. I really thought that it was very straight-forward and that you would finish it quickly and gain a real boost in your confidence. I was really surprised that you were still working very hard at it by the time the period ended.

I was really proud of you though. You toughed it out and did not give up and even did not complain about it throughout. That is a sign of maturity and hopefully a sign that you understand the purpose of the testing... it is to show you and myself your understanding of the material so far, to see what you need more practise on, and what you already grasp. As much as I am required to submit marks throughout the course, these marks are not a measure of your intelligence, but a measure of your understanding and perhaps, but perhaps not, your effort. Only you can judge that for yourselves.

SO, this is what I've decided to do. There are three areas that the majority of you seemed to struggle with on the test and two are actually somewhat related. I am going to spend one class on each topic next week and then give you back your tests on Thursday to complete.

Monday, topic 1: Changing between the standard form of an equation and point-intercept form and creating an equation of a line given two points.

See http://www.purplemath.com/modules/strtlneq.htm
See http://www.gomath.com/htdocs/lesson/linearequation_lesson1.htm

Tuesday, topic 2: Using the cosine law and solving for either the length of a side of a triangle or one of the angles of a triangle.

See http://www.wsd1.org/waec/math/Applied%20Math%20Advanced/Trigonometry/Cosine%20Law/cosinelawexamples.htm

Wednesday, topic 3: Rational exponents... simplifying polynomial expressions using the exponent laws.

See http://www.purplemath.com/modules/simpexpo.htm for integral exponents
See this link for rational exponents.

Each class your hopework will be to create study notes on these topics (like the math dictionary I had planned for you to complete, but never did assign!)

So, chin up! We are going to get through this!

Have a fantastic weekend,

Miss N.

Missing Groups 3 and 4

Hey Groups Three and Four...

We're still waiting on you! Don't forget to get your solutions on line ASAP! (If everyone contributes a little, everyone receives a lot).

Thanks,

Miss Nicholson

P.S. Could the other groups be sure to check my comments on their post to make any necessary changes?

Missing Groups 3 and 4

Hey Groups Three and Four...

We're still waiting on you! Don't forget to get your solutions on line ASAP! (If everyone contributes a little, everyone receives a lot).

Thanks,

Miss Nicholson

Group Assignment #6

Hey Everyone, here's mine, karen & shanes answer to #6 of that group assn. we did in class today.

a) Given points A(2,3) B(4,5) & C(6,-1), find an equation for the altitude from A to BC (a.k.a. the height)

Step 1: find the slope of BC so that you can get the reciprocal which will give you the perpendicular line, the altitude.

m= (y2-y1)/(x2-x1)
m= (-1-5)/( 6-4)
m= -6/2
m= -3

*Now flip to get the reciprocal* m=1/3

Step 2: Use the formula y=mx+b to get an equation for the altitude. Use the coordinates of A(2,3) and the slope ( 1/3)

y=mx+b (plug in the #s)
3= 1/3 (2)+ b
3= 2/3 + b

*(to get B by itself, take away 2/3 from each side); (multiply 3/1 by 3/3 to get common denominators) *

7/3 = b SO y= (1/3)x + 7/3


Everybody better post theirs, this took me a long time, haha :)

Goodnight!

-Brittany

Linear Relationships Review

Hi all!

I got quite a bit of marking finished after school today only to realize that there are quite a few students who haven't handed in quite a few assignments.

Here's a recap of what should be handed in:

• Patterns Worksheet (with fence question)
  
• Midpoint Worksheet (with question about cities named "sunrise" and "sunset")
  
• Slope Worksheet (with trig chart --> there's an error on one of the angles)
  
• Test #2 (Rationals and Radicals) test corrections
  

I'd like to return this work before I give you the next test, so please have this ready to go for Monday. Your slide project is also due on Tuesday- I'm really impressed at the the thought and creativity that has already gone into them! Well done.

Here's a link to a post in the other S2 pre-calculus blog with some websites you could use to help you review and practise for your test next week. It will be a take-home and I'll give it to you on either Wednesday or Thursday for you to hand in the following Monday (Nov. 6).

Have a great weekend!

How to Square Root in HTML

I just did a google search on "HTML"+"square root" and this is what I came up with:

http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html3/roots.html

Hope this helps! I'll let you guys be the first to try it out.

P.S. Don't forget that a part of your computer assignment last week was to check out the "S2 Pre-Calculus" blog linked on the right hand side of this blog, read one of the posts pertaining to the graphing unit, and leave a comment saying what you learned and asking a question. I see that two of you have done this.

I've asked you to do this because I believe that seeing it before it comes up in our class will add some familiarity to it and help you to catch on quicker in class. I'll ask the teacher to get her students to answer your questions as comments on this post. You may also want to ask them how they post graphs!

Reminder: How to Post; Compliments to the Class

There seems to be some questions about how to post, so here are the directions again. There is also a link on the right hand side of our blog under the "Blogging Tips" that says the same thing.

• Go to URL www.blogger.com or click on the "I Power Blogger" icon in the right column of the page, or the top left-hand corner of the page.
  
• Type in the user name and password that you provided when you accepted my invitation to blog.
• Click on S2 Pre-calculus WKC
• Click on 'Create' under the 'Posting' tab.
• Type in your title and your post. (Note: The title should give enough description of the contents of the post that we can link to the post by title at a later date and know what will come up.)
  
• PROOF READ your post.
• PROOF READ your post again. (Does it make sense? Is everything spelled correctly??)
• Click on the orange button that says 'Publish Post'

A reminder again to please not post your personal contact info. as you are posting it to anyone in the world who has internet access. I will distribute the contact info. you provided me in class on Monday.

I also just wanted to let you know that I'm really proud of you for persevering in this course even though the first two units seemed challenging and confusing. If you remember in the first few days of class I said that one of my goals was to also help you to develop some important life skills in this course, and not giving up is definitely one of them. I'm also really proud of how you're starting to work together, building on eachother's strengths. That's what the "real world" is all about- community and facing challenges together.

Thanks for your patience as we ALL learn together.

P.S. Go ahead and publish your post Kelley!

Word Problems on Friday the 13th

Kyle's Scribe Post:

Today we worked on the section in the book "rad. division" that we worked on in the previous class. Miss Nicholson showed us how to answer number 5. We also did question 6. In this question you need to find:

Area_{shaded region} = Area_rectangle - 2Area_circle

To find the area of the rectangle you need to times Length times Width

Then Miss Nicholson showed us how to find the area of 2 circles by 2(πr²)
and then we went through the rest of the question.

Intro to Linear Relationships

Good morning students!

We're finally using the lap tops in class... and you thought this day would never come!

Now that we finished our first two units on Polynomials & Radicals and Rational Exponents, we're starting #3: Linear Relationships.

As Colin pointed out in class, there are a lot of great resources on the internet that we can use to help us learn and practise mathematical concepts. I have found a website that I would like you to work through today that will review what you've learned about graphing in previous years and extend this information into our new unit.

Your task:

1. Click on the link below and read through the chapters entitled "The Cartesian Plane", "Patterns on a Plane", and "Modelling Linear Relationships."
2. As you read through each chapter, work through the examples on your own graph paper. Try to work out the answers first before scrolling down to see the answers! You will be required to hand this work in.
3. Leave a comment on my post defining one of the following words: point, Cartesian Plane, horizontal line, x-axis, vertical line, y-axis, origin, axes, x-coordinate, y-coordinate, coordinates, ordered pairs, vertical position, horizontal position, linear pattern, table, graph, linear relationship, difference pattern. The same word cannot be defined more than once!!
4. Complete the workbook assignment entitled "Linear Relationships."
   

Here is the link to the website: Linear Relationships

Homework Assignment

1. Under "Other Math Blogs" on the right-hand side of this blog, click on "Pre-Calculus 20S." This is the blog of another S2 pre-calculus class in Winnipeg and they just finished the unit we're starting.
2. Read through their posts and leave a comment on one of them stating something that you learned from reading what he/she posted, and asking a question for further clarification.
   

This is a neat opportunity for you to be able to study alongside other students since their teacher and myself are working through the units in a different order. Once they come to the radical and rational exponents "stuff," maybe you will be able to assist them.

Have fun! (And please remember to accept your invitation to join our blog!)

P.S. Check out the link I added on the right-hand side, "view world map here." You have an audience!