Computing with Square Roots

Presentations continued today, with three more groups making their attempt to explain how the b variable impacts the location of the parabola on the grid.

Tonight's homework: Square root worksheet and page 538 (87 - 102, all)

Using the Quadratic Formula, part 2

Presentations began today, thanks to the teacher remembering to bring the projection cord. Several groups were unable to present, since one or both partners were absent. Presentations will continue on Friday.

Tonight's homework: Lesson 9.5 (44 - 52, even)

Using the Quadratic Formula, part 1

Well, thanks to Miss Brands actually forgetting to bring in a piece of the projection device, student presentations were delayed by one day. (The class was appropriately appreciative for her temporary memory failure!)

Instead, students began working on solving quadratic equation problems that use the quadratic formula.

Tonight's homework: Lesson 9.5 (23 - 31, odd, and 32 - 37 all)

Solving Quadratic Equations by Graphing

Now that we know how to graph quadratic equations, we began practicing finding the x-intercepts by using an x-y chart to determine critical points of the graph. Be sure to read lesson 9.4 to gain some helpful hints that you might have missed during the class discussion.

Tonight's homework: Lesson 9.4 (21 - 42, First Column Only)--be sure to include graphs in your answers. Also, be ready to present your findings to the class on Wednesday.

Simplifying Expressions with Radicals

We reviewed some of the shortcuts that you can use to simplify expressions that have square root in them. Looking for common factors and perfect squares are two of the easiest shortcuts you can employ to simplify these types of problems.

Tonight's homework: Page 805 (17 - 25) and page 562 (7 - 10). Don't forget to work on your presentation.

Presentation Preparation

Since the class was shorter than normal today, most of the class period was spent on loading equations onto the handheld computers and working on presentations. Presentations will begin on Wednesday, so be ready!

Tonight's homework: Work on your part of the quadratic presentation.

Rationalizing the Denominator

After reviewing the homework from last night, we looked at another situation involving square roots, and discovered the square root of a number times itself ends up being the number. (The square root of a times the square root of a is the square root of a squared which is a.) This allowed us to learn about rationalizing the denominator of an expression, which means rewriting an expression in such a way that there is no radical sign in the denominator (which is the preference of all mathematicians).

Tonight's homework: Complete the worksheet titled 9.2 (both sides)

Multiplying and Dividing with Square Roots

Multiplying and dividing with square roots is relatively simple, and can be done in two different ways. You can consider the radical sign as one great big set of parentheses, and simplify within first, and then take the square root of the result. Alternatively, you can take the square roots of the number first, and then simplfy. Be sure to read lesson 9.2 and look at the examples.

Tonight's homework: Lesson 9.2 (First Column Only)

Finding the Square Root of a Number

In general, when working with square roots, there are three types of answers to expect. If your problem has you determining the square root of a positive number, there will be two solutions to the problem. If you find the square root of zero, then there will be only one solution. If you are trying to find the square root of a negative number, there are no solutions.

Tonight's homework: Continue working on Quadratics Worksheet 4. In addition, complete lesson 9.1 (23 - 41, all)

Determining How the b Term Impacts the Parabola

Students worked on goal-setting activites today for a portion of the class period. Afterwards, students created equations to help them determine how the b term in the equation for a parabola impacts the placement of that parabola on the grid.

Tonight's homework: Complete the goal review and graph. In addition, continue to work on the Graphing Quadratics WS 4.

Quadratic Equations, Part 2

Today's lesson required students to analyze the graphs of quadratic equations very carefully. Specifically, we looked at what happened when the coefficient of the squared term changed (smaller, bigger, positive, negative) and what happened when we added a number ("c" term) to the equation.

Students completed 2 worksheets in class, and that was enough for the day.

Tonight's homework: None. Enjoy the Easter weekend!

Barbie Survived, but James Did Not!

The main event today took place in the cafeteria where Barbie and James bungee jumped from 4 meters. Robert stood on a tall ladder and gently urged each of our brave contestants to jump off the cliff. Each jumped with rubber band chains of 25, 30, 35 and 40 rubber bands attached to their feet. Barbie survived her jumps at 25, 30 and 35 rubber bands, but hit her head on the floor with the 40 band cord. James, on the other hand, was not as successful, and ended up crashing into the ground on his first jump with 25 rubber bands. Thanks to everyone who helped make this such a successful event.
Lilyanna and Keaton supplied the dolls, Robert dropped them, and Stephanie made the bungee jumping cords. Spotters included Albro, Keaton, Jenness, Liz, Hanna, Catherine and Taylor. Landon, Jonathan, and Steven helped with getting equipment ready, and Albro was our photographer.

Tonight's homework: Find the mean, median, mode, and range of the set of data shared in class. Then make a box and whisker plot of the data.

No Homework Tonight!

We took the chapter eight test today during class. Afterwards, we discussed the major points I wanted you to notice after doing last night's homework.

Tonight's homework: None--watch "American Idol" instead! For the three of you who were absent, please plan to take the test either before or after school on Wednesday, or during your lunch time.

Test over Chapter 8 is on Tuesday

Well, no one remembered to bring their Barbies so the bungee jumping contest has been postponed until later in the week.

The chapter 8 test will be given in class on Tuesday, April 11th. Be sure to study for this test.

Tonight's homework: Complete Worksheet 1 on graphing quadratics. This is due on April 11th.

Review Day

We spent the class period reviewing what we've covered over the last couple of weeks. Students took a mini quiz over scientific notation, exponential growth and exponential decay. After that, we tried to decide how many rubber bands would be safe for Barbie to jump 400 cm without killing herself.

Tonight's homework: Page 497, all problems.

Exponential Decay

Today, we did a penny flipping activity to help us understand the concept of exponential decay. The activity was similar to the one described on page 483 of your textbook.

Tonight's homework: Lesson 8.6 (10 - 36, even) Also, please have your Barbie Bungee Jump papers ready for class on Friday.

Exponential Growth

We talked a lot about how investments and protist populations can grow over time. When something grows exponentially, there is a particular formula you can use to determine how big the final number will be if you know the beginning number, the length of time and the rate of growth.

Tonight's homework: Lesson 8.5(6 - 30, even).

Scientific Notation

Welcome back! It was good to see you back in the classroom today.

After reviewing the homework, we reviewed the basics of how to use scientific notation. Because multiplication is commutative, we can rearrange the numbers when multiplying numbers written in scientific notation and make complex problems a little simpler.

Tonight's homework: Lesson 8.4 (16 - 51, FCO and 53-57, all). In addition, work on the Barbie Bungee Jumping worksheets. These will be due by Friday, April 7th.

Extra Credit work needs to be submitted by Thursday, April 6th.