Happy Holidays to All!

Students took the Concept 6 test today in class. (Seven down, nine to go!)

Tonight's Homework: None. Enjoy the vacation. Travel safely if you leave town. I will see you on January 4th.

Edible Functions????

We reviewed for the test over concept 6 today. This test will be given in class on Friday, December 17. If you don't understand something on the practice test, be sure to come in for extra clarification prior to taking the test.

Students received a red vine today, and collected data to show the relationship between the length of the red vine and the number of bites taken. Students created a data table, graph and then were asked to determine the equation of the function.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the red vine investigation. Then answer all questions on page 23 of your TWMM book.

Zapping Linear Functions

We looked at a variety of functions, and discovered that the line on the graph can help us write the equation of the function (a.k.a the "special rule"). The y-intercept is one important feature of a line to find. The other feature is to look at the rate of change, or slope, of the line.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the practice test for Concept 6, and then do all parts of the Zap It 2 worksheet.

Only Four More Classes Until Vacation!

Students took the Concept 5 Test in class today. Most had time to get started on their homework, as the test was somewhat shorter than normal.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the Practice Test for Concept 6. This test will be given in class later in the week.

Getting Ready for Another Concept Test

We spent a few moments reviewing for the upcoming Concept 5 test. Students were reminded of key things to remember as they prepare for Monday's test.

Next, we looked at a variety of situations that involve functions. We started talking about the differences between discrete and continuous data plots. Discrete data plots show just the data points without a line connecting them. Continuous data plots show both the data points and the line that connects them, indicating other possible values of the function. This led us to a discussion of what the values of the domain and range could be for a variety of problems.

Tonight's Homework:
Study for the Concept 5 Test, which will be given in class on Monday. In addition:
Period 2: Complete both sides of the pink Function Word Problem worksheet.

Period 6: Complete both sides of the "Nickels and Dimes" worksheet.

What's f(x) Really Mean?

Today, we continued to explore function notation. We looked at another way to express functions, using the notation f(x). This notation, read "the value of the function when x is", is just another way of saying "the value of y when x is" some particular value.

We evaluated a number of functions using this notation.

Tonight's Homework:
Period 2: Complete the Zap It! 1 worksheet. Be sure to finish 4 different parts for each problem.

Period 6: Complete the problems on both sides of the pink Function Word Problems worksheet.

More About Functions

Students learned about the vertical line test for identifying whether a graph shows a function or not. In short, if a vertical line intersects a graphed object more than once, the object graphed is NOT a function.

Tonight's Homework:
Period 2: Complete the graphing worksheet you started in class today. Then, complete pages 13 - 15 in the TWMM book (3, 5, and 6)

Period 6: Complete the warm-up sheet if you did not do so in class today. Complete the following problems in your TWMM book: page 11 (A - C), pages 13 - 15 (3, 5 and 6).

What's a Function?

We spent some time going over the practice test for Concept 5. Many questions were clarified, and most students felt like they will be able to pass the test with a good score. The test will be taken prior to Winter Break.

We looked at the definition of a function today, and learned how to apply the definition to many different examples.

Tonight's Homework:
Period 2: Page 11 in the TWMM book, all problems.

Period 6: Complete the graphing of functions worksheet, using 6 different colors.

Equations in Function Form

Students were introduced to one of the two widely accepted ways to express an equation in function form. Today, we rewrote equations so they were solved for y. Later this month, we will replace the y with f(x).

Tonight's Homework: Complete the Practice Test for Concept 5 (two worksheets). Enjoy the 3-day weekend!

Testing Bridge Length

We wondered if bridge length would make a difference to its stability, so we reconstructed yesterday's experiment and changed the independent variable to bridge length. All groups collected data, and then shared it with the class.

Tonight's Homework:
Period 2: Do all problems on pages 7 and 9 in the TWMM book (the new book you took home today).

Period 6: Do all problems on page 9 of the TWMM book.