So Long ...

I'm so glad we've had this time together,

Just to have a laugh or learn some math,

Seems we've just got started and before you know it,

Comes the time we have to say, "So Long!"

So long everybody! Watch this space in February for pointers to new blogs for each of my classes.

Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu, and all those good bye things. ;-)

Helloo ..

I'm sure you all thought you wouldn't be hearing from me again, after my last blog, but I felt that there were a few things that I wanted to say.

It has been an amazing semester. I have met a lot of special, and talented people in this class. My fellow peers were amazing. We helped each other through each of our individual struggles. We laughed more than I thought possible in a student teacher environment, which is always a pleasant surprise.

I really believe that we as students, and Mr.K, have learned more than just formulas and sequences, but we have learned something much more valuable. We as a class have learned how to communicate, how to ask questions, and take the most of of the opportunities that are handed to us. We now can take these things with us to future courses, and wherever our lives may take us. This has been a really fascinating experience, and I am really glad I got to experience it with all of my classmates, and Mr.K.

Mr.K, keep up the good work! (I sound like a teacher, don't I?). It's people like you that show that high school teachers can really care about their students and their learning. The way you interact with your students, and how you go out of your way to help us succeed, well, this just astounds me. Your determination and willingness to succeed is a refreshing characteristic that not all teachers have. You inspire me, as a student, and as a person. You make me strive to be the best I can be, and to always "Go for Gold".

Thanks for all that you have done, I am so grateful. More than you know.

And to my class : I will miss you all. I know I have pre cal with some of you next semester, and I can't wait to get back into the math groove again. And for those of you that I cannot share this experience with next semester, this is a shame. But I wish all of you the best of luck on your exams, and future endeavors.

Congratulations to all of you! You have gone for gold!

Message in a Podcast

We had our last class on Thursday and made a podcast to celebrate! We left ourselves a "pod capsule" in instead of a "time capsule."

Here is our Message in a Podcast (10 minutes, 31 seconds). Please leave any questions, concerns, complaints, compliments, confusions, uncertainties, anxieties or other inquiries in the comments to this post.

This isn't our last post yet -- I've got at least two more I want to get out before the end. ;-)

AND THEN, THERE WAS ONE

......Im the last scribe....hmmmmm..... what should I say. It seems as though i shouldnt just sum up today's class but the whole year....but because im lazy thats not going to happen.

Well lets see, today we didnt do much accept get back our factoring test and have half the class scream into a microphone. I'd have to say it was pretty weird today knowing that it was the last class. Usually im used to it being summer before the class says goodbye. But today it wasnt really a good-bye for the summer or forever, it was more like a good bye untill next week when we meet up in Malandrakis' class.

I feel obliged to be the last scribe and you know what the say, save the best for last =p. But I digress and I have to say that to any of you who dont pass the course ( or me) I will miss sharing time with you after lunch for an hour or so and sometime or another ill probably see you in another class.

And to Mr. K, I'd just like to say something upon my behalf and it is the complete truth. When we first started this thing I thought it was a complete waste of time, especially since I dont have a computer at home and I would have to spend extra time finding a computer that I could use. But at the end of the year I realize that the blog is for every student that has ever looked down at their paper and said "what the heck (i know how dumb it sounds) am i doing". The blog is something you can resort to when you need help, or need someone to explain something to you.

Well I would just like to bid everyone an adu (is that how you spell it?) and say it was fun well it lasted. And I have an honor that none of you will ever taste ............................................................................................ The scribe for tommorow is....

THAT'S MISS SCRIBE TO YOU!

In the beginning of class, Mr. Kuropatwa handed back our, "GO FOR GOLD" assignments to students who have not picked them up yesterday after school. Mr. Kuropatwa set up the PODCAST for us to try out. He gave us the following questions for us to answer:

#1. "If you could go back in time to visit yourself in the beginning of September, what one bit of advice would you whisper in your own ear to help you in this class?"

#2. "Any closing thoughts for this message in a PODCAST?"

Make sure you have the questions answered by tomorrow (Thursday), and that's when we'll start the PODCAST.

How intense this used to before, when someone was picking a scribe. Well the scribe for tomorrow is, StevenF. And I'll pick you because, I can. :D

Have a nice day!
PS: EVERYONE START STUDYING NOW! AND DON'T WAIT TILL SUNDAY NIGHT! ^______^;

First off I want to apologize for messing up this scribe stuff, I wasn’t really aware.

This is for Thursday, Friday and Monday.

Thursday: This class was kind of a free class to work on our “Go for Gold”. It was going to be our test day but Mr. K moved it to Friday so we would have more time to study. Even though our class was stressing, and louder than usual we all tried to help each other out with questions in our booklets.

Friday: We had our “Sequence and Series” Test, our last test of the course. It was also the last day to hand in our “Go for Gold”, Mr. K extended it to 3:30pm.

Monday: Mr. K handed out a practice exam to get us ready for ours on Monday. (Diyaa I think your wrong. It’s NOT tomorrow). Well the practice exam had questions we learned through out the year, I don’t think we have to hand it in but we should take advantage of it.

-We well be getting our last two test this Thursday and if your forgot to pick up your Go for Gold you can do that tomorrow or anytime soon.

Exam:
Monday, January 30th , 2006
Starts 1:00pm
In the gym
*Pink paper
*Dictionary’s should be handed (we can pick it up one week later.)

Things to bring (some if you want to):
1+ pencils
EASER
Calculator (NO GRAPHING CALCULATORS)
Ruler
Geometry Set

Review On:
http://percival.merlin.mb.ca:8901/
Username: guest
Password: guest

Blog post

Today we talked about how to study for the exam. There were some good tip's that would work for some of you guys. Some tips are Re-writing your math dictionary pick a group of questions from your notebook or your exorcise book and sort it out into two groups, one would be for questions you understand and the other group would be for some questions you have problems on. Another tip is to get in a study group of 2 or 3 people who are not close friends because you may get off topic, you can make two groups again of questions and study the group you don't understand with the 2 or 3 people you are with. This last tip is excellent because one person may know a topic really well and you may know a topic really well, so you help each other because you may have trouble with the topic your partner knows so your partner may help you with that topic that they are good at.
The EXAM is tomorrow at 1:30 pm in the gym so come early perhaps at 1:00 pm. So don't forget to study and don't be nervous about the exam. YOU CAN DO IT
The scribe is going to be T-SA.

Sunday Punting Practice

Like sokoban the target is to push objects (in this case punt-discs or 'pucks') around a maze to cover various targets. In a punt maze however the pusher slides forward tilt-style until it hits an obstacle, and a puck that gets struck will be punted forward a matching distance.'

'Aim: Use the black cross as a pusher to 'punt' the yellow pucks onto the blue targets.
Movement: Use the arrow buttons provided to move the pusher (black cross). The pusher will run in a straight line until it hits a wall or a yellow puck. If it hits a puck the puck will be punted forward a matching distance.'

Are you ready to play?

(Thanks again to Think Again!)

Last unit test for the course

Its the last test... the semester went by so fast. Well the last unit is about sequence and series. It wasn't hard yet it wasn't easy for me, somewhere in the middle. The pre-test was okay... Anyways i want to say good luck to everyone and hope they all get 100% in the GO FOR THE GOLD!

Last Post

The time has come for the last entry prior to the exams, the unit swept by fast if you look at it now same goes for the course. This unit was alright, not much but what intrigued me was fibonacci sequence, how various species divided such as the rabbits. This unit was however a good way to end the course because it was not to hard. What I learned that i thought was cool was the forumla for finding differnt numbers in the sequence as it might help some bit if taken with science. Maybe last day someone can bring a digi cam and take a picture of the whole class? That would be cool for those who would miss it. GL and HF on the test tomorrow.

FOR THE TEST ONLY

Hi every body!!!

Tomorrow is very big day for our class, because we have to hand in, GO FOR GOLD and have to get 100%, and also the last unit test. The unit was good and fun, i wish i took longer but :(
I don’t have any thing else to say just GOOD LUCK! On the test.

We sure will miss the class, blog before the test, and Mr. K.

Need my time to work with GO FOR GOLD;)

Blog...BuLOG

this unit is all about sequences ............ but we only focused on two sequences (arithmetic and geometry sequence) this is the last topic for PC20s this semester this week we also need to hand in our go for gold assignment i hope we'll get our GOLD and to get it we need to get at least a 100% .............that's all and and thank you to all of you !!! .........................PEACE!!! .

Test Blog

Don't I Look Good!!!

By far, this was my favourite unit. It was short, easy and fun. This unit was not that difficult. Most of it was just applying the formula. I guess the most difficult thing was finding the sum of a sequence that was in negitive numbers.

Well, after this (final) test, there is only four class left before exams. This math class was one of the most upbeat class I have ever had, Mr. K especially. He really got into the material he was teaching. Anyways, good luck everyone on your test and Goal for Gold.

My last blog post

WOW this is my last blog post for the semester! I didn't even notice that it was the end of the course! this semester went by really fast!

the last unit we did was on arithmetic and geometric sequences. I found this unit pretty easy because I could understand it easily. but for some reason on the pre-test yesterday I blanked out and forgot everything. if I remember the formulas then I'll be good.

THANK YOU to everyone for everything. I really had fun with all of you. one thing that I liked about mr. k's class was all the laughter that we had, thanks mr. k. hope to see some of you in some of my classes next semester.

and....good luck to everyone on the test tomorrow and on the exam!! and that ends my last blog post. =D YAY!!

Last pre test post!

It's so sad, it's our last pre test blog. This class went by so fast and when I think about it, we learned so much in such a short time. At first I was really afraid of what's to come in advanced math. But I made new friends and all of them are smarty-pants! I'm intimidated by all of you. And thanks to the people that helped me when I needed it. It's seems more like a reflective blog of the whole semester then a pre test blog.

This unit didn't take very long and I enjoyed it. I actually understood almost everything, just some things I get mixed up with. I get answers wrong when I miss read things and not analyze the question properly or well. I also mess up when I rush things, sometimes I just got to slow it down and look over my work. I should get into the habit of looking over my work.

Everything was great, I liked the work we did in class. Sometimes it seems so easy in class, but once I get started on my homework, I don't understand like 20% of it. Later on when I talk to other people in our class, they help me out and I understand what I did wrong and where. The test is tomorrow, after the test comes our exam. We better review in class! Oh, and my muddiest muddiest point is..... The graphing unit. I need help there! Well, see you all tomorrow, and I hope you all do well on the test.
-SAMUS

My last blog post! :(

I'm sad to say this is my last post for this course:(.
Well this unit went by really fast, much like the whole course did. I think this unit was fairly easy, but like all the other times, I could be eatting my words. I really liked this unit, it was easy! I thought it was going to be hard, because I never did well with patterns, but it was actually gReat! Hope you all do good on the test tomorrow!
I'm gonna miss this class. I really liked this class, althought a lot of times were confusing I think we all helped each other in one way or another to grow and stuffies. We had some REALLY good laughs. I wouldn't trade it. well I hope we all talk after this class. Cya. Have a good semester 2 =)

Alright lets get this out of the way. It everyone’s last post! i'm really going to miss this class.

Pre cal 20s was such a great experience. Everything we learnt well be useful. Well this unit was fun. On our exercise homework I would sometimes be stuck on stupid questions, and all I needed was to look in my math dictionary. At times I would forget the formula, but now I think I’ll remember. Today’s pre test was a good heads up for what I should study, like the last question. Hmm I hope everyone does well on the test, and exams.

BYE!

My last and only pre-test blog

Wow....I cant believe that this is my first pre-test blog and it will be my last. This year went by fast and I learned a few things (besides math). I learned that being in a class with 20+ people, you're not going to get the teachers attention every time you want. This being said, it is often useful to come in at lunch at pick up what you did not understand in class. Through the year I also found the curriculum to be easier and easier to understand. At first it was complicated and a little fustrating, but in the last month or so its really lightened up and im beginning to comprehend a lot more. Also too, I find that as a class we've learned to help eachother when we get stuck in a certain area. This has a been a good sem and hopefully next sem will be just as good or better.

Wow. Last Blog Post. Didn't even realize it.

Well, this is the last post that i will have to do in this semester at least. What can I say? This unit had it's ups and downs. Near the beginning of this unit, I was really enjoying all the sequences, and patterns. The homework was pretty easy, and I seemed to be cruising right along. I don't remember specifically when the tables turned, but I know it was somewhere when we learned about the little boy with all the numbers, adding one to one hundred.The transition was hard for me, and I don't think I fully made it. Which is why I will be studying like mad tonight, to remember those formulas and what not.

I must say that I have really enjoyed working on Go for Gold for the most part. I was worried about it for a long time, but things changed today when I gave my assignment to mr.k to look over, and he said that the majority of them were right. I felt a lot better about that, and that gives me that little push that I needed to finish and pass this assignment. I think I'm going to be ok!

This whole course has definetly had it's ups and downs as well. Sometimes, I fly through the homework, and sometimes, it takes some more thought, and others, I have a hard time not getting frustrated, because it seems tso far beyond my reach. Many times I wanted to give up and drop out of the course, but I stuck to it. I may not pass thi course, or I may not pass by much, but I know that i am happy with the work I did, because I know I stuck it out, and tried my best. If I happen to fail, I am going to try the course again next semester hopefully, and I am going to have a head start on the learning that will be happening. So thanks to you Mr.K. For not helping me, but teaching me how to help myself, if that makes sense.I will take that with me to further courses, along with my math dictionary, of course, haha.

Well, thats about all for me. It's been a great semester, and I hope to have some classes with some of you in the years to come.

As Mr.K says,
Cheers.

My Finale

This is my last post and I can't think of anything to say. This semester flew by fast and I was almost left behind. But I found a way to cope with my surroundings. Our last test is tomorrow then we move onto exams. Sort of a bring down. We finish a semester with a series of tests.

I bid you all a farewell. (Dramatic Exit)

My last blog post

Well what can I liked this unit a lot. Are last unit was arithmetic/geometric sequences.
I found the unit pretty easy until I got to the last homework exercise. I thought that geometric sequences were a bit confusing compared to arithmetic sequences that the unit was fun. I thing that out of all the units that we did this one was by far the best. I understood the whole unit and get the problem solving too. I'm so proud of myself.
I just hope that I remember all the formulas for the test.
Well I'm confident about this test,that I'll do alright
well got to go study good luck to everyone on the test and be confident

This semester has been great though sometimes it was really tought and I wanted to give up I didn't. It's been fun hanging with you guys. I wish everyone all the best for the rest of the year hope everyone does good on the exam.
See you good luck=)
bye everyone

My last pre test blog!!

Well well well.. it's our last test which means last pre test blog. Our last unit was arithmetic/geometric sequences. It was a little hard at first to grasp the idea. I only really got the whole idea recently, I wasn't sure when to use the specific fomulas. Not like there are many fomulas, only two this unit. I never would have thought that this would be considerd a unit and actually use it, but it's pretty interesting.

Well it's been a good semester even though that it was difficult at times. We had a good time and I would like to wish everyone goodluck in their exams and the upcoming test. Have a good rest of the year!!

final bloging

well i think that this unit has gone by pretty fast. what i think that most people had worked on is the "go for gold" assignment. well i see that alot of people in our grade are working together and working very hard on the "go for gold" assignment, which is a good thing. cause everyone in our class is going to get 100% am i right? or am i right? =)

i don't remember very much about the beginning of this unit but im pretty sure that i thought this unit was going to be tough. what i now think is that i think this unit was easy. thats only if i payed more attention. (tsk tsk on me) anyways, i would always be behind the class but somehow i would try and catch up. i think we'll all see how i do tomorrow on the final test. i still have some difficulties on the words and remembering the formulas but today i will write all the formulas down over and over again so i won't forget.

GOOD LUCK ON THE TEST TOMORROW. MAKE ME PROUD! =)

by the way. today in class... was great. i was so happy because of the talent show and then i got more happy because mr. k annouced that on friday we will get time to work on our "go for gold" and i was extremly hhappy and then everyone was laughing at me or laughing with me and i couldn't stop laughing and i started to cry because i was extremly happy. anyways this is it. GOOD LUCK. BYE BYE AND THIS IS THE ENDDD OF THE COURSE. HIP HIP HURRAYY!!! ... don't get all h appy now. we still have the exam to do. =p
p.s. i hope this colour blinds you LOL.... MUAHAHAHA yes yes im evil... t-sa... MADE ME =(

My Final Pre-Test Blog

Well, this unit did go by pretty fast. From what I remember, most of the time I spent at home for math was doing my "Go for Gold" assignment.

Anyways at the beginning of this unit, I had some difficulties understanding direct variation and partial variation but now, it comes to me with no problems at all. Well, the arithmetic sequences and series weren't that hard to understand so that wasn't much of a problem either. Geometric sequences weren't hard either. I might actually think that the geometric sequences are less complicated than the arithmetic.

Well, the test on Friday might hold some hard questions that Mr. K always comes up with one way or another but otherwise, I'm feeling pretty good about the upcoming, last unit test of the course. Good luck to the rest of you on Friday!

My Last Post

Wow, I can't believe how fast time flies, especially when you're having fun. I'm not saying that this course was a whole lot of fun, but sometimes it was. Man.. another semester over.

This unit, once again, went pretty fast. I couldn't quite understand the first topic which is like Variation, but thanks to some help, I was able to understand it. I liked the common difference and factor topics. Kinda challenging, but not too bad. I'm still wondering how we got through these units in a 6-month time frame, from Factoring to Arithmetic/Geometric Sequences.

Don't forget, Go for Gold assignment is due on Friday. And don't panic, just calm down. :) Everything's going to be fine. Be positive. Remember Sissyphus. Good luck to everyone.

Sequences and Series! and my last post...:D

*

I can't believe that we actually finished the course today! It was kind of exciting when Mr. K wrote it on the board. (a whole S2 math in 6 months) It's new to me and or some of us in the class because we would finish the course in June. Wow! ok that's enough...

This post is my last post in the blog, I think; for the blogging mark. The unit was a start for the S2 course. At first it was a little bit confusing all these kind of Arithmetic, Geometric, Italian, and Fibonacci ones and more, but i got the hang of it when Mr. K explained about them.

Now that I am looking at my dictionary, I see that it wasn't as hard or confusing at some units in the course.

At the end, I enjoyed this unit.

I hope u guys do your best in exams and the assignment and stuff...

p.a.

*

Goodbye...Au Revoir...-My Final Pre-Test Post

Like any of the other units, this one went by quickly especially with the upcoming exams and the semester coming to an end. At first, learning new formulas was a bit confusing but soon I recognized the differences between series and sequences and it wasn't as confusing.
I'd also like to comment on this being our final posts in this class...
This class was hardly easy. Mr. K. expected a lot from us and I know many of us tried our best. The workload wasn't light and sometimes it was hard, but I think Mr. K.'s enthusiasm for math and to help us understand made all the difference in the world.
With that said, I'd like to wish everyone a lot of luck on the upcoming test, exams, and on their Go for Gold project. This is a busy and stressful time, but always remember Siphysus.

Geometric Sequence!

Hello, I am so not Sith Lord Darth SAMUS! That would mean that I'm like Darth Vader's sister or whatever. I don't want to be his sister, maybe his wife. Yes, well you all know that I'm the scribe for today. Anyways, Mr. Kuropatwa put up 3 different sequences on the board and we had to find the next 3 that come after each sequence. Here were the three sequences he put up,

sequence: 3, 6, 12...
Next 3: 24, 48, 96
Rule: 3. 2^19

Sequence: 81, 27, 9...
Next 3: 3, 1, 1/3
Rule: 81. 1/3^19

Sequence: 4, -8, 16...
Next 3: -32, 64, -128
Rule: 4. -2^19

The first sequence we have 3, 6, and 12. The next three is 24, 48, and 96. You must be wondering how we got the answer. I know most of us just multiplied the number before the term we're figuring out by 2. That's right, but it's more difficult than that. There's a formula that would make your life easier when solving similar problems. To find the nth term in a geometric sequence is tn= t1(r)^(n-1)
And for the second sequence you notice that whatever the number is you divide by 3. So the common ratio is 1/3. In the third sequence the common ratio is multiply by -2.
We also put in new stuff in our math dictionaries. I can't believe that it's the last entry! This semester went by quite fast. What we put in our dictionaries were,

Geometric Sequences:
i) Recursive definition: an ordered list of numbers generated by continuously multiplying a given first term by a given value (common ratio).
ii) Implicit definition: an ordered list of numbers where each number in the list is generated by an exponential equation.

Common Ratio:
I) The number that is repeatedly multiplied to successive terms in the sequence.
ii) From the implicit definition r is the base of the exponential function.

To find the nth term of a geometric sequence:
tn= t1r^(n-1)

tn is the nth term
n is the rank of the nth term
t1 is the first term
r is the common ratio

And that's the end of our math dictionary... For now. Later on in life we'll have to make dictionaries for different subjects and maybe once again in grade 11. It's kind of sad when you think of it, well I'm kind of bummed. I like our math class. Yes, well after our dictionaries most of us worked on our Go for Gold! If you weren't working on Go for Gold we were assigned to do exercise 62, the whole thing. I guess this is my last time being scribe. For tomorrow, our scribe is...... madam Melissa V! Haha, see you all tomorrow!

Last pre-test blog.. T-T

Woww, last unit, end of course, zip, zilch, nada - no more! Can we say achievement? Some of you can but I know I can't just yet ... I'm not even sure if I'm going to pass this course so I might have to re-take it next semester .. =(

Anyways, this unit was fun. Who doesn't like learning more in-depth about what they already learned in like ... say grade 4? You know, even numbers, odd numbers ... patterns. That sort of stuff. We've all done this sort of thing before, just this time we went deeper into what it's ALL about. Arithmetic sequences and series, recursive and implicit definitions, differences and how to find it, finding the "nth" term, geometric sequences, sum of numbers in series and so on .. Basically what we need to know are the formulas, and what I've counted is that there are four of them. So yes I think it would be wise to maybe be able to recall the formula without looking in your math dictionary.

Ending this semester is kind of sad ..but relieving, but sad still that this whole frenzy is over ..but then again I might have to repeat this course so it's not all that relieving. =(

I loved being in this class =D You guys made it fun! and easy enough that I merely skimmed the passing mark for first term . . . . .

Well, wish you guys much luck in the future and stay positive :) SAY HI IN THE HALLWAYS! ^^

-- REMEMBER SYSIPHUS!

Why Should I Learn Math?

This is taken from an article (Math Will Rock Your World) from Business Week. A few snippets:

Y'wanna get a really interesting job working with people on lots of interesting things?

But just look at where the mathematicians are now. They're helping to map out advertising campaigns, they're changing the nature of research in newsrooms and in biology labs, and they're enabling marketers to forge new one-on-one relationships with customers. As this occurs, more of the economy falls into the realm of numbers. Says James R. Schatz, chief of the mathematics research group at the National Security Agency: "There has never been a better time to be a mathematician."

Learn math!

How'd ya like a six figure salary?

...new math grads land with six-figure salaries and rich stock deals. Tom Leighton, an entrepreneur and applied math professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says: "All of my students have standing offers at Yahoo! (YHOO) and Google (GOOG)."

Learn math.

D'ya wanna to work on the biggest most cutting edge issues of our day?

This mathematical modeling of humanity promises to be one of the great undertakings of the 21st century. It will grow in scope to include much of the physical world as mathematicians get their hands on new flows of data .... "We turn the world of content into math, and we turn you into math," says Howard Kaushansky, CEO of Boulder (Colo.)-based Umbria Inc., a company that uses math to analyze marketing trends online.

Learn math.

Y'wanna make one of the most significant contributions to the betterment of humanity?

"The next Jonas Salk will be a mathematician, not a doctor."

Learn math.

What are the implications for k-12 education?

Outfitting students with the right quantitative skills is a crucial test facing school boards and education ministries worldwide. This is especially true in America. The U.S. has long leaned on foreigners to provide math talent in universities and corporate research labs. Even in the post-September 11 world, where it is harder for foreigners to get student visas, an estimated half of the 20,000 math grad students now in the U.S. are foreign-born. A similar pattern holds for many other math-based professions, from computer science to engineering.

The challenge facing the U.S. now is twofold. On one hand, the country must breed more top-notch mathematicians at home, especially as foreigners find greater opportunities abroad. This will require revamping education, engaging more girls and ethnic minorities in math, and boosting the number of students who make it through calculus, the gateway for math-based disciplines. "It's critical to the future of our technological society," says Michael Sipser, head of the mathematics department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At the same time, school districts must cultivate greater math savvy among the broader population to prepare it for a business world in which numbers will pop up continuously. This may well involve extending the math curriculum to include more applied subjects such as statistics.

Learn more math!

"But I don't like math. Besides, I don't need it. I'm going into the humanities or business!"

As mathematicians expand their domain into the humanities, they're working with new data, much of it untested. "It's very possible for people to misplace faith in numbers," says Craig Silverstein, director of technology at Google. The antidote at Google and elsewhere is to put mathematicians on teams with specialists from other disciplines, including the social sciences.

Just as mathematicians need to grapple with human quirks and mysteries, managers and entrepreneurs must bone up on mathematics. Midcareer managers can delegate much of this work to their staffers. But they still must understand enough about math to question the assumptions behind the numbers. "Now it's easier for people to bamboozle someone by having analysis based on lots of data and graphs," says Paul C. Pfleiderer, a finance professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. "We have to train people in business to spot a bogus argument."

Ya gotta learn more math!

Yes, it's a magnificent time to know math.

'Nuff said.

Scribe Post!!!

Hey,

At the start of the class, we talked a bit about pi day and stuff. Then we did four problems on the board. Homework is exercise 63 skip numbers 8b and 19. That's it.

Just kidding!

Ok, at the start of the class,we talked a bit about pi day. It's going to be held on March 14, and the school is going to have some sort of a contest where we have to find a coin somewhere around the school grounds. To find it, you have to solve three or more puzzles and the clues will lead to where the coin can be found. It seems like an interesting activity, and I'd join, but I'm on the committee. Otherwise, Mr. K encourages us to join in the activity.

Then we solved four problems on the board:
1.)



a) For a), we were asked to find out what is the mass of ethanol when the volume of ethanol is 250 mL.
Answer: Well, as given in the table, the mass of the beaker without ethanol is 90 (grams?). For every 50 mL of ethanol, the mass of the beaker increases by 39 (grams?). So when the volume of ethanol is 250 mL, the mass of beaker with liquid is 285. Since the dry mass of the beaker is 90, we subtract 90 from 285, leaving us with 195 g of ethanol.

b)I can't remember what was the question for this one... I don't usually write the questions, which I know is irresponsible for my part, but I'll try to remember.. correct me if I'm wrong. We were asked to find out what is the mass of the ethanol when there is 200 mL of ethanol.
Answer: When there is 150 mL of ethanol, the mass of the beaker with ethanol is 207. Well we have to add another 50 mL of ethanol, and when we add 50 mL of ethanol, the mass of the beaker with liquid will increase by 39, so we add 39 to 207, which gives us 246. Then we take the dry masss of the beaker, which is 90, and subtract it from 246. It gives us 156 g of ethanol.

2.)


For this part, it involves a distance/time graph (surprise, surprise for all who are taking Science! We HAVEN'T done this before.. *sarcasm* haven't we had enough of these yet?)
The questions are:
a) Find the eq'n* of the line.
b) What's the slope?
c) What's the domain of the equation?
d) If t = 25, what's the distance?
e) If d = 850, what's the time?
f) If d = 1500, what's the time?

Answers:
a) d(t) = 10t
b) m = 10
c) x is greater than or equal to zero (x ≥ 0), or [0, ∞)
d) d = 250
e) t = 85
f) t = 150

3.) How many multiples of 5 are there starting from 15 to 450?
Sol:
450 = 5(n-1)+15
450 = 5n-5+15
450 = 5n+10
450-10 = 5n
440 = 5n
n = 88

So.. there are 88 multiples of 5 starting from 15 to 450.

4.) Once again, I don't quite remember the question. But I remember the general details. The 18th term is 262, common difference is 15. We need to find the first term and the 100th term in this sequence or series.
So, solving for the first term:
t₁₈ = 262
d = 15
Then;
t_n = t₁ + (n-1)d
262 = t₁ + (18-1)15
262 = t₁ + (17)15
262 = t₁ + 255
262-255 = t₁
7 = t₁

Solving for the 100^th term:
t_n = t₁ + (n-1)d
t₁₀₀ = 7 + (100-1)15
t₁₀₀ = 7 + (99)15
t₁₀₀ = 7 + 1485
t₁₀₀ = 1492

There you have it! That's pretty much everything about what we did in class.

And now, the scribe for tomorrow is.. *drumroll* Sith Lord Darth SAMUS! Haha I know how much you like Star Wars and Darth Vader.. see you later people!

Sunday Slither!

Thanks go out to Mrs. Armstrong for pointing to today's game from Think Again!.


The game, from Japan, is called Slither Link.

Rules of Slither Link


    1. Connect adjacent dots with vertical or horizontal lines.

    2. A single loop is formed with no crossing or branches.

    3. Each number indicates how many lines surround it, while empty cells may be surrounded by any number of lines.

Play here.

the SCRIBE POST for Jan.13,2006

Hello, I'm Sir Tim-Math-y, your scribe for today and by the way, you can call me Tim or Timmy for short.

Previous to today's class, maybe 15 minutes before class, Diyaa won in chess vs Mr. Kuropatwa? Goodjob.

During todays class, we started off by going over two questions from last night's homework - exercise #60. We looked over questions 1.a) and 2.

1. a.) Find the sum of the arithmetic sequence: 2,5,8,11, ... to 25 terms.

We used the following equation:
Sn = n/2[2t1+(n-1)d]
S25 = 25/2[2(2)+(24-1)3]
S25 = 25/2[76]
S25 = 950

2. Find the sum: 4+7+10+ ... +73

By utilizing the recursive equation "tn = t1+(n-1)d" we found that we could replace 73 with tn to find the unknown "n". (There was also another way that Kim mentioned that you could also use but I'll try to keep this as simple as possible)
73 = 4+(n-1)3
73 = 4+3n-3
73 = 3n+1
72 = 3n
24 = n

Now by using the now known value of "n", we used the equation that finds the sum of numbers in a sequence.
Sn = n/2[2t1+(n-1)d]
S24 = 24/2[2(4)+(24-1)3]
S24 = 12[77]
S24 = 924

After we were finished quickly answering some uncertainties, we added more to our Math Dictionaries. If you weren't here to get this, I will put it up on the blog so that you can.. stretches fingers**.

TO FIND THE Nth TERM IN AN ARITHMETIC SEQUENCE
tn = t1+(n-1)d
tn is the nth term
t1 is the 1st term
n is the rank of the nth term in the sequence
d is the common difference

EXAMPLE: Find the 51st term in the sequence: 11,5,-1,-7, ...

t1 = 11
d = 5-11
= -6
n = 51

t51 = 11+(51-1)(-6)
t51 = 11+50(-6)
t51 = 11-300
t51 = -289

ARITHMETIC SERIES
The sum of numbers in an arithmetic series is given by:
Sn = n/2[2t1+(n-1)d]
Sn is the sum of the nth term in the sequence
n is the rank of the nth term
t1 is the 1st term
d is the common difference

EXAMPLE: Find the sum to the 30th term in the sequence:
11,5,-1,-7, ...

t1 = 11
d = 5-11
= -6

S30 = 30/2[2(11)+(30-1)(-6)]
S30 = 15[22+(29)(-6)]
S30 = 15[22-174]
S30 = -2280

This is all that will go into your dictionary for today only. Mr. K said that there will be more that will come in time.

After we were done with our math dictionaries, we did some practice questions. Unfortunately, I only have the answer to the first question so that will be the one on the blog.

1.) Joe bought a painting for $1800. After 7 years, the artist became world famous and the painting sold for $14000. If the value of the painting appreciates arithmetically, determine the amount of appreciation and the value of the painting 28 years after it was 1st purchased.

This is the arithmetic sequence: $1800,$14000,_______,_______,_______
The last blank in the sequence (term5) is what we are trying to find. We do so by using the recursive formula.

tn = t1+(n-1)d
t5 = 1800+(5-1)12200
t5 = 1800+48800
t5 = 50600

In 28 years, the painting will cost $50600 (that's alot of money)

That is basically all we did today.

Advice of the Day:
"To study for the exam, you can rewrite your math dictionary using your senses (read it out loud so that you can hear what you are writing). It has helped many in the past." - Mr. Kuropatwa

Projects and our Last Test:
Mr. K says that we will get our projects back on monday and the test, he says we will get back sometime next week.

Upcoming Unit Test:
Our last unit on Sequences and Series is coming to an end and waiting for us will be the unit test! I believe that Mr. K said that our unit test may be sometime next week so good luck with that.

Homework for the Weekend:
Home work for the weekend is ALL of exercise #61 I think. Also, you should do some of the "Go for Gold" assignment to reduce the work during the following week.. I guess I could've put it under advice too! :D

Scribe:
Grr.. Master Jian, me and Jojo didn't plan on making a website on Bestbuy because making a website for your Restaurant (Hong Hing on Ellice :) ) would be much more cool and it's much easier!
Sooo.... Monday's Scribe will be... Commander "John D. - #12" for no reason at all.. hehe.

Well that's the end of my Scribe post, have a great WEEKEND!!! ... I hope I didn't forget anything..

About Podcasting

First you need to have a mic and speakers for your computer.

Next you need some software to record the audio. I like Audacity for two reasons:
(1) It's free.
(2) It will work on ANY computer; mac, pc, linux, you name it.

Now you'll want to know how to use Audacity. Watch this screencast to learn how.

When you create your podcast you'll want to "export" the file as an mp3 file. To do that you need a little "LAME" (free) file that will allow Audacity to create the mp3 file.

(click on the image)

(The links above don't work. Type them into your browser and they will.)

Guidelines for Producing a Podcast
(1) Plan it out. Don't say, "uh...um..."



(2) Keep it short and to the point. The shorter it is the more other people will listen to it. You will LOVE listening to yourself for hours, others will feel differently about it. 5 minutes or less is good for a start. If you want to do something longer plan, Plan, PLAN and keep it engaging!

(3) When you're finished recording, play it back, listen to it, edit out the parts you don't like. If you want to use music, as an introduction, at the end or to create ambience, you CANNOT use commercial songs. The best solution is to record a song you made up on the guitar, piano or whatever instrument you or a friend play. Talk to me about this if you're not sure what I mean BEFORE you publish your podcast to the blog.

(4) If you talk about any information that can be found on websites, leave a list of links to those sites in "The Shownotes" for your podcast. (i.e. post the links list on the blog post that you publish your podcast on.)

(5) A step-by-step guide to creating podcasts can be found here.

Have Fun With This!

dont work out. scribe (this is not how i want it to look, is different from ms word)

Before we beginning, just let you know:
t1 means 1st Term, t2 means 2nd Term, t3 means 3rd Term, tn means next Term
tn = # + #(n-1)
t1 = #
tn = t(n-1) + #
# = the difference between 2 numbers
# = The first term number
Today’s class we have do the following questions:

1. Write a Recursive formula for each sequence.

a. 7,14,21,25.… Answer: tn = 7 + 7(n-1)
OR,
t1 = 7,
tn = t(n-1) + 7


b. 12,8,4,0,….. Answer: tn = 12-4(n-1)
OR,
t1 = 12,
tn = t(n-1) - 4


2. Write the 1st. 4 tearm of each sequence


a. t1 = 4
tn = t(n-1) - 3

Answer: 4, 1, -2, -5
t1, t2 , t3, t4
to get the answer we need to
subtract 3 form the last term
we know 4 is the first term already
because it say in the beginning of
the question t1 = 4, now to get the
next term we substract 3 the get the
Next term and so on.

b. t1 = -6
tn = t(n-1) + 5

Answer: -6, -1, 4, 9
3. Find a formula for an arithmetic sequence whose common difference is 5 and whose second term is 12.

Answer: tn = 5(n-1) + 7
OR
t1 = 7
tn = t(n-1) + 5

to find the answer we first need to find the
first term and to do that we will:
___, 12
^
5
12 - 5 = 7 and that is how we do it
4. Show that sq. rt. 2, sq. rt. 8, sq. rt. 18.…. is an arithmetic sequence.

First we simplify all the sq. rt.

Answer: sq. rt. 2, 2sq. rt. 2, 3sq. rt. 2 so the common difference is sq. rt. 2


5. Insert one number between 7 and 13 to make an arithmetic sequence

7, _____, 13
^ ^
d d
We use the last term subtract the first term 13 - 7 = 6 then divide 6 into 2 difference 6/2 = 3 so now we use 7 + 3 = 10

Answer: 7, 10, 13

6. Complete this arithmetic sequence.

16, ___, ____, 25, ___

We use the same solution as question 5
25 - 16 = 9 from 16 to 25 there is 3 difference so we divide 9 by 3 which equals 3.

Answer: 16, 19, 22, 25, 28

and this is about it, for the last 15 mins of class i dont know how to spell and write
it in blog so i can help you guys and girl. sry.

HW is exercise 60
tomarrow's scribe will be SIR. TIM math y for not making a web page on best buy.
thank you and good bye

good luck on the unit test whenever that is, and good luck on the exam, and o yeah, good luck
on your grade 11 math exam next term. bye.
one more thing, good luck on your grade 12 math exam next year. bye now for really
one more thing, good luck on your year of first year of university math exam. good bye for sure
one more thing, marry christmas and a happy new year. good bye now . for really real.

Blogging and Me

I'm today's scribe. Just because I didn't let her borrow my AAA battery for her mp3 player :\

Today's class was very interesting. Right off the bat we got our math exam assignment that read "Go For Gold" on the front. It also read "You must get 100% on this exam" which scared me. Who wouldn't be scared if you couldn't even get 99.99% on it. Besides getting the assignment everything went smoothly.

We wrote into out dictionary about sequences and series. Basically a sequence is an ordered list of numbers that follow a certain pattern or rule. For example: when giving the sequence 7,11,15... you will notice that the numbers are being increased by the same value which for this is 4. Each number has its own rank, 7 being term 1. There was a big long discussion or argument if you can use term 0 as the first term. We could find term 0 but would it be the same. I don't want to get deeper into this as I could ask the same questions infinitely. If you wanted to find the 50th term of this sequence and your too lazy like me to start writing all the terms, you can use the rule and write it as an equation to make your life easier. The equation here is 4(50-1)+7 or 4(49)+7. 4 being the common difference of the sequence. 49 being how many times you need to add 4 and 7 being the first term which you have to add after multiplying. By doing the math the 50th term is 203.

A series is the SUM of numbers in a sequence to a particular term in the sequence. The series for 7,11,15... Would be 7,7+11,7+11+15... And you get 7,18,33... Now you have a new sequence and you can also get a new series. This goes on infinitely if you haven't catched on yet.

We also learned a bit on how to tell if a sequence is Arithmetic or not. Simply by figuring out the common difference (d=tn - t(n-1)) will determine if its Arithmetic or not. If the common difference is the same throughout each number its Arithmetic. If the number is different each time you have something else known as umm... Ask John he'll know.

Scribe tomorrow is Master Jian Lee. Happy Birthday Janet. I remembered your birthday but of all things, I forgot to say it :(

Sequences

Well i'm the scribe for today... and I didn't know till I checked this today. :/ I am very sorry if this scribe post isn't all that great today.

Well today we start the class with doing the problems on the whiteboard.
We started to do these...
1, 2, 4, 8, _, _, _, _
1, 6, 11, 16, _, _, _, _
1, 4, 9, 16, _, _, _, _
3, 6, 5, 10, 9, 18, _, _, _, _
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, _, _, _, _
77, 4, 36, 18, _, _, _, _
12, 6, 3, _, _, _, _
and we had to find the next four numbers.

Here are the answers...

1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 We just double each number. This is called geometric sequence or another way is 1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22 This is called sum of consecutive numbers.

1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, 31, 36 In this problem we added five. This is called a arimethic sequence.

1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64
+3, +5, +7, +9, +11, +13, +15

3, 6, 5, 10, 9, 18, 17, 34, 33, 66
3, -1, 5, -1, 9, -1,

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89

Mr. K talked alot about this one a lot. This one is the fibonacci It's written in the Davinci Code. It's written in our bodies, it determines how our body is built
He also talked about bees. A female bee has two parents a male and a female, but a male bee has one parent just a female.

77, 49, 36, 18, 8, 0, 0, 0 or 77, 49, 36, 18, 8, 8, 8, 8
In this one we multiplied the two digits of the last number to get the number. But when we get to a one digit number we just write the rest of the numbers as 0 or 8.

12, 6, 3, 3/2, 3/4, 3/8, 3/16
This sequence you multiply by 1/2



We then focused on one sequence. 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, 31, 36. The arthimetic sequence. In this one we added five to get the next number.

Then Mr.K asked us to find the 1001 place in the sequence. We all thought it was hard. And then he showed us this way. He told us to find the number if the place was Zero.

We then did these set of number and we had to find the 1001 number in the sequence.

That is all we did for the shortned class. I hope I got all of it, if I didn't PLEASE tell me =). thanks. Okay well... Homework is all of exercise 58.
The scriber for tomorrow is.... JOJO! because he didn't let me borrow his AAA battery. See, if you just let me borrow it, I would've been nicer to you.

Scribe for Today!!

Hey students of pre-cal 20s. I'm sorry that my post is a little late. Well today's class started off with Mr K. telling us that all the gr.10 math students are going to be getting an old math exam. We are going to have a minimum of a week to finish, but there are some ground rules.

1. Can't ask for outside help.
2. Can't talk to other students about it.

You can however ask Mr. k for help is always willing. This is will be worth 5% of our final math mark and everyone should be able to get 100% on it!!

Well now to start off with the main work we were doing today. The first question was:

Simple interest is proportional to (varies directly with) the amount borrowed. If the interest is $5 for $100 borrowed, what would the interest be for $325 borrowed.
-create a table of values for 4 different amounts
-graph the relation ( I don't know how to make a graph sorry)
-write an equation for the relation

-Table of values
Amount Interest
100 5
150 7.50
285 14.25
400 20
0 0 <--- origin


-Write an equation for the realtion

I(a)= 1/20a

This question is an example of a Direct Variation Relation, which means that the y-intercept is always zero.


A Jet skirental company charges a fixed insurance premium plus an hourly rate. The total cost for two hours is $50 and for five hours is $110.
-sketch a graph (sorry again I'll try to firgure out for next time)
-what is the hourly rate
-how much is the insurance premium?
-write an equation for this realtion.

-what is the hourly rate
You can find this out by finding the slope.
(110-50)/(5-2)
= 60/3
=20

-how much is the insurance premium?
Find this by doing point slope form.
y-y1=m(x-x1)
y-50=20(x-2)
y-50=20x-40
y=20x+10

-write an equation for this relation.
A(h)=20h+10


This question is an example of Partial Variation Relation A.K.A Indirect Variation Relation. This means that the y-intercept is anything but zero.



Well that's all for me, and tonight's homework is Exercise #57 everything! Tomorrow's scribe is--------->stePhANIE

Just For Fun (or Getting Ready to Think Again!)

I found this "test" over at Teaching and Developing Online. Try it out .... just for fun. ;-)

Below are four (4) questions and a bonus question. You have to answer them instantly. You can't take your time, answer all of them immediately.

OK?

Let's find out just how clever you really are. No looking at the answers in advance.

Ready? GO!!! (scroll down)

First Question:

You are participating in a race. You overtake the second person.

What position are you in?

Answer:If you answered that you are first, then you are absolutely wrong!


If you overtake the second person and you take his place, you are second!

Try not to mess up in the next question.


To answer the second question, don't take as much time as you took for the first question.

Second Question:

If you overtake the last person, then you are...?

Answer:If you answered that you are second to last, then you are wrong again. Tell me, how can you overtake the LAST Person?

You're not very good at this! Are you?

Third Question:

Very tricky math! Note: This must be done in your head only.

Do NOT use paper and pencil or a calculator. Try it.

Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add 30.
Add another 1000. Now add 20. Now add another 1000 Now add 10.

What is the total?

Scroll down for answer.

Did you get 5000?


The correct answer is actually 4100.


Don't believe it? Check with your calculator!

Today is definitely not your day.

Maybe you will get the last question right?

Fourth Question:

Mary's father has five daughters: 1. Nana, 2. Nene, 3. Nini, 4. Nono.
What is the name of the fifth daughter?

Answer:Nunu?

NO! Of course not.

Her name is Mary!

Read the question again.

Okay, now the bonus round:

There is a mute person who wants to buy a toothbrush. By imitating the action of brushing one's teeth he successfully expresses himself to the shopkeeper and the purchase is done.


Now if there is a blind man who wishes to buy a pair of sunglasses, how should he express himself?

He just has to open his mouth and ask, so simple.

So simple it is ... ;-)