Math: The Statement and the Contrapositive
For a few years, this topic fell from view. As a math tutor, I’m glad to see it back. To a person studying logic, the statement “p implies q” also means “if p, then q”. It can also be written …
Month: March 2013
Math: the meaning of a negative exponent
As a math tutor, you’ll need to remind students about this exponent law. Most exponent laws people find pretty straightforward. I’ll likely cover them in a future post. However, this particular one deserves its own; most people just don’t like …
Math: Evens and Odds
What’s the difference between evens and odds? When you’re a math tutor, you might need more than the obvious answer. Everyone knows that 0, 2, 4, 6….are even, whereas 1, 3, 5, 7, 9….are odd. Negative numbers can also be …
Math: Fun with Calories
Tutoring math, you’re often asked about real-world uses of it. Here’s an application we might all find useful now and again. Recently it occurred to me to look up the calorie density of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. My reasoning was …
Calculator tips: Entering scientific notation
Entering scientific notation on calculators is an important consideration. When you tutor high school sciences, you’ll want to mention it. If you’re a new arrival, you might want to read my previous post on scientific notation. Assuming you’re good with …
Scientific Notation
Tutoring physics or chemistry, you need to explain scientific notation. Scientific notation is very easy to use; it was designed to be. To start with, we need to realize the “everyday” way we write numbers is called “float” (aka “normal”). …