Tutoring math, simplifying radicals constitutes one of the most difficult topics for high school students. The math tutor offers a step-by-step approach which continues here. In my previous post, I mentioned how simplifying the square root of a variable to …
Simplifying radicals: variables with coefficients Read more »
Tutoring math, you need to explain this every semester. The math tutor draws the distinction between handling the numbers and the variables. Looking back to my earlier post on radicals, you’ll get the basic idea. Just for a quick review, …
Tutoring math, you don’t see this very often these days. The math tutor recalls learning it in Math 12. Let’s imagine you have 32.65 degrees. In the “old days”, it might have been stated as 32 degrees, 39 minutes. It …
Math: measuring angles: degrees, minutes, and seconds Read more »
Tutoring math, you notice the various calculators in use. The math tutor reveals a couple of important differences among them. When I was in high school, I used a Texas Instruments scientific calculator. What model it was I don’t know, …
Tutoring math, you’ll become aware of the fraction button. As a math tutor, I don’t recommend using it. Nonetheless, people commonly do…. Looking at a scientific calculator, you’ll likely see a button that looks like this: ab⁄c. It’s the fraction …
Tutoring math, these definitions don’t come up often enough. The math tutor offers this brief read on them. A factor of a number divides into it with no remainder. For example, 5 is a factor of 15; 7 is a …
Tutoring math, this is an interesting concept. Its common application is in computer science. You might have seen numbers like c6 or e9. Depending on the context, these may be hexadecimal (aka hex) numbers. The hexadecimal system is base 16. …
Tutoring math, you rarely hear of this now. For computer science students, the math tutor gives a five-minute read on it. In everyday life, the number system we use is base ten. The number 4062 means 4×1000 + 0x100 + …
As a math tutor, you notice these little surprises about everyday things. We all know that, with a circle, Area=Πr2. Years ago, I worked in a pizza place. A small was 10″ (diameter), while a large was 14″. Let’s compare …
Tutoring math, interest and inflation do come up, though not often enough. To all my financial readers: hang on to your hats! When I earlier talked about inflation and interest here, I mentioned the rule of thumb that, generally, interest hovers around …