Math 10 top 5 ways to be successful in this course.

1. Complete your homework. It is crazy how much more prepared for your test you can be if you spend 20 minutes each night completing your homework. I found that with repetition of doing multiple different types of questions, I was ready for anything on the test.
2. Spend quality time writing your blog posts. Whenever I did my blog posts, I wrote them for my future self. I wrote them in a way that I would understand and I focused on explaining big concepts that I would need again for a final or mid-term.
3. Always complete practice tests. It is good practice for the real test and practice tests don’t take a lot of time. They are usually the same length as a normal lesson.
4. Use process of elimination on tests. On Unit tests, there is always a multiple choice section and a written section. For the multiple choice section, you can usually eliminate 1 or 2 answers. By crossing them off, it makes it a lot easier to focus on having 2 or 3 possibilities rather than 4.
5. Organize your notes. When studying for a big test such as a final or mid-term, it is always easier to look back on neat, well organized notes especially if you organized them by unit.

This week we learned how to do substitution and elimination. My favourite strategy is elimination. Both substitution and elimination are used to find the point of intersection in 2 equations.

Ex.  8x-3y=6

6x+12y=-24

The first think you do is make zero pairs. We can multiply 8x, -3y and 6 by 4 to create a zero pair so that -3y equals -12y. -12y and +12y equals 0.

Now our equation is simplified to 32x=24 and 6x=-24. We will now add these equations together to equal 38x=0. We want to isolate x so we will divide 38/38 and 0/38. x=0.

To find y, we will put a 0 wherever there is a x in the original equation and isolate to find y. 8(0)-3y=6. -3y=6 and then, y=-2.

One concept I found challenging this week was changing an equation into general form. There is a lot of rearranging involved.

Ex. 2/3x – 7=1/2y

There are a few rules for general form. The format for the form is Ax+By+C=0. All of the input numbers have to be integers and the A number has to be a positive.

The first thing we are going to do is find the common denominator for 1/2 and 2/3 in order to change the fractions into integers. This number is 6. We will multiply all of the numbers by 6. 1/2, 2/3 and -7  will then become 6/2, 12/3 and -42. The fractions can be simplified into 3 and 4 when divided. The new expression is now 4x-42=3y.

Now that all the numbers are integers and A (x value) is positive, we have to rearrange the equation from point slope form into general form.

We will put 0 on the right side because, whenever a value moves from one side to another, it changes from positive to negative or vice-versa and our   A value is already positive on the right side so, we don’t want to change that.

4x-3y-42=0 is our final equation. As you can see, the 3y turned negative because it got switched from the right side to the left side.

Above, I have my initials. This is what I will be using to find my expressions.

These are my coordinates for the “W.”

These are the coordinates for my “S”

Here are all my equations that I used to connect the dots. The colour on the left hand side of the equations match the colour of the lines. I used slop y-intercept form.

This week we learned how to find the slope of 2 coordinates. We are trying to find rise over run (rise/run) which is slope.

Ex. (-2,-2)(-12,6)

x is the right number in the bracket and y is the left number in the bracket.

Rise=y and Run=x so, we want to find rise first because it is on top.

Rise is -2-6=-8

Run is -2-(-12)/ -2 +12= 10

The answer is  -8/10 or -4/5

This week, we did a lot of preparing on the test and today, I took the test. One word that popped up frequently on the test was “Functions.” I wanted to make this weeks post about the definition of functions because, although it is very simple, when studying for the final exam, I want to be able to look at this post and remember this key word. The word function means to have only one partner or only having one input and one output. This is usually written as f(x) where x is represented as the input.

Ex. f(2)

f(x)=2x+5

f(2)=2(2)+5

f(2)=4+5

f(2)=9

This is an example of a function because, there was only one input (2) and one output (9.)

This week, we learned how to write coordinates just from looking at a graph and its points.

For finding what coordinates go with the red dot, we have to first look at the x (horizontal) axis. From the fact that the dot is on the upper right corner, we know that the coordinates are going to be positive.  The x coordinate is 3. This is because the red dot lines up with 3 on the horizontal line. To find the Y coordinates, you need to look at the vertical line. The y coordinate is also 3 because the red dot lines up with 3 on the vertical lines. When writing down the coordinates, you always put x before y (x,y.) The coordinate for the red dot on this graph is (3,3.)

For week 11, we mostly did preparation for the midterm and studying. I tried a lot of practice tests and I worked on my prime factorization because this concept is used through most of the chapters that are included in the midterm. When factoring, you take a number (ex.48.) You then, keep dividing the number until you get a factoring tree and all you have left is prime numbers (which you can’t divide anymore.)