Homework Help

How do you find the horizontal asymptote when the power of the numerator is greater than the denominator? (#37)

B.O.B

This unit was came easier for me and I feel like I understood the material much better than in the past units. I'm really proud of myself for doing so much better on this most recent test compared to the others and I plan on doing even better on the next if everything works out in my favor. My favorite part of this unit was the long division despite how long it took to complete each problem. I wish I could have done the extra credit on the test because after Jackson started explaining it to me, it all made sense how to do it. During this unit I learned that it is really important to get the worksheets done the night they are given even though you have until the end of the unit to do them; they just keep piling up and the unit before this one I had a few worksheet of things I didn't understand and it was the night before it was due/the test so I was stressing out big time. If I really buckle down and get the work done I learn much better than doing only a few problems at a time because I forget how to do them almost and have to go back and look at my notes and notes won't help me any on the test. I am still struggling a little with the difference of squares, sum of cubes, and difference of cubes so I need more practice with those. This unit was kind of my eureka moment because I feel I truly understand what we were doing and was unsure whether it would happen in this class since up until this point I had been really struggling. On the review for this test, I was able to complete the complete the square problem with no struggles but when I got to the test I went totally blank but eventually I remembered and so every time I do a completing the square problem I think I'll remember that moment and be able to do it successfully. All in all, I liked this unit much better than the others and hope I do even better on future tests.

This unit went much better then the last two. I kept up on all of my homework and it showed in my test grade. I picked up on the long division once i realized i was just over thinking it. After that it just took alot of repetitive problem solving to get all of the steps right. I think what this unit tought me most was to not overthink the work even if it involves many steps or looks challenging.

Difficulty with life

           My last few weeks have been a struggle.  With trying to get caught up on missed homework in almost all of my classes and with leagues coming up on Friday and Saturday, I suppose there is no real excuse for my getting behind on work.  My one big improvement that I have noticed in another class is that in Kato’s Digital Media class I have started to be more assertive as a director.  The position puts a lot of stress on me and while I am still struggling to make the big decisions of what to do what day and what to do when something goes wrong, I have seen a noticeable change in my confidence.

-Zoe

Chatting with BOB

Cole: Hey Bob this was a great unit. I had a very easy time understanding the content. Thanks for understanding me so well.

BOB: Hey no problem! It's just what I do. What was your favorite part of this unit?

C: Hmmm... there were so many awesome things we learned, but I'd have to say that dividing functions by other functions I particularly excelled at.

B: Haha yah that is one of my favorite parts of the unit too! Is there anything you struggled with?

C: Well when we first learned about completing the square I had issues. But that soon passed when I learned that you have to put the "c" value on the other side of the equal sign as the rest of the equation.

B: I'm glad you learned something this unit and I hope you enjoy the next one!

C: Thanks and I hope so too!

BOBBBBBYYY BOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYY

So, this unit kinda freaked me out.  At the beginning when Mr. Jackson had us watch the video on Long Division, I wanted to crawl in a hole and eat a lot of Twizzlers.  But, as I walked in to class on Monday, my whole sight was changed.  I was making things more complicated then they had to be.  After we got done with the discussion about long division, I actually went home and printed off the extra worksheets.  Many students were still confused about this whole long division thing.  In my mind, it's because they didn't get enough practice.  Many complain about the work, but when you write something down multiple times, you remember much easier than just doing the bare minimum that is given.  Because when you go above and beyond, you learn more.  In doing the extra work, I learned quicker and easier and scored a whopping 99% on the test which I couldn't be more proud of!


If you take shortcuts, you get cut short. Gary Busey 


-Abby Mellon

BOB Polynomials

  When you first gave us the pre test at the beginning of the unit and I saw the long division problem I wrote NO in huge bold letters because I thought I was looking at the end of the world.  Then we started the unit and it came to long division and I thought to myself "oh god not this" but when you explained it I t was actually rather easy.  Then when you explained number 15 in class last Friday everyone was saying it was like the end of the world and I thought it was going to be like the pre test all over again, but once again it was rather easy.

Sincerely,
Dragon a.k.a. Andrew

B.O.B

           I would have to say that this unit proved to much easier then I first believed it would be. I guess after the immense struggle I faced in the first unit I have quickly learned to be have better more efficient studying and organizational skills. However, just because it was easier doesn't mean that I didn't have a few problems here and there. My biggest struggle came once again with factoring. I don't know why, but for some reason, when I start to factor out any type of polynomial I always draw a blank. So, as usual I asked for help. I asked another teacher for advise and and it clicked. Mr. Jackson you gave us everything we needed to know how to factor, but I was having a difficulty learning from the way you taught it. When I asked, the teacher taught me how to do it the same way you did, and she even refereed me back to that little purple factoring sheet the you gave us. I memorized that sheet to study for the test and help me with factoring in the future. With help, I was able to knock out yet another road block that stood in my way in this class. On the other hand, I also enjoyed many different things about this unit. I had fun with the graphing part of this unit. It may be because it was the easiest part, but I also think it was because it was the most hands on work we did. Drawing the graph seemed like a break from all the complicated numbers and factoring.
           Wrapping up this unit, I would have to say that I am happy with where I'm at. I brought me grade up immensely after the first test and I'm enjoying the class a bit more. I think you are too Mr. Jackson. You don't look as stressed and you seem to like the fact that everyone is preforming much better on their test and quizzes. I would like to apologize for missing Thursday, and not being able to immediately make up the test.
                   Thank you
                         Corbin    

B.O.B.

Going into this unit, I wasn’t so sure about it.  Though my graphing skills have improved a lot because of this class, I still worried that I would draw them incorrectly.  On the pre-test, I had no idea what I was doing.  Then, on the first quiz, I became so sure that I had drawn one of the graphs wrong immediately after I turned it in.  I seriously spent the rest of my day trying to picture that graph, as if that would fix anything.  When I got the quiz back, I was so relieved that I hadn’t actually drawn the graph incorrectly.  Still, that experience demonstrates my initial (lack of) confidence in graphing polynomials. 

            As the unit went on, though, my confidence increased.  Just like I had in the previous units, I began to easily understand how to graph.  This unit was very useful to me.  It really increased my understanding of factoring and I enjoyed using long division and factoring by grouping.  I feel like I have learned so much in this class, and have accomplished a lot. 

                At the beginning of this school year, I thought this class, along with all of my other classes, would be impossible.  Whenever I’m stressed out, I try to think about how much I’ve learned in this class.  Every journey is going to have obstacles.  Everyone is going to fall down somewhere, at some point.  There are going to be times when nothing really seems to make sense and you feel like you’re standing still.  There are going to be times when you feel like you are only moving backwards.  But it’s never too late to get to your destination. You haven’t lost yet.  Even if the class is over and the assignments are graded and the honor roll has been released and you’ve received your report card in the mail that isn’t as perfect as your previous one…

It’s never too late to understand.  It’s never too late to succeed.     

- Paige      

B.O.B.

This particular submission is going to be the opposite of my "Muddiest Point."  I felt very comfortable with this unit.  My favorite thing to do in this unit would either be long division or grouping- I found both to be incredibly easy.  The strange thing is, when we first started, I was deathly afraid that I would do horrible.  At a first glance, this unit looked quite menacing, but when it was explained in class, I thought, "Wow, this won't be so bad."  I finished our first assignment in class, and was quite happy that I understood it so quickly and clearly.  Thank you, Mr. Jackson, for giving us such a "nice" unit!

-Jacob Evenson

                               [insert quote here*]



*I couldn't find one this time.

B.O.B.-Polynomials Overview

Once again, I really enjoyed the material that we learned throughout the polynomials unit.  I liked learning all of the different types of factoring and I really liked learning about dividing polynomials.  My favorite kinds of problems were the factoring by grouping, and the division problems that required plugging solutions into the quotient several times in order to find the rest of the solutions.

 

I also really enjoyed graphing polynomials.  For some reason, I have always liked learning about graphs and studying how they behave.  Besides math, one of my favorite subjects is science and usually when analyzing data in science classes, we create graphs and look at their behaviors.  In this unit, I enjoyed making graphs when given an equation and I also really liked when we took a graph and wrote our own polynomial equations.

Overall, I enjoyed the polynomials unit and I am looking forward to learning about rational functions and even learning how to graph them!

"Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow." -Anthony J. D'Angelo 

~Libbey

5th hour

polynomial

              my worst part in this unit was when we did the domain and graphing for high powered polynomials.what i didn't get was how to get the x= and i got part of it it was just finding the domain for the equations that you gave us. when we first started i didn't get how to factor but in the end i finally figured out the easy way to factor each equation.

                                                                     by Alix

B.O.B. Unit Three

I never know how to start these blog posts, but I always seem to get through them. Anyways I remember taking the pretest on Polynomials and thinking "Oh my word!" Never thought I would get through it. Then I happened to get sick, and missed a day of the class. I happened to miss the divinding of polynomials. It had to be the worst day to miss. Between asking a few questions and filling out the notes, I figured out how to do it. It ended up not being that hard. Once I figured long division of polynomials the rest was a breeze. Well except the end-behavior. I knew it had to do with the direction of the arrows but I did not know how to write it down or explain it. When I checked my review with the answer key I understood how to explain it and write it out.

                                                                                                                           Carlie S.

B.O.B

I know that this is late, but I'll still give it a shot.

This unit, I thought that I had most everything figured out. I thought that I knew what I was doing pretty much 100% of the time, and I didn't really have to question anything. I was wrong. Because of my job shadow for Career and College Development, I ended up missing everything on the difference of squares, sum of squares, and the dreaded difference of cubes. I jumped right into though, knocking it back and thinking that I had it figured out. But the lack of practice( I didn't do my packet all the way) led me to turmoil. I was very, inefficient to say the least. I didn't know when or how to use the formulas, which gave me an incredible on the test when it came to factoring. My struggle did in fact give me the lowest test grade so far, which kind of smacked me across the face. I now realize the importance of doing your homework, not missing school, paying attention in class, and studying the material learned because it will prove quiet difficult if you miss anything, and I mean anything.


Branden Stetler

Third B.O.B

I have to say part of this unit was my muddiest point.  Actually it was all fine and dandy until the test came along. I got done with the first page thinking it would be a breeze until I came upon the graphs. Thoughtout that unit I had understood the factoring part but then we had to graph the unreal solutions.  This definitely confused me because I didn't remember it from any of the worksheets or discussions.   Though after help from my friend Emma and google I started to understand what to do next time this problem appears on the test or exam.

B.O.B.-Katelynn

In this unit I really enjoyed the long division of polynomials. I found it easy to understand and kind of (I can't believe I'm admitting this) fun. I hadn't used long division since elementary school and I liked how I was able to recall that information and use it in a new way. I was even able to divide with a quadratic. It seems like the units have been getting easier and easier, and I feel really good about this class. I know it is preparing me for AP Calc and I've been learning a lot.

"Don't dream it, be it"-Rocky Horror Picture Show

Katelynn

Polynomials B.O.B.

The polynomials unit was very easy for me and I understood almost all of the concepts we learned right away.  This came as a huge relief to me because I was starting to wonder if that would ever happen in this class.  This may sound sort of sad, but this unit was a very good self-esteem raiser in this class.  Also, I was glad for this unit because of the long division.  I had sort of forgotten how to do long division, so I’m glad that we used it again.  However, I will admit I got nervous when I found out that this unit was about graphing.  Graphing has never really been my strong suit, but it was actually easy in this unit, so I appreciated that!

Quadratics B.O.B.

I was gone for almost the entire time this unit was taught so naturally, I felt that this unit was a little challenging.   However, I managed to do very good on the test.  I feel like I did because I worked very hard to catch back up but took my time in order to figure concepts out.  For some reason, no matter what they are about, I always had trouble with the farmer Ted Problems.  I don’t know what he has against me, but I never understood them.  I realized that the reason I had so much problem with them is because I kept forgetting what the variables stood for.  With this unit, this was a major difficulty because there was no way I could do the problems without understanding what the numbers meant.  Once I finally figured out what the numbers stood for in the problem, I had not troubles with completing it. 

Erin

Yet another Bob

Yet again, another unit that I actually knew what was going on! But I did have a fear when a domain worksheet got passed down our row...not again. I don't know what it was with this unit or the fact that something finally clicked inside my head from the first unit, but I got it! Where it came from I have no clue, or do I care, because I can do the domain of a function under a radical! The whole earth should stop now and have all the news channels with a breaking news alert flying across the bottom of television screens everywhere! Now if I could just have this happen in AP Stats.

“Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”~Albus Dumbledore

BOB

When I was little I kind of missed out on the idea of long division. Between switching schools and having been a lunch worker (we missed 25 minutes of math everyday) something just got skipped with me and I never learned. Sure I could divide, but that had all been just using basic mental math or looking for groupings of numbers. I could figure out how to divide a "big number" but it might take me a little longer or I would end up just using a calculator. I knew enough to get by but I didn't really know how to do it. So coming into this unit and seeing "Long Division of Polynomials" assigned as homework I panicked a little bit, never knowing exactly what it was that I would be asked to do. Oddly enough, after watching the video from Khan Academy on long division of polynomials it all made sense. So even though I didn't necessarily have a muddiest point in this unit, this concept helped me to clear up a muddier point from earlier in my math learning.

~Callie

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real? " ~J.K. Rowling, "King's Cross," Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Today's Notes on Rational Functions

Rational Functions from Steven Jackson

B.O.B. (Moment of Clarity)

Early in the unit, before the headaches of long division, I had a sudden moment of clarity. We were given class time to work upon graphing polynomials by looking at the equation. Once I finished the first side of the page, I compared my answers to the guy next to me, David. About 3/4 of our graphs were opposites, and with him assuring me his were right, I had to go back and check. It was then I decided to look upon the page "simple polynomials-The "nth" time you've seen this". After studying this guide, I then then went back and finished the whole paper, and checked with my friend. Ours were 100% the same So I had a moment of clarity not only with how to solve this type of problem, but also on studying the notes. Believe it or not, they do help. I guess Jackson kind of does know what he is doing.

“Here's the mini-cherry on top of the regular cherry on top of the sundae of awesomeness that is my life.”

-Barney Stinson

B.O.B. Unit Three

I’m writing this post while flipping back and forth between the Tigers, more than likely final, Worlds Series game and the Broncos vs. Saints game, so I apologize in advance if my thoughts seem disconnected. This unit was actually pretty good for me. At first, when you said we were going to be dividing functions, I thought to myself, “What did I get myself into taking this class?” But, it hasn’t been bad at all. In fact, it was pretty easy. HOMERUN DELMON YOUNG, 3-3! Once the problem was over, you knew for the most part, if your answer was correct or not just by if the problem had a remainder. Factoring polynomials was also fairly easy, once I remembered all the different rules. The workload was a lot less strenuous this unit. There were fewer problems, but the problems took longer. This was a great unit for me, I hope. The test grade will confirm or deny that. All in all, I think I the rest of the units are like this, the rest of the trimester will go fairly smooth.

“It's a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up.” – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

B.O.B. 3

Starting this unit I knew that this was make or break, I had to do well on this unit or suffer the consequences. That being said, I knew it wouldn't come easy. I started to fully commit to learning and spent more time on it than I have before in the past, coming in before school and coming in after school.  Once I did that I started to notice that I was in fact starting to understand it. Things weren't so hard and then I finally started enjoying coming to class and working on the homework because understand it was one of the best feelings ever. One thing I still need to work on is staying relaxed during the test and remembering what I know. I'm confident in the things we learn, it's just something I need to work on.

Go Tigers

-Alex

Unit 3 BOB

Overall I think this unit was the easiest. I didn't struggle very much and got most of the homework done during school or shortly there after. I enjoyed graphing polynomials and doing the factoring partly because I had learned that in previous classes and partly because it was easy. The factor by grouping was new to me and at first I was confused. But with some help from the good ol' classmates, I made sense of it and blew through the homework. Also, I like the way that the division of polynomials was explained. At first, when Mr. Jackson said we were going to divide functions, I thought, "HOLY SHIFT! How the heck are we going to do that?" Unfortunately I was not able to watch the videos on dividing functions so I went to class, like several others, not knowing a clue on how to divide polynomials. Then when Mr. Jackson explained it and did a problem I thought, "That is A LOT of work for one simple answer. And to think we might have to do it more than once!" I soon realized that the division was not hard at all. It was mostly just multiplication and subtraction. When test time came around I was positive I knew how do to all the questions. Getting them right on the other hand was still up to remembering to write the correct number down and not misreading my own writing. I ended up staying after to finish the test and finally, after four tries, completed the troublesome question. I appreciate Mr. Jackson's help when I had any questions, even though many of the answers to my questions were either, "Rule #1. Look at rule #1." or, "How many terms does it have?" He was right and every time I heard him say that I felt like an idiot for missing the most obvious things. All in all this was a good unit. I liked its pace and work load.

P.S. I would greatly appreciate it if the workload for the next several units remained the same as this ones. Thank you.

B.O.B.

I am sitting here watching the Tigers playing in the World Series with the lead for the first time against the Giants.  They finally got some points on the board when Cabrera hit a home run.  I had the similar feeling success with this past unit.  I understood all the material and felt like I accomplished quite a bit.  I thought it was cool when we learned how to long-divide polynomials. It took knowledge that we have had learned way back and applied it to something more complicated.  I enjoyed this unit and, GO TIGERS!

B.O.B.

Dear Blogger Family,

I have thoroughly enjoyed the past unit regarding polynomials.  I will be honest, when I took the pre-test for this unit I had no idea how to factor expressions to a degree greater than two.  However, after many strenuous hours of studying, I came to take much delight in working with the different factoring methods and long division.  I have always enjoyed math, especially working on problems that require solving several times.  This may be the reason that I found such joy in working with long division.  I find myself in great elation when a problem requires me to solve for one solution, and then use that solution to solve for other solutions.  For example, on the Polynomial Test, when we were to find possible zeros using the Rational Zero Theorem, then divide a rational zero into the polynomial only to find that it needed to be divided again, and again, and again.  Although this problem took time, I enjoyed working through it and it left me feeling like I had accomplished some amazing feat.  This may not be a “muddiest point”, or “moment of clarity”, but it was certainly one of the more fascinating concepts that we have learned thus far.

Good Morning and Good Night,

Greg

B.O.B

Unit Blog

   I had no problem with this unit. Actually I enjoyed the work we were doing.  I got my homework done, I had extra time in class sometimes. I particularly liked the long division with polynomials and finding the domain of those.  I honestly thought this was going to be the easiest unit.  Until Thursday anyway.  Maybe it was just me or I somehow forgot everything on Wednesday when I was gone but that test we took is my muddiest point for the unit.  And maybe it was just me personally but I felt that I knew how to do homework but had no idea what to do on the test.  I guess I'll study harder next time.

Bob

This unit was definitely not the most difficult. there wasn't all that much homework and for the first time i did my work the day it was assigned. Weather that helped me or not i guess is yet to be seen. i found that the most difficult part of the unit was difference of cubes or squares because when i got to it on the review i completely forgot what it was, then i looked at it and it was fairly easy. All in all not a bad chapter.

B.O.B

So for this unit, I didn't have a muddiest point! Which is something that hadn't happened so far in this unit. You're right, the units keep getting easier and easier! Now instead of complaining about how bad I did on something, I'm going to talk about my progress so far.

Now that I'm starting to actually understand what's going on, I feel my progress improving. Hopefully that will continue to happen as we bring the trimester to a close. I also would like to say that the way you're teaching these units now is a lot more helpful than how we learned the first unit. 

The only thing I'm nervous about is to see how I did on the test. I went into it feeling confident, which is something that hadn't happened yet during this course. I love knowing what's going on in math again! It's a great feeling!



"After all this time?"
"Always," said Snape. 

Dannnnnnica :)

b.o.b.

From the begining of this unit I truly understood everything we did, and hopefully my test will reflect that. I thought the way this unit went was very smooth and taught very well. This class, I feel gets easier as it goes on. I think eliminating all the extra problems and homework really helped me to focus on each indivdual concept. This helped me to know exactly what to do in each situation. I think that the less homework was only of the most important reasons why everyone was so relaxed throught the duration of this unit. I thought takeing the pretest at the begining was also helpful. It set the stage for what we were exspected to be able to do by the time we actually took the test. my hopes are very high for the next unit to go with such ease. So far it is looking good.
-Quincie

Personal Progress

I know we haven't gotten back our tests yet, but I personally feel that during this unit I worked my hardest and hopefully, my test will reflect that. This class has been a challenge for me and I've had to mentally work harder than I ever had to before. I started this class out really rocky and not understanding very well considering my E on the first test. I was overwhelmed and stressed out. Now that I have found new ways to balance my time, this class has become easier. I've learned more than just Precalculus this trimester. I guess I could also say I've been taught a huge life lesson that is going to help me out through the years to come. That lesson is not to procrastinate. It sounds simple, but breaking bad habbits is one of the hardest things to do. Overall I think I am progressing much better and I definintely have a better understand than I did at the start.
-Mackenzie

BOB

I like to think a lot when I am learning a new method in math. I try to figure out why it works, how it works, and other methods that can work. With that long division ztuff, I didn't really anzwer any of those questions. It was one of those thingz for me that I would just do and hopefully I would get the right anzwer.I am thinking that this is an important method in finding roots in large polynomials. I am unaware of any other method that can successfully solve large powered equations, except using the calculator.  

Every mile is two in winter
                  - George Herbert 

          -Hunter "The Vertex" Erickson

B.O.B.

I felt this unit wasn't as bad as the first unit, but more challenging than the second unit.  Factoring by grouping was probably my muddiest point because come the test I blanked out and I felt like using what I learned was useless. So I thought I should go over a couple examples over the weekend to help myself out. I looked at examples like:
14n^4-56n^3-7n^2+28n -------> My first problem was that I forgot the sign could be changed in the 7n^2+28n to 7n^2-28-------> So I figured out step-by-step how to solve this.

1. 7n[(2n^3-8n^2)-(n-4)]
2. 7n[(2n^2(n-4)-(n-4)]
3. 7n(n-4)(2n^2-1)

Plus, I was not always sure when a problem factors further.  Again, after looking over the work I did from last week it made more sense.

"The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook" -William James

Sarah.

B.O.B.- "Cool"

The unit on polynomials has been my favorite so far.  I had no idea that you could use polynomials in long division.  If you know one zero, it is “cool”   how you can factor it into the polynomial and then find the rest of the zeros.  For example, in the problem:   x³-4x²-17x+60/x-3, after factoring the root of 3 into the cubic, you find the other two zeros to be 5, and -4. I find the long division of polynomials to be a lot easier to understand than other factoring techniques, and for me, a lot more efficient. Hopefully the next unit will be just as “cool”.

Quote:  “Sometimes it is useful to know how large your zero is.”  Author Unknown

Blake

BOB #3

This unit was honestly the easiest unit of the course. I was extremely nervous when I heard we were going to start doing long division. After watching the video, I couldn't believe how simple it was. Even the extra credit problem on the test i thought was easy. However, I found myself in a quagmire on the test when i got to the rational zero problem on the test. On the exam review, I somehow was able to find the answer which falsely led me to believing I had a solid understanding of the problem. The rest of the unit I believe i excelled in.

"You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get."
-Michael Phelps

Nick

Polynomials

This was an interesting unit to me. I enjoyed factoring more than most other things we've done this year. Long division with ploynomials could be a bit frustrating though, especially when trying to find the domain after solving. With some problem I had a hard time figuring out what types of factoring to use, but I became better at it. The tests in this class have consistantly contained types of problems that I wish we would have gone over in class more, and this one was no exception. All in all, this test didn't stress me out as much as the others, but the test still made me want to pull my hair out.

                                                                                                   -El Guapo 

Dedication

I love the early morning math party!

bob unit 2

my muddiest point in unit 2 has been finding vertex form.

Muddiest point in Unit 2

            This unit was much easier then the first. After receiving my first test score, I realized that I had made a big mistake. I took very little time to work on my homework, and I didn't study. It was a huge wake-up call. So, in order to turn things around in this class, I put the first unit behind me, and started to work on the next. My muddiest point was defiantly completing the square. Especially when the a value was not 1. For some reason I struggle to grasp the concept. I used the opposite b over 2a formula to find the vertex, but without being able to complete the square kept me from finding the vertex form. It was keeping me from learning all that I could. However, I needed to fully grasp and understand it to move on to the more complex aspects. The easiest way to better understand the materials in this class is to ask questions. I spent more time in the afternoon finding out what I needed help with, and I went in to speak to Mr. Jackson or ask my brother for help. Although it was hard at first, given enough time, I was able to learn the information and be better prepared to get a good grade on the test. I learned how to complete the square, and it became a second nature action. I spent at least 30 minutes every night working on homework and studying.  And it payed off. I got full completion on my homework packet, and received over a 100% on my test after the curve. Thank you Mr. Jackson for the help and work that you have put into teaching us to be better students, both in math and tougher academic aspects.
                                                        Corbin

B.O.B

During the second unit I could feel myself sighing with relief almost everyday. I could almost understand everything that was happening and could possibly explain what I had learned in class. I felt more confident in what I was doing. It almost seemed a little too good to be true after the first unit felt it would never end. Coming in for help on this unit made things a whole lot easier, and doing my work outside of class helped me understand it much better than before.

Watch one or both of these this weekend!

Some of the SlideShare documents didn't show all of the equations, so find them on my website as PDFs   

Long Division with Polynomials (necessary for future AP Calc students)



Step-by-Step guide to long division with polynomials:

How to guide on long division of polynomials from MrJackson7

Synthetic Division with Polynomials



Step-by-Step guide to synthetic division:

How to Guide on synthetic division from MrJackson7

BOB.2

This unit went better then last. I find that as I continue to do the homework that is given, I learn faster and stay on pace better then if i did not do it. I know that the class wont be easy and any questions i have should be asked in class. i felt very strongly about factoring and completing the square. They came easy to me after i repeated the steps over and over again. my muddiest point would deffinatly be the farmer Ted problems. I wish i could have spend more time looking over those problems. i will continue to work hard and spend more time at home looking through the work we did in class.

Difficulty in the Course

I was a little disappointed with the grade on my last test because I was so sure that I understood the material.  I don’t know why I feel like I am doing badly in this class because math was always something I understood.  I really like math because most of the time in math there is always an answer, as opposed to English where everything is up to interpretation.  I hope I will do better in the next units of the class, if they are not easier, I will definitely be coming in for help!

-Zoe

B.O.B. - Muddiest Point

I had the most trouble trying to find the maximum area given a specific perimeter.  I thought I had it completely under control, because I would occasionally think of these types of situations on my own.  However, when I had to actually do it on paper, it turned out that I had been doing it wrong the whole time.  I had an especially rough time trying to do the cylinder problems.  You know, the ones where we're given the surface area and we have to find the volume.  I'm still not entirely sure how to do those.  But, I am optimistic for this coming unit, because a.) I have a more positive outlook on my school career and life in general and b.) this looks more interesting than the previous unit.

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

                                                                                -Albert Einstein

BOB 2!

For this unit, I felt as though it went easier than the last unit.  After that last unit, I had scattered thoughts of knowing how to do things.  I came in and got the help I needed to organize my thoughts.  With my thoughts organized and my test corrections done and turned in, my grade got better.  And with my grade better, I felt a lot more confident coming into class and I had the mindset that I couldn't get that behind in my mind or with my work.  In this, I kept up well on the work this unit and came in with questions if I had any.  Learning in the Quadratics unit was a lot easier for me than the last unit. I didn't really have a muddy point.  Something I learned was that with the equation (-b/2a), you can find the "x" of the vertex and plug the "x" back in to find the "y" of the vertex and use that to find the maximum/minimum of a quadratic equation.  We then connected it to writing equations and finding the "a" value of a quadratic.  The work last unit wasn't what killed me.  It was the fact that I let myself get behind. This unit, to me, was pretty fun!

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” 
― Albert Einstein


-Abby Mellon

B.O.B 2

This unit, although still not easy, had more high points than the last one.  One high point that I felt quite confident in was factoring.  Although factoring is a bit of a review, I could use it so set myself for some of the new things that we learned.  Also, although I did have to know how to comlete the square, it was nice to have another way to solve for "x" in a quadratic that was a little bit easier and definantly less time consuming.  All in all, I would like to be more confident with this unit than I am, but I definantly feel like my confidence in this class as a whole is improving.

B.O.B 2

       This unit was tremendously easier than the last unit.  The last unit had probably the most work I had ever done in a class.  It was a bit overwhelming and stressful at the same time.  When you said that this unit had a lot less work it was not a joke and it was much more manigable.  This lifted a lot of stress so thank you for that
Sincerely,

Andrew

Muddiest Point

My muddiest point in this unit was minimums and maximums. That almost confused the heck out of me. But with carefull studying and the will to try anything i went after it. Still needed a little help after dilagent work but i finally grasped the concept even though i probably wasent the best at convaying my thoughts to my teacher it still grasped in my mind and thats all that matters.
-Noah Powell

Second B.O.B.

This unit has been a lot less of a challenge compared to the past one, not to say it was easy, however the material came at a slower pace. Not only did I make more of an effort to ask questions and come in  when I needed one- on- one help, but there was a lot less work which made it easier to focus more on what I was learning rather than just trying to get all of my work completed.  I really liked how things (like domain) carried over to this unit, because at the end of the last unit I wasn't quite sure what I was doing, but I feel a lot more confident now when it comes to domain and range.  Which comforts me a small amount for the final exam. By small amount, I mean microscopic. The muddiest point for me was when we did profit equations, it wasn't terrible but I probably could have been more prepared for that section on the test.
-Annika.

B.O.B #2

  B.O.B

So last time I did the reflection on a class for my B.O.B.  This time I want to do something similar but different.  I think I want to do a reflection on my life.  Who knows where this is going to go because I sure don't.  I want this to be a tell-all/total forthcoming about the things I should probably get off my chest.  But, um, putting that where anyone and everyone can read is scary. Very, very,  very scary. So lets see where this takes me.  Lets start out with all the things I have on my mind right now.  Well there is this class for starters, which honestly while on the list of troublesome things is no where near the top.  Homework load, AP Stats, soccer, people to name a few others.  And yup it is decided, I am not getting into everything else on the internet.  Because lets face it, I can't even explain most of it let alone write it.  Of course I am not claiming to have the hardest or busiest schedule or anything but all that can weigh a girl down.  No big deal. Urgg I'm a bad writer, this is all nonsense.  I haven't even said anything of substance.  Well this will have to do. Maybe I'll write more later. Bye.

bob unit 1

This unit was very confusing for me i would always get lost on how to find the domain and range for something unless it was like x^2+2x+1 or something like that those were the easy ones to find the domain and range and i know i did not do very well on this unit but i hope i can fix it

BoB unit 2

I personally feel that this unit was easier than the last the whole domain and range thing was really confusing. The factoring was pretty easy but trying to find the x intercepts was a little difficult when there is barely any information to go on. Although it was hard at points i will recover (ha ha).  

B.O.B Unit 2

B.O.B. Unit 2

One of the things we learned in unit 2 was about Profit Functions. When I took Economics last year my teacher had taught us a little something about profit functions. He was an Economics teacher along with other various history courses. Hence he was not the best at math. When he taught us he had showed us a youtube video, I thought oh great! I never really understood what he was talking about, but he said it would be on our final exam. After the exam I was very disappointed because I did not get the questions correct. I thought I would never see it again.. But then Mr. Jackson handed out a green note sheet. When I saw the sheet I did not recognize it, but when we did an example, I remembered. It still is a little foggy for me, but I think I have a better understanding even though I have not gotten a question all correct. I understand some parts but not others.
                                                                                                          -Carlie S.

Quadratics B.O.B

Personally, I believe this unit was much easier than the last.  Most of the material was just review or adding bits and pieces to things I have already learned.  Also, there was much less homework.  I found this beneficial because I was not overwhelmed so I could take my time and ask more questions if necessary.  I have to admit, when Mr. Jackson first brought up the combining functions I was, lost, to say the least.  But after plenty of practice I started to understand it and by the time the test came around, it was a breeze.  I would say this unit was a success, and hopefully the following units are more like this one than the first unit.

What I learned this unit

This unit was pretty fun for me.  I got to use what I already knew and got to apply it to some real life story problems.  It was almost like putting a mathematical puzzle together, and you got to combine different equations together to find out what you wanted to know.  My personal favorites were the farmer ted problems where we found the perimeter as a function of its area.  I was really confused at first, but once I got the hang of it they were pretty fun to solve.  I know, I'm a nerd :)

-Vlad

Unit 2 BOB

The muddiest point for me in during this unit was when we were learning about the profit functions. It probably would not have been a problem for me except that I had to leave class right before Mr. Jackson started to talk about it. When I had the chance that night, I looked over the green note sheet about it and was totally overwhelmed by the amount of text on it. I tried two or three times to figure out what it was talking about but I just did not understand it. I decided to wait until the next day because I knew that Mr. Jackson would go over any questions and most likely go over the answers or at least give an example. After I started working on the practice sheet that was handed out, and with the help of Cole, I started to understand that all the wording on the note sheet was simply saying that one function was equal to another function after it was altered by either the number of items sold, the cost, etc. (i.e. R(x) = xp(x) ||| P(x) = R(x) - C(x)) Thankfully, Mr. Jackson was able to explain any questions I had about profit functions before the test came around so I was able to understand the stuff that I was trying to do.

I also would like to say that I really appreciated the lesser work load and homework amount. I unfortunately was not able to finish it all, but that was my own fault because I decided to procrastinate and keep putting it off until it was too late to do it all.

BOB... Quadratics

This unit was much easier than the one before it. You were right, the work load was not as severe. I had less people come up and ask me if I could explain something to them. Not to mention I undertood everything a whole lot better. I feel like this was a much better unit overall for everybody, not just myself. I hope the next unit is about the same amount of work or even less would be great. I am excited to learn what's in store next.

B.O.B. Unit Two

Wow. That's all I can say about this unit. It has been IMMENSELY easier than the first one, in my opinion. The work load wasn't as extraneous, it seemed like there weren't as many pieces, and most of the stuff we learned was new, so I didn't have to dig into the depths of my brain that haven't been explored for countless years to figure out how to do the stuff. I had a lot of light bulb moments also. I used a lot of YouTube videos and online explanations to help me work through the problems I was having. In addition to that, I payed my friend in AP Calc a Doritos Loco Taco (the best things ever created. Just writing the name makes me hungry o.O) to help me out through certain problems. All in all, I would say this unit has been a whole lot easier on me and on my stress level, which has been very nice.

"The truth is you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.” - Eminem

BOB!

With this unit, I definitely had a "light bulb" moment. Everything sort of made sense. I really liked that. The only thing that didn't really make sense was the profit and revenue stuff. I just didn't know what equation to use where and the green notes were super confusing, so that didn't help me. It's also my fault I didn't ask more questions on it, though. Another muddy spot was that one question on the test where the graph wasn't a parabola. I honestly looked for a good twenty minutes to find where it was, but couldn't find it. This resulted in near tears and an unhappy Dannica. But oh well, I think I'll survive!

Danni Banani 

:)

B.O.B.

I liked this unit a lot better than the last, it seemed to go by quicker and we didn't have as much homework. I also think that since there didn't seem to be as much material to this unit, it was easier to focus on each part of it rather than trying to master a whole bunch of different topics. I'm excited to start learning new material since most of these past units have been review from middle school; I like where the profit functions were going though, and I hope we do more with them. Now that I have a little more free time than the last couple weeks, I am hoping I can focus on this class more and take advantage of more opportunities to come in before and after school for help if I need it, rather than asking my dad for help. I really liked having the review packet for this unit, although I didn't get the chance to complete it, I have been working on it this weekend to make sure I really do understand everything in this unit. Overall, I liked this unit much better than the last and hope we start learning new concepts soon!
-Jenny McCullen

Finally I Understand

Wow. All I can say is that I am so happy that I understood what was going on in this unit, finally. I didn't feel the overpowering weight of homework or the pressure of domain and range. I think this unit was easier for me was due to the fact that we were actually doing math, like algerbra, the stuff I'm good at. No stress, easy homework, and a pretty easy test that I actually felt pretty good about. I finally am feeling the weight being lifted off of my shoulders....best feeling ever, after a pretty crappy weekend.

"Happiness can be found in even the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light"

~Albus Dumbledore 

B.O.B. Connection to Marketing/Real Life

Go-o-o-od Mornin' Vietnam!

Dear Blogger Buddies,

      I found this unit much more enjoyable and relevant to my life than the last unit.  Some of the information in this unit was relative to the Marketing class that I am currently taking here at Mason High School.  For example, in Marketing we recently learned how to calculate revenue, net income, gross margain, profit, break-even point, and price/cost per unit sold.  Therefore, when we got the "green sheet" showing how to perform calculations of profit, break-even point, etc. I was extremely happy because I had a previous understanding of the material.  Ironically, we took the test over these aspects of Marketing on Thursday, October 11th (the day before the Quadratic unit test).  Unlike the last unit, most of the material in the Quadratic unit was applicable to real life situations.  For instance, calculating area, perimeter, volume, and profit/pricing operations.  I enjoyed learning this material because I know that it will apply to me later in life.

      A big THANKS goes out to Mr. Jackson for working his hardest to make this unit as straight-forward as possible.  I know that he took a lot of time to make the material more understandable and the work load more bearable. Thanks again!

Sincerely,

Greg

Bobby

I believe this unit went by faster. That's because I think it was shorter than the first. I felt like the test was longer though. I am always a long test taker and I never pace myself at the right speed. Especially at that unit test.The thing is, is that I check my answer like 3 different times for each problem to make sure I am right. Maybe I am paranoid when I take a test. So when i get answers wrong on math tests I flip out and usually cry myself to sleep on those nights. I am just joshing. But, I think I should practice taking those tests fast because the SAT and the ACT are timed. I didn't really like this unit because I didn't really learn anything new except the profit functions. I hope the next unit is off da hook.

                   - Hunter "The Vertex" Erickson

BoB#2 :)

Well here's the end of unit 2 and what an interesting time it has been. ;) Overall I would have to say that this unit was a lot easier to understand and perform than unit 1. As far as overall progress, I had a little bit of trouble getting things done as quickly as I would've liked to; aka I finished 2 whole packets the day before the test and that was the death of me... I think that with 2 units out of the way I realized I'm going to have to step up my game to keep me sane; so I've decided that I'm going to make a goal to myself to not procrastinate anymore and even if I do have to go to work or have other important things going on in my life, I'm going to set aside at least 10mins a day for days like those and as much time as it takes me to finish for the other days. I think this will help me do better in the units overall, I mean I have an "A" in the class, but if I never internalize what I learn than what's the point of learning? :) So here's the end of one stretch of road in the trimester, on to the next! ;)

A daughter of God always and forever,

Annie

Muddiest Point bob

My muddiest point in this unit would definitely be remembering all of the steps to completing a square.  The concept on completing the square wasn't hard, but not missing a step is.  If you miss one step then the whole thing would be wrong.  I had a hard time remembering the steps without having the purple sheet in front of me.  One thing I liked in this unit would be finding the maximum of things.  Also finding the x intercept, negative b over 2a.  Coming in and getting help really helped me this unit.  Hopefully I can remember all the steps to completing the square!
~Taylor H

Muddy Point

Alright, so this unit was much better than the last in terms of work and understanding most things. It felt good to understand the stuff and it was definitely a confidence boost that I needed. Although most things went well throughout this unit, my muddiest point was when I took the test. I felt great going into the test and I was confident that I was going to do well. Obviously, I don't know what my grade was yet, but after taking an extra hour on the test, I did not feel very great about it walking out of the classroom. Hopefully, I did better than I feel I did. But I'm nervous to find out. I've never been a strong test taker and there is a hundred times more pressure to do good on tests than any of my other classes because of the pecentage they represent. Overall, this unit was less stressful and much easier to get through than the last and I want to thank Mr. Jackson for cutting the work down and explaining more throughly.
-Mackenzie
"It always seems impossible until it's done." --Nelson Mandela

Blogging-Unit 2

I thought the most interesting part of the unit was learning about the Profit/Cost/Revenue/etc., equations. It applies to the real world and shows us how businesses decide certain things. I am currently in economics, and we happen to be learning about how businesses supply, and why they supply certain products. I feel that these equations come into play very often.
Also, I really want to get a business/marketing degree and I will be using a lot of equations, along with calculus. I hope I go through the rest of this trimester as successfully as how I started out. Although, I always feel worried around test taking time....

fingers crossed,

Anna

BOB

When i finally got the completing the square it was like..oh i kinda like this! Although it was something i had to work at, now that i get it, i like to do them. I found myself getting frustrated ( throughout both units) when i would get something explained to me, feel like i got it then get a quiz back with a score that completely flipped that around. I hope this test doesn't do that. I have found that just sitting down and breathing rather than freaking out about what needs to be done helps I also found that just doing it helps. Shut off all the electronics and get cracking. Over all this unit was much easier than the last as far as the workload and understanding go.

~Stephany~

B.O.B.-Moment of Clarity

I think that most of us can agree that this unit was much better than the last unit.  The homework load was much more manageable, which was a relief (phew!),  and I even think that the material was very understandable.  In the beginning of the unit when we started completing the square, I was so happy that we were doing something that I understood right off the bat.  I also mostly understood how to complete the square when the "a" value wasn't 1.  However, after factoring out the "a" value, I would  always forget to multiply the new "c" value by the "a" value when adding it to the other side.  I would forget to do that step and then continue to work my way through the whole problem and get a completely different answer.  It was frustrating knowing that I would always miss that one silly step!  I wouldn't say that I had a single 'moment of clarity' where it just clicked for me, but after doing a lot of practice and double checking that I didn't miss that one step, I was able to have confidence when completing the square with an "a" value not equal to 1.

I also thought some of the price, profit, and revenue problems were challenging.  When we got the green sheet and packet of practice problems, I pretty much had no idea what I was doing.  I attempted a few of the problems but I was sure I was doing them all wrong.  My 'moment of clarity' for that was definitely when Mr. Jackson went through one of the problems in class the next day and explained each step separately. 

Overall, I found this unit much more enjoyable than the previous one, and I am looking forward to seeing what comes next!

~Libbey

5th hour

Bob

One thing I thought was particularly cool in this unit was the use of profits. Normally in math classes when we have story problems they are something such as "if you had twenty watermelons and gave three of them away how many would you have" (obviously more complicated than that one would be to solve but the same general idea). Those amounts just seem completely unrealistic and the problems seem like a waste of time. However profit seemed to be more realistic and something that relates to real life. While in my chosen future field of work I won't use that, I still enjoy using realistic amounts and numbers. It's kind of cool to see how math relates to the real world.
~Callie

“I don't believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.” 
― J.K. Rowling

B.O.B cool/favorite parts

During this unit I personally thought the very last part with price and cost was cool and I liked it.  This is because now when I think of toys I can think even further into what goes into making the price and how it would benefit a company. Although I haven't come upon a real life situation yet I am hoping I will.  Also I thought that solving formulas for one variable was quite interesting because I can see this also being used in the real world.

Alix

          My muddest point of this unit was doing completing the square and factoring. I didn't get how you were suposed to get the x at the end. I always did the problems the factoring way and i new that it was the wrong way.
          The thing that i got the most it was completeing the square. The thing i got the most about it was getting all the way to the end of the equation and it was the easiest thing that i got.

Making Progress

I enjoyed the material we learned in this unit more than what we learned in the last one. I could make better sense of what was going on, and the workload didn't make me want to pull my hair out. The Farmer Ted problems made a lot of sense, because they delt with shape, which I enjoy working with. I think that finding the domains and ranges of functions is my weakest point, so I was glad there weren't as many graphs involved in this unit. I found the test review very helpful. It helped me go over everything we had learned in an orderly manner. Overall, I felt much better about the quadratics unit, and I believe I did much better on the test. If it turns out I failed the test, please disreguard this post.
                                                                                                                                             -Cypress

Progression

Unlike the first unit, I can understand what is going on.  In places the work is foggy to me, but I don't think this unit killed me in the way the first unit did.  It definately helped that I came in early a couple days and actually asked the right questions to help me.  I was absent on Friday and was unable to take the test so I am still unsure of what to expect, but I believe I am ready.  Unlike the last unit I am not as stressed about the work, which may be a bad sign.  With practice, completing the square is actually one of my favorite things to do because the process keeps things organized a certain way, unlike other things we did within the unit.  I know that if I continue to work hard my grades will come.

P.S. I found this video from Barrington High School in Illinois and I really found it useful.

"The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back into your pocket" -Will Rogers
                                                                                                          Sarah.

B.O.B.

Well, before that test I thought I knew a little bit about what was going on but as soon as I got it in my hands I feel like everything just left my brain. This class really has been a struggle for me but im glad to see that im not the only one who is having a tough time with it. I feel like coming into this class I had done well with every other math class but as time passes I am realizing that this is no regular math class. I struggled because I decided to put off my homework until the near end of the unit when I should have kept up and that didnt help me but I also had a hard time with expressing the area of something as the function of the length x of one of the sides. To me, it was just confusing. I hope that I will be able to turn things around fast.

-Alex

BOB

Compared to the last unit, i'd say this was a tad bit easier. However, there were still some spots that I struggled with. When we learned about the profit functions, I had no idea how to compute that information in my head at first. When we went over the problems in class i had a better understanding of it. On the test was a different story. I used the formulas to get the answer but my problem was i had no idea what that number meant.
Hopefully i can look can get this cleared up.

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination." -Tommy Lasorda

BOB

          I think it's crazy how I think I understand everything in this class, then it gets down to a test or a quiz that tells me: "Hello?! you're clueless!". You said that this class is usually where students hit the wall. It is their choice to fall defeated or work to climb over it. I feel like I am trying so hard to climb, getting better with working and asking questions. It doesn't seem to be showing and that makes me so frustrated!! Is this my breaking point?

BOB muddiest point

Oh this class somehow never fails to "stump" me. Looking at the Quadratics unit, the profit functions to me is so dirty I could grow tomatoes in it. Unfortunately it is too late to ask for help on this part of the test, but I could still use help for the final exam. Looking at the green sheet I was able to understand some of it, but I just get so confused on what to plug in to c(x), p(x), R(x), etc. We flew by this section so quickly I just figured it wasn't that important, but now I know I cannot assume those things anymore. Now I know if I have a problem with some part of the next units it is my responsibility to learn it. Fortunately, the busiest part of the year for me is over, now I have more time to put effort into achieving this goal. I will be seeing you bright and early from now on  Mr. Jackson!

“Here's the mini-cherry on top of the regular cherry on top of the sundae of awesomeness that is my life.”

-Barney Stinson

Progress-Katelynn

Compared to the last unit, I think I have made a lot of progress. Even though I ended up with an okay grade last unit, I was not confident in the actual content we were tested on. Now, in this unit, I feel better about everything, even the things from last unit. The homework was easier to keep up on and the content in general was easier. I think it was good to start out with the hardest unit, because it allowed me to make progress and work on the things I did not understand from before. Moving forward I know that if I worked past the hardest unit, I can work past other things I find confusing, and prepare for my future.

Progress

“When am I ever going to use this?”

That question usually bothers me, but for a while in this course, I was one of those people who thought they were not learning anything that would help them in the future.  During the first few weeks of class, I concluded that calculus was absolutely useless to me and that there was no way I’d ever be able to do well in AP Calculus. 

On the first quiz we took, I honestly wasn’t sure what I was doing.  I had relied on memory to find the domain and range, which proved to be completely useless, as I mentioned in my previous blog post.  As the course went on though, and I spent a lot of time working on the homework packets, my critical thinking skills improved greatly.  Instead of just memorizing how the domain and range usually was, I was able to think about why the domain and range of a given function was the way it was.  I think I did fairly well in the first unit because I took the time to make mistake after mistake on the homework until I realized why they were mistakes.  By the time I took the first test, the class no longer seemed impossible to me because I had developed an understanding of the material that made me capable of thinking about the problems without relying on a calculator or my memory.

During the second unit, I had already restored some confidence in my math abilities, but I still doubted myself.  I think it’s good for me to doubt myself, sometimes, though.  For example, I missed a day of school and we learned something new while I was gone.  Originally, I had assumed that I could teach the new material to myself, and I tried to solve the problems but I didn’t really know what I was doing.  I’m so glad that I ended up asking for help because I would’ve been lost otherwise.  The thing I struggled with most in this unit was completing the square when the “a” value wasn’t one.  It was difficult for me to remember to multiply the perfect “c” value before adding it to the other side, and it was easy for me to forget to do one simple thing that would give me the wrong answer for the entire problem.  In addition, I had previously relied on my calculator a lot to find the vertex, the y intercept, the x intercepts, etc. but now I can bring all of these ideas together and again, think about why.

Even if I don’t end up with a career that requires me to find the domain or y intercept of a given function, this class has not been useless to me.  My work ethic and my critical thinking skills have improved greatly.  Even though the math in this class is more complex than what I’ve learned before, it’s really only made me understand more about math because I can finally link a ton of things together in a way that will forever be useful to me, regardless of my future career.

I don’t know if I’ll take AP Calculus next year but I have not marked it off as impossible like I had at the beginning of the class.  And then there’s that infamous question: when am I ever going to use this?

The answer is this:

Regardless of what I decide to do with my life, I will use the skills I learned in this class every day. 

- Paige

my muddiest point

I think my muddiest point in this unit was the problems that dealt with p(x), C(x), P(x), and R(x). I read the green sheet and wasn't sure what it was talking about so I figured I would find out the next day. In class we went over one of the problems and I thought I understood. Once I got home, and did more of the homework I did each problem based on what you showed us in class. I didn't take more than a couple of looks at what question was actually answering and I thought I knew what I was doing. Then it came to the test and I realized just how much I didn't know how to do. I think I was mostly confused with all the different letters and such. It was tricky trying to remember which equation went in  to which equation and did what. In order to understand what each thing does I plan on looking over my home work so I know what I am doing and how to do it. Then, hopefully my muddiest point will be a little cleaned up.
-Quincie

B.O.B. Now I get it !

When we started the unit on quadratics, I had difficulty completing the square with an "a" value not equal to one, and a "b" value not divisible by "a". The work required to answer these problems often dealt with messy fractions, which took a lot of patience. I also had a hard time remembering to multiply the magic "c" value by the "a" value on the outside of the parentheses. For example, I hard time completing the square on the equation 4x^2+13x-7=26. After adding 7 to both sides, and finding the magic "c" value, you are left with 4(x^2+(13/4)x+(196/16))=33. It is the messy fraction (196/16) that I had a hard time remebering to multiply by 4, before adding to the other side. After doing lots of practice problems and referencing my notes, I finally got it! After I knew what I was doing, I felt a great sense of accomplishment. My hard work paid off, and I was relieved that I could complete the square when the "a" value is not equal to one. Now that I have got my confidence back, hopefully I can continue to work through difficult problems in the future.

Blake

progress

I didn't do so well on the last test, and in the beginning of this unit i thought it was a lot easier because i did well on the first quiz. so i began to slack a little bit, and made a lot of stupid mistakes on the next quiz. the night before the test i spent 4 hours working and studying, which something i have never done before in any class. and although i'm not done with the test yet i feel as though it went fairly well. maybe that extra night of hard studying payed off. We will see...

Domain in another way...

THE POINT OF MOST MUDDINESS

Dear Mr. Jackson and all of his students,

The muddiest point for me in this unit would definitely be the profit functions stuff. I read the paper, or tried to at least, and came to determine that it wasn't written in English. The few questions that we had on the homework about it I didn't even really attempt. I tried the first few but I just confused myself even more than I already was. The problem or two that Mr. Jackson went over in class kinda cleared some of the fog, but I still can't seem to grasp the concept of it. One of these days its gonna hit me like a road block and I'm going to feel like even more of an idiot, but until that day, I guess I'm content with being a little bit slow. 

I'm Branden and thats what I think

Quadratics Test

Good luck studying tonight.  If you attempt questions #28 on section 2.3, don't spend too much time on it.  It involves the distance formula and setting 2 equal to the distance between the point and the equation.  I was going to make a video, but I don't think it would be worth it for you to see.  Just write down, "Jackson said so."  That will work for earning points on #28.