(A new question of the week) A good way to check (and hopefully build) a student’s depth of understanding is to assign non-routine problems, in which familiar ideas are twisted around so you have to come at them from a different direction. Here we’ll look at a question about a graph that can be solved …
(A new question of the week) Sometimes a problem that looks complicated turns out to have a simple answer. And sometimes that simple answer turns out to be too simple for its own good. Today’s problem is an example of this. A nonlinear system Here is the question, which came in last month: Sir, What …
(A new question of the week) In many areas of math, an answer can come in several forms, which can make it hard to know if you are right when you compare your answer to the answer in the back of the book. Even worse is when the problem is multiple-choice, and your answer has …
(An archive question of the week) Last time I looked at reasons for learning to estimate. In searching for answers on that topic, I ran across a question that touches not just on reasons for estimation, but on other ways to check an answer, and on some of the specific ideas we will be looking …
(An archive question of the week) An interesting question came to us in 2016, where rather than using a well-known formula, it was necessary to work out both what data to use, and how to calculate the desired radius.
(New question of the week) A conversation last week went through a number of interesting questions, starting with a couple on percentages, and moving into some that I would call rate questions. I will extract these, which I think will be useful for others. (The rest could, too, but there was just too much there …
(New Question of the Week) I like working with a student who is willing to take chances, and also willing to be corrected. As I have often explained, just like a medical doctor, a Math Doctor wants you to “show me where it hurts” in order to diagnose the problem; so showing detailed work is …
Previously, I discussed how to round a number to the nearest whole number [or tenth, ten, etc.]. I focused there on what to do when you are simply told to do it — what “round to nearest” means, and how that determines whether you round a particular number up or down. I also pointed out …
The other day a student I was helping face to face asked how she can know when to check for extraneous solutions of an equation. I gave her a quick version of my standard answer, and the light went on! Today I want to share these thoughts here, because they are very important in several …
From time to time, a student will write to us asking for advice on studying, rather than on math itself. As either successful students, or teachers, or (quite often) as adults who recall overcoming difficulties in the past, we have some good advice to offer. Today, I want to look at three answers, by three …