Shape names

In the past couple of days we've been talking a lot about shapes. So today I thought it would be good to talk about shapes and where their names come from.
3 sides - Triangle - Tri = 3
4 sides - qudrilateral - quad - 4 sides
5 sindes - Pentagon - penta = 5
6 sides - Hexagon - Hex = 6
7 sides - Heptagon
8 sides - Octagon
9 sides - nonagon
10 sides - decagon
Many times after 10 sides the shape will be refered to as an "n" gon where n is the number of sides.
Knowing the names of these shapes is important when identifying other shapes such as cubes, pentagonal prisms or a octagonal pyramid.

Just for reference here is a picture on the shape names.

Lattice Method

I was just working on some multiplication problems I had to do for my class. A couple of my classmates didnt know the easiest way to multiply large numbers. There are multiple ways that I've learned throughout my education but the easiest and my personal favorite is the lattice method. The lattice method makes multipling big numbers extremely easy by only having to do multiplication with numbers 0-9. It uses multiplication of small numbers and simple addition to get your final answer.

Here's what the Lattice Method looks like. You put the numbers you are multiplying in the top and right sides of the box in this example we're multiplying 948 and 827

8*9 = 72

2*9 = 18

7*3 = 63

After you are finished multiplying these numbers add them together throughout the rest of the lines carrying numbers as needed. If you want more information visit this website that more throughly explains how to use the lattice method.

Shape Areas

Today I thought it would be a good idea to discuss how my mind works when I'm finding the area of various shapes. With any shape there is always another shape inside of it. A square is easy to find the area of you just multiply the length and the width. Exact same equation with a parrallelogram. A triangle is the exact same you just divide by 2. But what about with a trapezoid or a hexagon? is there a formula that we can use to make sense of these areas? or can we wing it in another way to find the area by manipulating the shape itself.

The answer is yes. You can manipulate any shape into multiple different shapes that you do know the equation for. For example break a hexagon into 6 triangles or 2 trapezoids. This website provides a small window into the world of shape areas and I encourage you to take a closer look to see what you can learn. As you scroll closer to the bottom it will start to explain some of the things I am talking about

Decimals

Decimals are another thing we have been talking about in class lately. Decimals can be very hard to understand at times but it helps us be precise. Decimals are all about place value every place you move to the left the place value is ten times as much as the previous value. Just as every place value you move to the right the place value is 10 times less. This Website has a place value editor to show what I'm talking about. It also has some other quick facts that are worth some time to take a quick look at. Play with it and practice. It's key to understanding how we use decimals.

Fractions

Lately Fractions have been a big topic in class. Whether it's multiplying, adding, subtracting, dividing or reducing. It's a lot to comphrehend if you're not used to doing it. So for this week I looked into a couple websites that explain how to solve equations with fractions. The best one I found is a website strictly dedicated to solving problems with fractions. Here is the website. On the Navigation bar at the top there are places that will take you to how to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions. It teachs using visual aids like pie charts which is a phenominal way to teach fractions.

Number Lines

Number lines are becoming more common in my Math class. Number lines provides a visual representation of many math Problems. What has been happening more often is when people try and use decimals inside the number line. A Basic Number line has 10 numbers evenly spaced out. However in between each of those numbers there are 9 more numbers that can be used as decimals, even though sometimes the lines arent written in. This Website has a video and a short explanation on how to locate decimal places on a number line properly.

Order of Operations

Today in class we talked a little but about the Order of Operations. This is the order in which math problems should be completed.

The order of operations is probably the most important part of a mth problem. If a problem isnt solved in the proper order the whole problem can be wrong. The Order of Operations is more well known as PEMDAS or Please excuse my dear aunt sally (Parentheses, Expontents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Substraction.)

One very important thing that should be noted with the Order of operations is in the Multiplication/division  and addition/subtraction. The two can be switched. For example in the Problem 9/3*4 you wouldn't want to multiply 3*4 first you would follow in order as the problem is written. The same rule is used for addition and subtraction.

This Website does a good job explaining the importance of the order of operations along with some examples for practice.

Games For Long Division!

I found this Game that teaches how to use Long Division.
The game takes you through each step it takes to solve using long division. It works best with mostly small numbers and has a little trouble when you get into bigger ones. It does a good job teaching the steps it takes to complete long division and shows how it changes with each problem.

Venn Diagrams

We took our first test today and there was some confusion on how to make a proper venn diagram when given a few numbers.

So If there are 150 total people and you have the total amount of people in each section which adds up to be too much.
The key to solving the problem after the Diagram is drawn is to start in the center and subtract out. The last step is when you make the last subtraction to remember to subtract the center numeral as well as the two others. This website gives a more in depth step by step process to solving Venn Diagrams.

Patterns

In the past few weeks we have discussed different types of patterns in class.
The first type of pattern is the most common and simple pattern known as an arithmetic sequence where each step in the sequence is even and the same number is added every time. An example of this pattern is when each step in the sequence the number 2 is added.
EX: 1,3,5,7,9...

Another type of pattern is called the Geometric Sequence, this sequence multiplies instead of adding.

EX:  1,2,4,8,16...

The last type of pattern is called Fibbonaci Sequence. This pattern adds the previous 2 values together to move to the next step. So if you start with 1 you add the two previous numbers which is 1 and 0, then you get add 1 and 0 together to get 1 again. Then you add 1 and 1 and get 2. Then 2 and 1 and get 3. Then 3 and 2 and get 5.
EX: 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21

EX.

Introduction

Before I really get started I want to introduce myself to the elementary math blogging scene.
I am Jeff Ball and I am majoring in Broadcasting performance at Muskegon Community College in Michigan. I graduated in 2010 from West Ottawa High School and am currently working two jobs. I work at GE Aviation in Muskegon making training videos for their company. I also work for a radio station in Holland Michigan called 92.7 the Van, Hollands Classic Hits.
I'm taking this class because it is offered in my major as a part of my general education and I thought it would be fun in comparison to either trigonometry or Calculus. I like math because I'm pretty good at it and I think it will be fun to learn how to teach it. I like being in front of people and presenting ideas and teaching people so I think this class will be right up my alley.

Week 1

This week I made and presented my IBL activity. I wanted to make it challenging and fun. I thought making the activity into competition would make it challenging and giving prizes away for winning would make it fun. So I started with a list of algerbraic equations to show that letters can equal numbers. Then I made one final equation that included all of the varibles to make one final answer. Then I made a second sheet of equations that involved multiplication and one last equation that involved all of the previous variables.

When I presented my activity some of the tricks I used with the order of operations worked with the first sheet. I waited a little while and helped a couple people out with various confusions and then I moved on to the second sheet introducing the race for candy. I decided to hand out only one sheet per table to force people to work together and in the end it all worked out great!

If I had a suggestion for anyone doing an IBL activity in the near future is just to keep it simple. Don't try to do too much. Think of a way that would help you learn the thing you're supposed to teach and roll with it. Start with something small and add things as you move forward.