Quadratics

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Math Teachers Chatboard

Quadratics

by Stella

Feb 22, 2013

My students are fussing about factoring, graphing, completing the square, etc. They say all they need is the quadratic formula, that older students have told them that's all that they used in College Algebra.

In Algebra 2, do you make them learn all the other ways? If so, what is the justification?

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Stella Thank you very much for your replies. You are stating what I believe, but since I am coming back to math after a long break, I am sometimes unsure of myself, especially when the students just can't seem to learn what we are studying. I needed some reinforcement (and backbone).

Their previous teacher mainly taught them how to use the calc...See More

Mar 1, 2013

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Rich/CA/Math On 3/01/13, Stella wrote: > Thank you very much for your replies. You are stating what I > believe, but since I am coming back to math after a long break, I > am sometimes unsure of myself, especially when the students just > can't seem to learn what we are studying. I needed some > reinforcement (and backbone).

I think a ...See More

Mar 2, 2013

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cj Rich, I've used the box method, but lately I've found that teaching them to multiply a and c, then find your factor pairs and factor by grouping works. Some kids can do the box more or less intuitively, but most seem to need a different process. Maybe I need to work on the box method more? What are your thoughts?

By the way, I love the way...See MoreRich, I've used the box method, but lately I've found that teaching them to multiply a and c, then find your factor pairs and factor by grouping works. Some kids can do the box more or less intuitively, but most seem to need a different process. Maybe I need to work on the box method more? What are your thoughts?

By the way, I love the way you start with factor finding.

On 3/02/13, Rich/CA/Math wrote: > On 3/01/13, Stella wrote: >> Thank you very much for your replies. You are stating what I >> believe, but since I am coming back to math after a long break, I >> am sometimes unsure of myself, especially when the students just >> can't seem to learn what we are studying. I needed some >> reinforcement (and backbone). > > I think a big issue is setting a foundation for factoring. When I > taught Algebra 1, about a month before we were going to get to > factoring quadratics I started including some foundational stuff in > my daily warm-ups. I gave them several numbers, for each of which > they had to find all of the factor pairs. I think finding (all of > the) factor pairs is WAAAY more important than factoring into primes > at this level. > > For example, if I gave them 38 they had to come up with 1*38, and > 2*19. If I gave them 48 they had to come up with 1*48, 2*24, 3*16, > 4*12, and 6*8. We would also talk about the fact that -1*-48, > -2*-24, -3*-16, -4*-12, and -6*-8 would also work. After a week or > two I would have them find the factor pairs for negative numbers. So > if I gave them -44, for example, they would to find -1*44, -2*22, > -4*11, -11*4, -22*2, and -44*1. > > Then when we got to factoring quadratics they were used to finding > the factor pairs for c and just had to find the factor pair that > added up to b. It made factoring really easy for them because the > foundation had already bee paid. Factoring quadratics when a=1 > turned out to be easy for them. > > Then when we went to quadratics with a1 we used the box method > which also boiled down to finding the factor pair of a number where > the factors added up to another number. Obviously there is more > involved, in the box method, but this is the part that makes it > pretty easy. > > Hope this helps.

Mar 2, 2013

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Rich/CA/Math On 3/02/13, cj wrote: > Rich, I've used the box method, but lately I've found that teaching them > to multiply a and c, then find your factor pairs and factor by grouping > works. Some kids can do the box more or less intuitively, but most seem > to need a different process. Maybe I need to work on the box method > more? What are you...See More

Mar 3, 2013

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Mrbdawg I teach students factoring, completing the square and the quadratic formula. The weakest use the quadratic method and the stronger students use tlhe method which works the fastest. I always test the students on all three methods.

n 3/01/13, Stella wrote: > Thank you very much for your replies. You are stating what I > believe, but s...See More

Mar 17, 2013

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