I need help in Algebra !!!

[Alex Franke]

Oh... I can't wait till my kids grow up enough to have intelligent conversations!!! Lately I've been dodging spoonfulls of oatmeal at the breakfast table!

[jussi]

I get B/A as the answer

[leehljp]

Last year, my 8 year old grandson in Arkansas asked me what the square root of 35 was. I said, don't you mean the square root of 36?
No, Pappaw, I mean 35.
I replied that it was less than 6.
He replied with the number to 4 or 5 decimal places.

The fact that a 8 year old could understand the concept flabergasts me.

[onedash]

For the last two weeks I have been helping someone in the office with his algebra. I just started writing answers and he said he needed to show the work....Well that stumped me on some of them. I used to have trouble in school showing my work. I could get the answer no problem but how I got it wasn't always easy to show.
Some of the stuff is still easy some I don't even remember ever doing...
Its fun though. PT for the brain....

[cabinetman]

I am desporate and we all know it, but you don't want the lad thinking his Dad is a halfwit - do you?
Thanks

Chris

If you explain how to lay out the problem as it is read, explain the steps involved in solving it, he should learn on his own. You proving you're not a half wit doesn't help his learning process. Teaching him to think has to happen before solving the problem.

[Alex Franke]

I used to tutor math, and it was usually very helpful to the students when I used a Socratic method type of an approach to the problems -- ask lots of questions about how the problem might be broken down or approached. Things like "Is any part of this familiar or solvable," "why would it be broken into these parts?" "would it make sense to start by multiplying everything out?"

This was *really* helpful when I didn't even know the answer because we could often rediscover it by throwing around ideas. They would learn that for the most part they already know the mechanics of how to solve the problem -- they just don't know how to approach it, or how to apply those mechanics.

On another note, I'm surprised that nobody has posted a spoiler for my "proof" that 2=1!

[JR]

42 ... the answer HAS TO BE 42

Chuckle

[jziegler]

Here's one I like:

Let a = 1 and b = 1

Obviously...       a^2 = a^2
and...             b^2 = ab

subtract...        a^2 - b^2 = a^2 - ab
factor...          (a+b)(a-b) = a(a-b)
cancel (a-b)...    (a+b) = a
substitute...      (1+1) = 1

simplify...        2=1

You're likely to get a spoiler as a reply here, but after you solve the first one for him in the morning, tell him, "That was easy -- now here's one that'll really get you thinking" and walk through this problem!

You divided by zero, therefore the whole thing is invalid after the cancel (a-b) step. By canceling (a-b), you are adding the condition that a != b so that you don't divide by zero. Or, really, since you divided both by zero, you proved that infinity = infinity. Hmmm... what happens when you make it a limit problem...

Jim

[Alex Franke]

You divided by zero, therefore the whole thing is invalid after the cancel (a-b) step. By canceling (a-b), you are adding the condition that a != b so that you don't divide by zero. Or, really, since you divided both by zero, you proved that infinity = infinity. Hmmm... what happens when you make it a limit problem...

Exactly!

Infinity has some pretty weird properties. Add any real number to infinity and you get infinity. Multiply any real number by infinity and get infinity (unless it's a negative number, in which case you'd get negative infinity). Add or multiply infinity and infinity and get infinity. Hmmm...

And then you have different infinities -- some larger than others. Aleph-null, Aleph-1... it gets weirder and weirder as you go along...