Appetizers and Lessons for Mathematics and Reason (www.whyslopes.com)
Entrance Level 
||Définition d'une variable || Algèbre || Arithmetique || Logique ||La raison basée sur les règles et modelés||

Online Volumes
1,  Elements of Reason.
1A. Pattern Based Reason 
1B. Math Curriculum Notes
2. Three Skills for Algebra
3. Why Slopes & More Math
 (Optional Book Orders)
More Site Areas 
1. Help Your Child or Teen Learn 
2. Solving Linear Equations
3. Fractions Ratios Rates Proportions & Units
4. Euclidean Geometry
5. Analytic Geometry/Functions 
6. Number Theory
7. More Calculus
More Site Areas 
8. Complex Numbers 
9. Qc Maths  Education  
10. Secondary IV(?) maths
11. Real  Analysis 
12. LaTeX2HotEqn:
13. Electric Circuits Etc  
14.  Français
15. Algebra, Odds & Ends, Etc
More Site Areas 
16. Math Education Essays
17**. Telling & Working with Time
18**. Maps, Plans & Drawings
19**. Quantitative Skills for  home and  work, etc, etc 
20**. Statistics .
** Means Under-construction.

Test the Twiddla Whiteboard

[Site Entrance & Hub] Back ] Next ] [Site Exit]


HIP, HIP, HIP, Hooray
YOU are better than YOU think. Show yourself  how:
  

      |      
//  _   _ \\
/\             /\
  <|  (o)   (o)   |> 
 \     | |      / 

Read  logic chapters 1 to 5  in online volume Three Skills for Algebra  for greater skills & confidence in  work 
and study

 -/[]\- 
||
   / \_ 
 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

 Logic chapters 1 to 5  re- appear not in sequence, as is or longer,  in  Volume 1A,  Pattern Based Reason, Bon Appetite.

Logic Mastery
 Amazing, Amusing, Amorous,  Delicious, Delightful, Edifying, Strengthening Elixir. 
It eases work & learning difficulties Makes the hard easier. Opens eyes. Leads to greater precision.
in reading and
writing

Logic mastery makes the hard, easier. Logic mastery  leads to better, stronger and richer comprehension.  Logic mastery  improves reading and writing.  Logic mastery ease learning difficulties.  Logic mastery gives a headstart.  In sum, logic mastery  will develops critical thinking, improve reading and writing, and give a firmer base for work and studies at many levels. Good luck.


After logic  (a) continue reading Three Skills for Algebra, chapters 8 to 14  and do so alongside site area on solving liinear2007 Equations ; or (b) see this calculus starter lesson and Volume 3, Why Slopes  & More Math, chapters 2 to 6;

      |      
//  _   _ \\
/\             /\
<|   (o)   (o)  |> 
     | |     |
   \             /   
\    =   /

Caution: Site advice is approximately correct, for some circumstances, not all. That leaves room for thought

 -/[]\- 
||
  _ / \     
 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

What may be learnt and when depends on how skills and concepts are developed. Making the hard easier and clearer will allow earlier & richer development of skills and concepts.


Try the Twiddla Whiteboard. In principle, it  allows to people to draw and chat together online on a copy of this webpage or a clean sheet. The chat may be via text or audio.  Visit www.twiddla.com to set up whiteboards to work with the webpage of your choice.

For online automated help in senior high school maths & calculus, visit  quickmath.com  For Automatic Calculus and Algebra Help with derivatives, integrals, graphs, linear equations, matrix algebra, visit calc101.com  With  overlap, each site quickmath & calc101offers a different range of services, some free, some not, all based on webmathematica. Good luck.

 

Site Areas by Age & Subject

[logic, arithmetic and algebra]  [geometry, polynomials, functions & vectors] [calculus - preparation & studies, elementary to advanced]

 

More Sites to Consider:    (1) www.mathsisfun.com - ad-support UK site for students.  (2) www.purplemath.com - ad supported USA site for students.  (3) www.edhelper.com  (work sheets for K -12).  Subscription $40 US or less per year. for  teachers, Parents and tutors(4) Aleks (USA) offers online tutoring via intelligent software, $20 US per month. for students, parents & teachers.  (5)   heymath for students, schools & parents, (supporst India,  Singapore, UK & US secondary curriculum K6-12, $99 per year (6) Kyrgyz-Turkish High Schools Mathematics Pages offers high level [lecturen Notes] [worksheets] [review_exercises] in textbook quality pdf files from arithmetic to calculus, ad-supported. Remember to explore this site as well.  

(Ages 14+) logic, arithmetic and algebra:

[logic, arithmetic and algebra] [geometry, polynomials, functions & vectors] [calculus - preparation & studies, elementary to advanced]

Note:  (1) A clearer and greater use of words before and beside diagrams and symbols - see naming  concepts and describing concepts with words aids or focuses mastery of  nonverbal and silence roles of letters and diagrams.  Using words to describe numbers and quantities as known or not, variable or not, provides a first example.  For a second example, unifying theme for learning and teaching  algebra expressed in words. That is, formulas, equations,  proportionality relations & even functions can be used forwards and backwards. Here backward may be numerical or algebraic. The use of words here to name and describe concepts identifies loudly instead of silently, aims for learning and teaching in mathematics. The greater and clearer use of words here may ease and avoid fears and  difficulties, and enrich skills, comprehension and confidence, we hope. 

 Note: (2)  Senior high school mathematics and calculus requires a good mastery of arithmetic operations with whole numbers and fractions.  Even though calculators are available to do more and more arithmetic,  skills and ability in senior high school mathematics upto and including calculus still require mastery of those arithmetic operations. Early instruction at home and in school needs to develop, check and maintain that much mastery. Any thing less undermines, slows or stops senior high school and college instruction.  That being said, mastery of Solving Linear Equations with fractional operations on stick diagrams (Line Segments) geometrically illustrates arithmetic with fractions while introducing or developing algebra. Idea and methods met in Solving Linear Equations may aid instruction and independent studies of students 11 to 18 or older.  

Note:  (3) The discussion and calculation of probabilities in junior or senior secondary school provides students and instructor another venue in which to review and maintain  exact arithmetic skills with fractions (addition, multiplication, subtraction and subtraction).  Sets appear here as an aid in the clarification and calculation of probabilities. Presently, there is no discussion or illustration of calculations with probabilities online at this website.

Note: (4) Learning to carefully apply arithmetic methods for addition, multiplication, subtraction and division of decimals and fractions in ways that lead to repeatable, reproducible and verifiable results is a sign of skill and intelligence, deliberately acquired or developed,  which will benefit  later  studies, decision-making and work. Anything less points to a waste of time or difficulties  in the  learning and teaching of secondary and late primary school mathematics. 

(Ages 15+) geometry, polynomials, functions & vectors:

[logic, arithmetic and algebra] [geometry, polynomials, functions & vectors] [calculus - preparation & studies, elementary to advanced]

  • L in Volume 2.
  • Secondary IV & (?) V Maths
  • Euclidean Geometry
  • Analytic Geometry  
  • geometric & algebraic  calculus previews in Volume 3, chapters 2  to 6.
  • Complex Numbers - starter lesson
  • More on Complex Numbers (Vectors appear here)

    Note: (1)  Arithmetic and logic mastery both encourage precision in reading and writing, two must for studies, decision-making and work.  Arithmetic and logic mastery are two signs of skill ad intelligence which can be deliberately acquired or developed by most with time and effort. Arithmetic may be well-learnt and mastered in late primary school and in the first years of secondary school, ages 9 to 12, while logic mastery may be left for ages 14 plus. What is hard at one age may be easier at a later age.

    Note (2) Euclidean Geometry is geometry without coordinates and the lean treatment here requires some logic mastery. Analytic Geometry introduces or relies on coordinates to locate points on a line, in the plane or in space. The algebraic description of lines and curves through the use of equations involving coordinates mixes or entwines algebra, geometry and sets too. The solution of equations may be identified with sets of points in the line, plane or space, etc.  The graphing of functions or relations between numbers and quantities further entwines or mixes arithmetic, algebra, geometry and sets. The direct and indirect use of functions (real-valued functions of real variables) can be illustrated and explained in the coordinate plane. Instead of assuming the properties of real numbers, we can use geometry and assumptions about counting, measurement and the use of coordinates to geometrically imply and develop the properties of real numbers. Details will be forthcoming. The mixing of geometry and algebra in Secondary IV Maths provides a concrete, more accessible framework for developing and understanding the algebraic way of writing and reasoning.   The forthcoming area on similarity by measurement and design. will cover similarity of right triangles, maps and plans, navigation and course plotting with aid of vectors, and the forward and backward use of scale factor for length, area and volume in calculating and relating measurements, actual or in maps and plans. Trigonometry, the art of calculation with right triangles in a way that hides similarity, will be covered too. 

    Note: (3) The law of signs implies the square of each real number is non-negative.  Yet complex numbers are introduced to provide the square root of negative numbers. The existence and properties of complex numbers may be hard to accept. However, just as real numbers can be introduces as  coordinates along a real number line or horizontal axis, complex numbers can be introduced as points in the plane whose adddition and subtraction depends on rectangular coordinates and whose multiplication, division and conjugation depends on polar coordinates. The early mastery and demystification of complex numbers provides an alternative route for mathematics in secondary schools and college,a route  with easy consequences for the discussion of vectors and their dot- and cross- products in the plane, and and route which makes unit circle trig easier to understand and develop - say bye, bye to needless hard trig identity problems.

    Note: (4)  Before calculus, students may wonder why slopes and polynomials are studied year after year. These. geometric & algebraic  calculus previews provide an context for the latter and for further concepts in the senior secondary  school mathematics preparation for calculus. The algebraic  preview, best seen after the geometric one, introduces and sets the stage for the  algebraic way of writing and reasoning met at full strength in calculus. 
     

(Ages 16+) Calculus Made Easier 

[logic, arithmetic and algebra] [geometry, polynomials, functions & vectors] [calculus - preparation & studies, elementary to advanced]

  • geometric & algebraic  calculus previews in Volume 3, Why Slopes  & More Math . These re-arrange calculus to put later ideas, easily understood and repeated, first in a way that aims to ease or avoid algebraic shocks. See too Volume 2, chapters 20 to 25. 
  •  Chapter 14 in Volume 3 if epsilons and deltas in the discussion of limits are hard to follow 
  • See Chapters 15 to 18 to understand that saying how to calculate a number or quantity directly or as a limit of approximations defines it.  Examples include what is slope, velocity, rate of change, derivatives, area under curves, integrals, logarithms and exponentials.
  • Volume 2, Three Skills for Algebra, Chapters 1 to 16, and 20 to 25 offer more preparation for calculus. 
The Volume 3 extras, site area,   offers the above advice and directions, and more.  

(Ages 16+) Preparation for Law, Science, Technology, Engineering & General Decision Making

  • Volume 1A, Pattern Based Reason,  describes the benefits, origins and the limitations of rule- and pattern-based methods in thought and deed.  What appears to be repeatable, reproducible and harmless on a small scale may lead to a mess on a larger scale. If you are planning to use, follow or write rules and methods for decision making, read this volume for a simple and essential description of key concepts.

For Tutors & Teachers:

How to Lessen Algebra Difficulties

Three remedies for algebra difficulties likely to be effective and involving a greater and clearer use of words are proposed for digestion and refinement. The remedies (a)  describe and illustrate three skills for algebra; (b) describe and illustrate the forward & backward use of formulas and equations,  proportionality relations included;  and (c) re-introduces the concept of what is a variable with words that can be understood  first before & then besides the shorthand roles of letters and symbols. The three skills and the two equivalent phrases  "Forward and Backward Use" and "Direct and Indirect Use" vocalizes a unifying and previously unspoken themes in the use of formulas and proportionality relations.

Before or besides the simple use of  formulas in primary school and of the  mastery via numerical examples of  methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of fractions, the algebraic description of these  operations on fractions (rules for them)  may give a taste of the shorthand role to come of letters and symbols in describing  associative, commutative and distributive properties for arithmetic with real and complex numbers.

The unavoidable occurrence of arithmetic and algebraic expressions, better seen in silence, too awkward to read aloud,  has been a huge barrier to the role of words in  understanding and describing algebraic skills and concepts. Formulas and equations like pictures are worth a thousand words. So the exposition or development of skills and concepts has been too quiet. Site pages provide a more vocal, a more audible path. 

Silence in the exposition or explanation of algebraic skills and concepts has twisted or complicated mathematics from first use of simple formulas to full-strength use of algebra in advanced calculus. In retrospect, there has been a domino effect.

While introducing more words into the exposition of mathematics, to lower one barrier and not raise another, we need to remember that  skill development and perfection requires some drill and practice - not too much but enough. The algebraic way of writing and reasoning before or during its development. requires mastery of arithmetic with fractions without a calculator - arithmetic should be repeatable, reproducible, verifiable and automatic. Calculators and spreadsheets may remove the burden of arithmetic in complicated situations, handling data, but a careful command of exact arithmetic with fractions remains a base for operations in algebra, trigonometry and calculus. Calculations with units of measurement and measurements themselves should also be developed and maintained.

Mathematicians: The student need to understand and have an operational command of what is a variable  before any mention of functions and sets in their instruction.  The neat function views may be a set-based codification of a concept that needs to be understood & mastered  before the codification begins.

For secondary mathematics, the easily understood and used remedies above lead to a greater use of words in development of algebraic skills and concepts, and in that, recognition of a unifying theme - the forward and backward use of equations.

The above vocal development of skills and concept can and should be helped by geometric perspectives. See the site starter lessons for (i)  solving linear equations,  (ii) the distributive law and  multiplication of both decimals and polynomials and (iii) complex numbers. See too the algebraic and geometric previews of calculus.

 

 

whyslopes.com
Entrance Level

Montreal Area Tutors

Pages For Teachers

Site Entrance & Hub
Permissions for Instructors
Lesson Plans - Sec I
Lesson Plan, Sec II
Lesson Plans - Sec III
Secondary Maths, Core Elements
Site History/Content
Site Reviews
Vol 1. Elements of Reason
Maps Plans Drawings
Quantitative_Skills/index.html
Order  Site Books

HIP, HIP, HIP, Hooray for site
content & history. Hype, Hype,
Hype, Hoorary,
for deception.

Your IP Address  & how to use it

Pages for Students

Site Entrance & Hub
25 hours per course
Site Areas by Age and Subject
Montreal Tutors
Entrance Continued
Still More Advice
Head Start Page
More Advice & Directions
Aims to adopt to aid
Arithmetic Check List
Fraction Skill and Concept Check List
Site History and Content
Books to Read
Complex No.s Intro.,.
Calculus Motivation
Calculus. Guide Short
Calculus. Guide-Long
Calculus Guide - Longest
Links - Many Subjects
Links - Games/Activities
Long Site Intro
Logos Cafe
Logic Check List
Mathematics Cafe
Math CheckList
A Site Map
Advice for Secondary I Students
Three Ways to be a Better Student
Reason for HS Mathematics

Three Links for Teachers:
(i) First Year High School Math - Lesson Plans with Fraction Focus (ii) Second Year High School Math - Lesson Plans with an algebra focus (iii) Algebra Lesson Plans

 

Help U Learn/ Teach

  1. Algebra
    words before symbols - direct & indirect use of formula, numerical versus algebraic solutions - what is a variable (more words)
  2. Arithmetic
    - exercises
    - with fractions
    - videos on primes, lcm, gcm,lcd, square roots etc
  3. Calculus - geometric preview, algebraic preview,
    3 study guides,
    much more
  4. Complex numbers
    -starter lesson with java applet - easy consequences  for trig & vectors in the plane
  5. Education
    - Empirical Course Design & Delivery
  6. Fractions
    - alone
    - by rote
    - with algebra
    - videos
  7. Functions - introduction
    hindsight - composition aka
    substitution
    -
  8. Geometry, Euclidean - Correspondence of trianglesTriangle construciton,  duplication & Isometry - Failure of ASA & the // line postulate - angle sum in triangles -// grams - Triangle Similarity
  9. Geometry- Analytic - functions, polynomials, complex numbers, unit circle trigonometry
  10. Logic
    - First Steps -
    Symbols in Logic -
     Occurrence & Truth Tables - Indirect Reason -Indirect Reason More
  11. Proportionality
    - Definition - Direct & Indirect Use - Numerical versus Algebraic Solutions
  12. Real Analysis
    - Decimal View of concepts and of proofs
  13. Rules &Patterns in Science, Technology & Society - Pattern Based Reason
  14. Mathematical Reasoning, empirical, inductive or deductive
  15. Units
    - in rates & slopes & (?) derivatives
    - in ratios & proportions - slopes & rates included
  16. Complex Numbers & Vectors & Trig
    trig expression for dot & cross - cosine law

[Top of this Page][[Site Exit] Back ] Site Entrance & Hub ] Next ][Comments, Reactions, Feedback]
www.whyslopes.com



All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners.
Copyright to comments & contributions are owned by the Poster. 
The Rest © 1995 onward by site author,   Alan Selby,
All Rights Reserved.