For the most part math has been relatively easy for me throughout my career as a student, but it definitely hasn't been my best subject. In sixth grade I remember math being pretty easy, but I think more complex proportion problems were hard for me. I guess this was difficult for me just because there were a lot of steps involved in solving those problems and if you can't do one step, then you can't solve the rest of the problem. So that was what was most difficult for me. I guess I finally figured out how to do it by just figuring out how to do it one day, or asking a teacher, friend or my parents.
So far I haven't really struggled with anything in my algebra class other than maybe inequalities which can sometimes get confusing, but I understand them now. More recently, I was kind of confused with solving systems using substitution and elimination.
What we are doing in algebra is very interesting. This past week we have worked on how to find out when and where two cars will hit each other when they are going toward each other at different speeds. Or also when one car will catch up to the other when they start at different points, and the one in the back is faster. So I am going to explain how to solve these kinds of problems. First of all you need to find out the speed of each car, and also their starting point. Then you can get the equations for each line.
So here is an example of two equations: y= 40x+10, y= -25x+400. So the way you start is by putting the two equations together, and you do that by changing it to 40x+10= -25x+400, since those two equal each other. You know that because they both equal "y" so they must equal each other. So once you have this you just have to solve for "x". You end up getting x=6. Then you plug 6 in for "x" in either of the two equations. It doesn't matter which one because they are equal to each other. Once you do that you solve the problem to get what "y" equals. In this case "y" equals 250. So now you have the coordinates of the point where these two cars will hit each other: at (6,250).
This is how you get the coordinates to where two objects will hit each other or one catch up to the other. My example was of two cars hitting, but this works for the catching up as well. This method will work every time.
So, I am supposed to explain why square roots might be called that. Well I think the reason they are called that is because of the way you find the area of a square. Think of it, squares have four sides each with the same length, and you multiply two of those sides by each other to get the area. For example if you have a four inch square, you multiply four by four to get the area which is sixteen. So now you have sixteen. What is the square root of that number? Well its four because four times four is sixteen. Another example is if you have a five inch square. Multiply five times five and get an area of twenty-five. Then take twenty-five and find the square root of that which is five. So basically square root is just like area, but backwards, and a number can always be traced back to its root, or base, as a square.
RSS Feed