Recent content by Quantumduck

Well, if you solve it for y, then you get: y = k/x. This is an inverse variation. It could be as simple as that.

To expound on what MathWonk said. We have a perception in our country of math being a 'genius' thing or a 'gene' thing. Either we have the math gene or we don't, meaning either we have the capacity to understand math or we don't. However, we need to look at Cezanne vs. Picasso. Cezanne...

Forgive me if I am just way of base in replying to this, but ... If I understand math correctly (which is open for debate), then x/0 = undefined. Division by zero is undefined, it has no answer, let alone infinity. What Ben has been describing (as I understand it) is a different...

If you examine what the method is doing, it is multiplying each digit independently and then summing up the ones, the tens, and the hundreds place. It is the same process as long multiplication, just graphically instead of numerically. Seriously, do the problem side by side and you will see...

Be sure to check out MIT's OCW website. http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm Also, in the "Math and Science Tutorials" there are threads called "Free down loadable science texts". They also usually have links to free math texts. Some of the links I have are...

John Venn was a logician who took the standard Euler Diagrams and improved upon them by overlapping and requiring that the overlap be the Union, and that all elements of the sets be constrained to exist in some area of the diagram. Euler diagrams did not have to overlap, the circles could...

To be really good at calculus, which you will need for engineering, you need to be excellent at Algebra and you need an very good foundation in Trigonometry. After that, you can move on to Calc 1, Calc 2 (and Calc 3 if your program of study requires it). Algebra and Trig is the foundation...

CaptainQuasar, Thank you! I have bookmarked that, and will check it out in more detail. I am more interested in algebraic software right now, but it never hurts to keep track of all the amazing math software out there!

I have used Mathematica in College, and I agree, it rules. We were doing three dimensional rotations and animations, as well as four dimensional rotations through the three dimensional space. It is an awesome program. Now that I am a high school teacher, though, cost is an issue. I want...

This thread brings up a question I have been trying to determine for myself and a classroom project for next year. Comparing http://www.sagemath.org" and now Scilab, what program is easiest to learn and more importantly TEACH others to use? I need to get 3 dimensional graphs, and Maxima is...

Hey, hang in there. You picked a tough subject, like you said. A good night's sleep goes a long way, and develop those relationships with professors. It can pay huge dividends later when you are struggling. Don't ever give up.

If you can't retake the class, talk to a different professor than the one you had the first time, and ask him if he would mind if you sat in on the lectures. Even if you can't 'retake' it officially, that does not mean you can't retake it unofficially. If you are really serious about...

Dang, I knew I should have brought my copy home. I will look it up and post later. ------- Ok, looked it up. It is complex, so I will have to short cut it. The full citation, if interested is: Piccioto, Henry. (February 2008). A new path to the quadratic formula. Mathematics Teacher...

The latest edition of the Mathematics Teacher, published by the NCTM has a different way to derive the quadratic formula than completing the square. It is actually kind of elegant as well.

I would have to stick with the classic: e^(ipi) +1 = 0 It has multiplication, addition and exponents which are the three major operations, the multiplicative identity, the additive identity, equality, as well as two transcendental numbers and i, the imaginary unit. I mean, after all...