Monthly Archives: October 2011

Solving Absolute Value Equations and Inequalities

I have a way of organizing the steps for solving absolute value equations and inequalities  that I thought was simple, straight-forward and easy to explain.  (I am still trying to do a better job on this topic.  See this post … Continue reading

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c = canoe

Yesterday apropos of nothing a student stated, ” There is one thing I don’t like about you Mr. Hatton.”   I replied, “Only one thing?”  “Yes,” she said.  “You make us define our variables.  I hate that.”  I reaffirmed my … Continue reading

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Levels of Operations

Here is a pdf file of my summary of the levels of algebraic operations. LevelsofOperations

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Fast Fractions

This pdf file is a graphical summary of fast operations on fractions. Fast Fractions.

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Presentation Tools – I Try Prezi

There is a new presentation tool out there called Prezi in which  two-dimensional space is used to organize and present information. In contrast  PowerPoint  can be thought of as a linear presenter – one slide after another.  Here are two … Continue reading

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PBJ Economics

I never buy lunch.  In fact I have been bringing my lunch to work for around forty-five years.   A few days ago I began to wonder how much of my current nest egg could be attributed to this thrifty habit.  … Continue reading

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A Year of Nights of Wondering – IV

I was discussing the difference between the phrase “the square of z” and “the square root of z” in class yesterday.  I asked, “So what does the square root of z mean?”  One of my students said that it means … Continue reading

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Square Roots – Newton’s Method Revisited

In a previous post I calculated the square root of six using  Newton’s method.   It occurred to me then that a possibly faster implementation of the process could be to do the iteration algebraically and then do a single numerical … Continue reading

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Moneyball – The Movie: A Discussion

Spoiler alert:  This post is a discussion of the movie not a review – clearly a one-side “discussion” but nevertheless written with the assumption that the reader has seen the movie and knows how it ends. Moneyball is a visually … Continue reading

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