Math 7A, Lesson 1, 9/7/2014

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We covered number patterns, sequence, and general term of a sequence.

An ordered list of numbers is called a sequence. Each number in a sequence is called a term, and is identified by its position in the ordered list.

Terms are usually denoted by T1, T2, T3, …, or a1, a2, a3, … Note the use of subscripts to identify the positions.

The nth term of a sequence is called a general term of the sequence. And if we can use a formula to represent the general term, then we can find any term in the sequence of substituting in a real value.

For example, given Tn = n^2 + 2n -1, we can easily find T1, T101, T31, etc. by setting n to a particular value.

We looked at real world examples of number patterns.

Homework: workbook page 1:

1a – 1d, 2e – 2h, 3(a, c, e, g), 4(b, d, f, h), 5(a, c, e), 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19

 

Welcome to NCLS Math 7A, Fall 2014 Semester!

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The school starts on Sunday 9/7/2014. The classroom is 332. For each paid student, you will get a workbook.

Please visit my blog site at http://blog.newtonchineseschool.org/wangweidong for more information about this class, the textbook information, the teaching plan, etc.

I see most of the students have taken NCLS Math 6, which is the prerequisite for this class. This is good.

For those new students, you are required to go over the page for “New Student“, which contains helpful information for you to decide if you are ready for the class, including a placement test.

Remember, sending a student too early for a class does not do any good. The last thing you want is to make your kid hate Math and lose interest!

For all students, go over the “New Student” section as well, as it also contains information about homework, classroom rules, classroom expectation, etc.

I will start using my blog site exclusively for the communication with you guys, so get into a habit to check it often.

Once again, welcome to my class.

Math 7A, Lesson 14, 6/8/2014

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This is the last teaching lesson for this semester, we finish off Chapter 14 for Algebraic Manipulations.

Today we talked about simplifying algebraic fractions, fractions whose numerator and denominator are both polynomials — such expression is also called rational expression. We can eliminate the common factors. We talk about how to solve equations with algebraic fractions — such equation is also called rational equation. One important thing to remember when solving a rational equation is that any solution cannot make any denominator zero.

We talk about identity equations where it is true for all values for the variable involved.

We will have a review next week, followed by a final exam in two weeks (last day of school).

Homework: Page 148, #20 – 22, 26 – 32.

As it turns out, the school has designated next week (6/15) as the exam day, so we will have our exam next week too, with the last class (6/22)  going over the final exam.

Since we won’ t have time to review in class, here is what will be covered in the final exam. Students should look at their notes and homework to prepare:

  • Congruent triangles and similar triangles;
  • Measurement (area and volume) of sectors, cones, pyramids, spheres, areas of similar figures and volumes of similar solids;
  • Pythagora’s Theorem
  • Basic trigonometry and its applications;
  • Motion geometry: reflection, rotation, translation, enlargement, plus their combinations;
  • Basic statistics: bar and line graphs, Mode, Mean, and Medians;
  • Plynomial addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
  • Fractions and fractional equations

Math 7A, Lesson 13, 6/1/2014

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We are back to Algebra and go over polynomial addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

For addition and subtraction, it is important to remember to combine the terms with the same degrees. For example, you cannot combine a 2x^2 term with 3x term.

For multiplication, remember to multiply every term in one polynomial with every term in the other, then add them all up.

For division, we use the vertical form to do the division. We talk about the relationship between the divident, the divisor, the quotient, and the remainder.

Homework:

Chapter 14 homework: #1 – #17.

 

Math 7A, Lesson 12, 5/18/2014

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We cover the topics in Statistics II, averages.

While we commonly use the term “average” to mean the “arithmetic mean” in statistical sense, there are other kinds of averages in statistics.

We call the data scores, and the frequency is a term used to indicate the number of times a particular score occurs. We can use a frequency table to represent data, and use a histogram to represent the table.

Apart from the arithmetic mean or just mean, which is the sum of all scores divided by number of scores, we also have:

* Mode. which is the score that occurs most often in a distribution;

* Median, which is the middle score in the list (if the list has even number of scores, the median is the average of the middle two scores).

Homework:

Page 137: #1 – #12

Math 7A, Lesson 11, 5/12/2014

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We cover reading and drawing of pie chart, line graphs, and pictograms. This is part of Statistics I.

Again, these are topics students feel intuitive and straight forward.

With the extra time, we go over some more of the math contest results.

Homework:

Page 130: #1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 13, 14

 

Math 7A, Lesson 10, 5/4/2014

Weidong Post in Homework, Spring 2014, Teaching info
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We start the 2nd half of the spring semester with focus on statistics, the science about collection and representing data and how to read and draw different graphs.

We first introduce different ways to represent data: bar graph, pie chart, line graph, and pictogram graph. We talk about the pros and cons of each approach.

We then talk about how to read and draw bar charts.

With the extra time left, we talked about a few questions from math contest.

Homework:

P130. #3, 4, 10, 11, 12

Math Contest Winners: We Have 8!

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We have the final winners for the school wide math contest.  The following students from our class are winners:

Albert Zhang, 1st place, 5th grade

David Qian, 1st place, 6th grade

Conway Xu, 2nd place, 6th grade

Nina Wang, 1st place, 7th grade

Nathan Zhao, Jerry Han, Aaron Xu, Anika Luo, 2nd place, 7th grade

Congratulations to all the winners!

Math 7A, Lesson 9, 4/13/2014

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We gave back the math contest tests to the students and went over quite some of the questions. There are questions that needs knowledge that we have not taught, but there are many questions that our students should be able to do.

The good news is, it looks like 6 of our students will be in the top to get awards. We are finalizing the list and as soon as the list is finalized, I will let you know.

For the homework, I want to the students to go over the questions 1-10 and the ones we covered in the classroom today, to write down the steps so that they really know how to do them.

 

 

Math 7A, Lesson 8, 4/6/2014

Weidong Post in Spring 2014, Teaching info
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We have school wide math contest today. We will have the results in 2 weeks.