# Wild About Math!Making Math fun and accessible

16Apr/110

## Wild About Math bloggers 4/8/11

Welcome to the April 8th edition of Wild About Math Bloggers!

What's special about Algebra II? The Washington Post reports that ...

Of all of the classes offered in high school, Algebra II is the leading predictor of college and work success, according to research that has launched a growing national movement to require it of graduates.

Hat tip to Shecky.

Try your hand at this problem that lends itself to proof by induction.

It is known that
$x + \frac{1}{x}$
is an integer number. Prove that $x^n + \frac{1}{x^n}$ is also an integer number for any integer n.

Discussion and hints: Use mathematical induction. First square the given integer number to show that $x^n + \frac{1}{x^n}$ is also an integer number, thus proving the statement for n = 2 .

Mr. Chase writes about making paper hyperbolic parabolas and identifies a YouTube video that shows how to do the folding.

Teaching College Math has "An Algebra Game for Trinomials."

From Futility Closet, here's a "pretty fact." Can you see why the fact is true?

a + b = c.

“Beauty is the first test,” wrote G.H. Hardy. “There is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics.”

Here's an interesting problem from the 360 Blog:

Problem 5.2.4: A box has three possible perimeters. Suppose box A has perimeters 12, 16, and 20, while box B has perimeters 12, 16, and 24. Which box has the greater volume?

If you're looking for good sources of Math videos check out this article at Free Technology for Teachers.

I'll leave you today with this fantastic cartoon from xkcd.