Archive for the ‘Algebra’ Category
Saturday, January 12th, 2008
There are numerous introductions to Vedic mathematics on the web. I won't be doing a general introduction to Vedic Math now. In this article I want to explore one particular Vedic mathematics technique, using something called bases, to optimize certain multiplication problems.
This technique is extremely powerful and it takes getting ...
Posted in Fast Arithmetic, Algebra | 3 Comments »
Monday, December 24th, 2007
A popular winter Math problem is the counting of presents given during the 12 days of Christmas.
On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree.
On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me 2 turtle doves, and ...
Posted in Algebra | 5 Comments »
Monday, December 10th, 2007
Here's a video on how to quickly square a 2-digit number. The technique is based on this algebra:
If you have a number with digits "ab" then the number is 10a+b.
(10a+b)^2 = 100a^2+20ab+b^2.
If you enjoy this video check out all of the Wild About Math! mathcasts.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wjxgz6r-_U[/youtube]
SHARETHIS.addEntry({
title: "Mathcast #4: Quick squaring ...
Posted in Mathcast, Fast Arithmetic, Algebra | 9 Comments »
Thursday, December 6th, 2007
A few people were underwhelmed with my video on how to multiply together a pair of 2-digit numbers without writing down partial results. They didn't see a time savings. Fair enough, although not needing to write anything but the three (or four) digits of the answer can be a nice ...
Posted in Fast Arithmetic, Algebra | 6 Comments »
Saturday, November 24th, 2007
Here's a game that's easy and leads to a nice exploration of number theory for those so inclined. Two people play. All you need is a sheet of paper and a pencil or pen. Here's how to play:
Each person thinks of a number between 1 and 50 without telling the ...
Posted in Game, Fun, Algebra | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, November 21st, 2007
I'm always impressed to see a new way to do something familiar. Recently, I happened upon a fascinating video, titled Weaving Numbers at the IsAllAboutMath web-site, which has some instructional Math-related videos.
Weaving Numbers demonstrates several non-traditional ways to do multiplication. I found the Napier's bones approach depicted fascinating as well ...
Posted in Education, Geometry, Algebra | 8 Comments »
Saturday, November 17th, 2007
More Fun With Mathematics by Jerome Meyer is a nice little book of interesting Math explorations. It's out of print but Amazon has a few very inexpensive used copies available. In the book I discovered this very odd volume formula that I've never seen before and couldn't find via Google. ...
Posted in Geometry, Algebra | 6 Comments »
Thursday, November 1st, 2007
I read lots of Math books and I've run into many many interesting Math "things" in my travels but here's something very clever I've never encountered before. Let's say you want to multiply 5 by 8. Do the following:
Plot the graph of y=x^2.
Draw a line that crosses the parabola where ...
Posted in Geometry, Algebra | 3 Comments »
Monday, October 8th, 2007
How many of you remember doing geometry proofs in High School? How many of you enjoyed writing them? I don’t know about you but I’ve always preferred pictures to words when it comes to understanding how something works.
“Proofs Without Words: Exercises in Visual Thinking” by Roger B. Nelsen is a ...
Posted in Fun, Beauty, Geometry, Algebra, Books | No Comments »
Monday, October 8th, 2007
www.algebra.com is a great free site for students needing help with their algebra homework. People who enjoy helping others with their algebra homework sign up as volunteer tutors. Students post their homework problems and the tutors answer them, ideally providing an explanation of how they got to the solution.
Some months ...
Posted in Algebra, Tutoring | No Comments »
