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Flashing back on Friday I’m reminded that we didn’t have calculators in school or home when I was in school (similar to the we walked two miles uphill both ways to get to school)! When calculators did make it to school they were nothing more than simple adding machines. Now students have access to not only adding machine type calculators on their phones but also graphing calculators (check out the Desmos web site), and phone apps like Photomath.
We all know that 8 / 2 (2+2) can be pretty tough, just look at the math equation that made the rounds the other day on Twitter that stumped a lot of people. Just so you know I think it should be written PE(M/D)(A/S)…. Arguing I think is still going on about whether it’s 16 or 1 (definitely 16) though it would have been better if the problem had included more parenthesis. Personally though I try to avoid adding a long list of numbers in my head (calculator to the rescue). (Picture the 8/2 as a fraction which it really can be, and it comes down to 4)
Graphing calculators become required by the time you reach Algebra II — some students don’t get there and that’s ok… but I think it’s fun and definitely explains everything little clearer if you can see it on a graph. For that use Desmos.com to graph your equations -even on the same graph paper and compare the equations. Sometimes it’s good to even just see if that slope is correct.
On the graph below I have three different lines graphed. I can turn off one at a time and see what effect any changes have…
