Math 3308 Conceptual Algebra

Spring 2005

Dr. Duval

Reading assignment

Until spring break, continue to read sections 8.1-8.4 from the Student Resources Manual (blue book) on functions and their graphs.

Homework assignments

(Unless otherwise noted, all homework assignments will be from the "Exercises & More" section at the end of each chapter.)

Ch. 4: 2, 4, 8, 10, 39(using 225 trees).
Ch. 4: 26, 28, 30.
Ch. 4: 14, 16, 32, 36, 38.
Ch. 6: 6, 10, 14, 16, 24.
Ch. 6: 12, 32, 36.
Ch. 6: 20, 22, 26.
Activity 7.2 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Ch. 8 6, 8, 14, 20.
Ch. 8 26, 30, 34, 36.
Ch. 9 24, 36, 52, 56.
Ch. 9 14, 18, 42, 44, 48, due Thu. 21 Apr.

Activity reports

Activity 4.4: This is a group report.

Activity 6.6: You may work in pairs or individually.
Add the following questions:

6. Make up your own puzzle (and solve it!).
7. (This is the important part.) What are common features of the puzzles and of the solutions? Pay particular attention to the use of fractions and the idea of equivalent fractions.

Activity 7.3: This is an individual report.
Add the following question:

4. How does this work in general? In other words, given an arbitrary ratio problem, how do you construct the graph and equation?

Activity 8.4:This is an individual report.
In the second part of the activity ("Identifying Graphs of Functions"), only do part (a) for each of the four questions.

I am not adding any additional question at the end of this activity. But be sure that your "introduction" and "approaches" sections talk about common ideas in all the problems.

Activity 9.13:This is an individual report. Due Thu. 28 Apr.
This is largely a rephrasing of Activity 9.13. Start by doing the activities suggested there. Your report should answer the following question:

In the setup of Activity 9.13, where [triangle] ABC is allowed to be any triangle (not just the one shown in the book) and P is allowed to be any point inside or outside the triangle (in other words, anywhere except on the triangle itself), what can you say about [triangle] DEF?

As described in the activity report guidelines, explain why [triangle] DEF has these features, ideally with a careful proof, but, if you do not have a proof, then with numerous and carefully chosen examples that support your claim.

When you discuss your "approaches" in your report, do not explain how you built [triangle] DEF each time -- this is fairly routine. Instead focus on how you arrived at your solutions -- how you discovered [triangle] DEF has all the features you describe, and, if you do carefully prove that [triangle] DEF has all these features, how you figured out that proof.