Use a Blog to Help Teach Your Math Class (Part 4)

theme_01

In the first post in this series, we briefly looked at what a theme is and what it does for your blog. Simply put, a theme in WordPress controls the overall look and how information is presented on a blog. The screenshot above shows several themes produced by WordPress. Each year, the organization produces a new theme. By picking a theme from this set, you can be guaranteed that it will be compatible with WordPress and any future upgrades to WordPress.

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How Do You Use Google Sheets To Do Row Operations For The Simplex Method?

In an earlier post, I showed how to set up a standard minimization problem from an application. In another post, I demonstrated how to find the corresponding dual maximization problem and to solve it with the Simplex Method. This algorithm is tedious and prone to arithmetic errors.

In the video below, the steps in the Simplex Methods are carried out in Google Sheets. The same steps can also be carried out in other spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel.

Please note that there is a typo in the original matrix in the process. The cell in D2 should be a 1 instead of a zero to account for the slack variable in the first constraint.

Rates and Rational Models

pe_quotient_ruleMany situations require us to take the derivative of a quotient. One situation like this is a model of a stocks price to earning ratio. In this situation the price is modeled by a function P(t) and the earnings by E(t).To find the rate at which the PE ratio is changing, you need to need to take the derivative of the model for the PE ratio.

The ratio is modeled by a quotient, P(t)/E(t). Since this is a quotient, we need to apply the quotient rule for derivative, pe_quo_01

but apply this to our functions. This means u will be replaced with P and v will be replaced with E to give

pe_quo_02

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Matrices with Technology

wolfram_01As you may have noticed, some matrix operations are very tedious by hand. In particular, matrix multiplication and matrix inverses are much easier to do using a graphing calculator or WolframAlpha. In the Weekly Learning Plan, I put several handouts to help you use your calculator to do these problems.

However, some of you do not have a graphing calculator…you’ll need to use WolframAlpha to carry out these operations.

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Use a Blog to Help Teach Your Math Class (Part 3)

scrn02As a mathematics teacher, it all begins and ends with how easy it is to put math into a blog. If it is cumbersome to get it online, it is a no go. If it is unattractive, it is a no go. If some types of math are not available, it is a no go.

There are a numbers of ways to put mathematics into a blog. Over the past few years I have settled on a method that allows me to put any type of mathematics into a blog. The result is attractive, but slightly cumbersome. To do this I use two software tools, Mathtype and SnagIt. Free trials are available for both tools. Other tools might also be used to create equations and to capture them as gif or jpeg images.

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