Algebra – Jon Oaks

The Mathematics of Weight Loss

By Jon OaksSep 01, 2013

The picture below was taken in college when I was around my heaviest weight ever of 314 lbs. I've always been a big person and I there is a lot that goes into why this is the case as well. Was it the way I was raised? Was it genetics? Was it just me eating myself into a hole? Well, this is not the place where I'm going to talk about that. What I will say, though, is that this is the most recent picture of me a little over 70 lbs lighter than I was at my highest weight.…

UncategorizedAlgebra, Calculus, Linear Algebra, Math for Education, Statistics

Mind Maps for Calculus, Algebra, and Statistics

By Jon OaksSep 10, 2012

This semester I decided that I wanted to organize all of the resources that I've found on the Internet onto Mind Maps for my Calculus, Algebra, and Statistics classes. There was just too much that I wanted to tell my students about every semester that it started to become too overwhelming to repost the links on my LMS every semester (my courses don't ever seem to copy very well from semester to semester). The results are below. Feel free to share with everyone. For the calculus map, bit.ly/calcmap For the algebra map, bit.ly/algebramap For the statistics map, bit.ly/statmap

UncategorizedAlgebra, Calculus, Mindmapping, Statistics

I Use Matrices in Everyday Life, Do You?

By Jon OaksMar 08, 2011

I am teaching a Finite Math class this semester and the majority of students in the class are business majors. I'm trying to make the class as relevant to them as possible, so I've been reading magazines such as INC, and Entrepreneur to try to get ideas for things that I can talk about in class. Well, here is one problem I came up with for my lesson on multiplying matrices. And by the way, I put a copy of the pie chart from the magazine on the Document Camera before even starting (I brought the magazine to class, actually). According…

UncategorizedAlgebra, Application, Finance

Mid-Week Ideas, Anyone?

By Jon OaksFeb 13, 2011

A couple of things I came across this week. Of course, there were more, but here are the highlights:1. TI-Nspire Videos over at Atomic Learning - These are wonderful walk-through videos which cover the basics, graphs and geometry, lists and spreadsheets, data and statistics, calculator and data collection. 2. TopicMarks - I heard about this wonderful tool this week in my Twitter feed that summarizes text documents for you. This has wide implications, such as allowing more free time to read other materials, or to just simply give an abstract for one of your own works.3. Inequality Match Game -…

UncategorizedActivity, Algebra, Calculator, Games, PDF, Twitter

Math Games for Integers, Multiplication, and Combining Like Terms

By Jon OaksJan 23, 2011

I have some slightly under-prepared students semester, so I suggested to them that they should try to work on their basic skills outside of class. However, this requires me to provide some recommended resources to them, and these are what I have discovered: Multiplication Factoris - Tetris-style game for multiplication facts. Penguin Jump - Fun Multiplication Game that can be played with up to 4 people from around the world. Dad's Worksheets - For those who just want the traditional worksheets to practice with. Combining Like Terms Combining Like Terms Quartet - This like terms game requires you to match the center term with its the appropriate…

UncategorizedAlgebra, Fractions, Games, Integers, Multiplication, Order of Operations, Worksheets

Factoring Activities and More

By Jon OaksDec 08, 2010

A few weeks ago a colleague of mine was in need of an activity for Factoring. He was ahead of his pacing chart and wanted something to fill up some class time with. I referred him towww.ilovemath.org, which has hundreds of free activities to download. Here is a list of a few that I have successfully used the in the classroom:Solving Equations Writing AssignmentTwo-Step Equation Concentration Partner Problems SlopeLinear Relationships Sudoku Wartime Battle (Solving Systems of Equations)MATHO! Logarithm Game Cutout - FactoringPowers of i (This is a student favorite) Unit Circle Trigonometry (Follow the White Rabbit)The Game of Greed (Basic Statistics)

UncategorizedAlgebra, Equations, Factoring, Logarithms, Slope, Statistics, Systems of Equations, Trigonometry

Algebra Activities Binder

By Jon OaksDec 07, 2010

I don't know whether this post should go under the category of "promotion" or not, but what I do know is that I regularly use Maria Andersen's Algebra Activities Binder in my classroom. We have been talking about solving equations in my basic mathematics class at IADT, and to finish out the chapter, today I used pages 3 through 6 from the chapter on equations. The students really seemed to enjoy working in groups on the pages, but it probably was too much for them to do within 1 hour I allotted for them to do it in. But after…

UncategorizedActivity, Algebra, Worksheets