Regression on the Calculator

by Jon Oaks Comment Closed
Here are a few notes on regression and other stuff I've noticed over the past week: 1.  Remember my calculator post from last week?  Well, some of my Finite Math students were still having a little bit of trouble using the calculator to do Regression on the calculator.  This website on Cubic Regression seems to have done the trick for my students, and I don't seem to be getting nearly as many questions about how to do regression on the calculator now have I have started to circulate this link around.  So, I figured I would throw it out there as a resource for everyone else! 2.   If you have a student who needs extra help and you aren't fortunate enough to be teaching from a Pearson book that uses MyMathLab, you can always send your students over to InteractMath.  The student just needs to choose a book with similar topics to that of which you are...
Read More

Graphing Calculator Issues

by Jon Oaks Comment Closed
In my Finite Math class I have been heavily stressing the use of the graphing calculator, especially since the college requires the calculator for the course.  I would definitely show the students how to use the graphing calculator anyway, it's just that since it's required, I feel as if I have an extra obligation to make sure that the students are using the calculator that they spent their big bucks on.  Anyway, here are a few issues that I have run into so far this semester (and unfortunately, I ran into all of the issues on the same night so it totally looked like I didn't know what I was doing): Issue #1:  When using 'Math Print', the Radical Sign has a limit. My calculator is the TI-84+, which has the operating system upgrade.  Of course my calculator was in the new 'Math Print' mode since that is the default.  If you know anything about this mode, you...
Read More

Mid-Week Ideas, Anyone?

by Jon Oaks Comment Closed
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 - I actually found the direct link for this game from the North Carolina Public Schools first, and then hunted down the original source once I realized that the wonderful state of North Carolina has come up with what seems to be hundreds of activities for teaching math. ...
Read More

Miscellaneous Links

by Jon Oaks Comment Closed
After a recent afternoon meeting about statistics, I needed to find a few old links that I had buried away.  Well, here are a few odds and ends I found while looking: 1.  Virtual Math Lab at Texas A&M - This is a very good resource for College Algebra, Intermediate Algebra, and Beginning Algebra.  When I opened my link, it actually opened on 'Absolute Value Equations', which means that's probably what my students were struggling with when I initially discovered this website back in 2009. 2.  Quick-and-Dirty Guide to the TI-83, TI-83+, TI-84, and TI-84+ - Although it seems like it would be most useful for the beginning calculator student, I have to say that the time I used this website the most was when I taught Calculus, and I couldn't remember many of the calculus-related functions. 3.  Pete Falzone's On-line Office - I have been borrowing handouts from this guy for the longest time. The pre-algebra resources are especially good for...
Read More