I can factor because

Image

Narrative
Of course like all things, it was a little
hard to factor at first, but once I got the
hang of it I stopped making the little
mistakes, like putting the wrong + or sign or having the constants on the
wrong side.
Ex:
(m+2)(3m-7) instead of (m-2)
(3m+7)
Here I have already excelled in it to the
point where I could simply look at the
problem and convert it into factored
form in my head. Although Im not
perfect, problem 8 (back side) is
unsolvable so it took me longer try to
keep track of all of the possibilities until
I had to eventually had to write it down
then realize that it was one of those
problems.

At this point we just learned that we

werent actually factoring all the way.
For problem 3 what you see in the
square is what we were doing, what you
see circled is the final factored form. I
struggled with it at first because this
needed a lot of guess and checking,
regular factoring without an A value*
also requires guess and check but its a
lot easier, but to not only factor an a
value problem AND factor it all the way
in this new thing I just learned WITHOUT
a formula to go by was extremely
difficult. So I tried to find a pattern, and
I found out (on the back) that if you
factor out the A value you get three
numbers, one those three (I dont know
what to do if you get 2 or 4 factors, but
this works) numbers will be the
constant on the outside of the
parentheses and the other two will be
the coefficients.
Ex: If you look at problem A on the
back, the factors that you get out of the

A value 12 are 2, 2, and 3 which are in

the fully factored form.
Although after I figured that out my
groupmate Jem showed us that if you
divide the whole equation by the A
value, (like I did in problem 5) youll get
an easier equation to factor then, once
you factor it, you just tack the A value
to the outside. Which gave you a more
direct answer than the thing I found out.
I also just noticed that the same is
true for the constant or C value: if you
get its factored numbers one of those
will be number on the outside of the
parentheses (2 for problem A) and the
other two will be the constants in the
parentheses. (2 and 1 for problem A)

* Ax^2+Bx-C
an A value

The bolded A is called

For this worksheet we have to find the

X-intercepts for each quadratic
equation, we do this by replacing the
variable for a number that could get the
equation to equal zero. This was easy
because all you had to do was get the
constant and switch the signs,(+ to -)
but then they threw in some
coefficients, that messed some people
up a little bit, but I immediately saw,
that to find the answers all you had to
do was divide the constant by the
coefficient.
Ex: For number 2 you need to find a
number that can times by 5 then be
subtracted by 2 to get zero. So if, the 5
wasnt there and it was just the variable
K, K would be +2, to cancel out the
negative 2. So what times five equals 2?
Then I would divide 5 by 2 and get .4,
and .4 times five is +2, and 2-2 is zero.
And since you're always trying to find a
number that will equal the opposite
number of the constant. So ergo, you
divide the coefficient by the constant.
On the back side they gave us standard
form equations, so now we have to fully
factor it then find the x-intercepts.

I can Graph because

It was about here where we first
learned about the zero product
property. We did because how we
originally found the x-intercepts was
we just switched the signs for the
constants, but the coefficient that
you see on problem 3 changed that,
simply changing the signs wouldnt
do it. So we learned why we
switched the signs and it was to get
the constant to equal zero, so solve
for x for 2x-3. The answer was 3/2
(or .5). That would mean that the x
coordinate for the vertex would be
-1.25. And of course only working
with whole numbers I got a very
wired parabola when I tried to graph
it.. I thought of leaving it like that,
but I knew I could figure out what
was going wrong. After thinking of
very complicated ways that could
make it go wrong, I made a table so I
could visualise and keep track of
what I was doing. I thought of how
normally after thinking this hard the
solution was often very simple, so I
calmed my thoughts and made
myself look at the whole of this
situation, then I saw that if one of
the w-intercepts was at .5 then
maybe other points would have .5
on them too, and so I added them on
to my table and plugged it into the
equation and got what I was looking
for.

On the front it was simple enough,

factor it, find the x-intercepts, get
the y-intercept from the standard
form they already gave us, then find
the vertex using the x-intercepts and
the equation. But on the back, I
made a lot of mistakes when I
factored it, the signs were wrong
and the numbers were wrong then
they were right but on the wrong
side (I guess Im not an expert yet)
But luckily my table mates were kind
enough to double and triple check
my work helping me out along the
way.

When we were given this packet I

was surprised it was all normal
equations for graphing, nothing new
or particularly challenging, for these
problems are easy to me. As I kept
going through the packet I came
across decimal values again, but I
knew how to handle them this time,
to the point where I didn't need to
make a table. And found it as simple
as the others.

(P.s.- Please excuse the red lint that

was stuck on top of the scanner that
makes it look like red ink)
The quiz was overall easy for me,
I had to rethink things once or twice.
For example in question 2, I hadnt
considered to make a number a zero
to get the right answer until my
second try. The graphing wasnt hard
for me either. And I was rather proud
of myself to see that the only thing
that Mr.C had to say was,
Graphically, what does standard
form tell us? I responded with, The
y-intercept.

...#2...
I can graph because

For this one they gave us 2 graph

equations, f(x)=x^2 and f(x)=-(x4)^2.
We found out that if we put a +2
or -2 on the equation f(x)=x^2 the
parabola would move up and down
depending on the number that we
added.
Ex: f(x)=x^2+2 would be two
spaces higher than f(x)=x^2.
So we solved the middle
parabolas by tacking on numbers to
the equation. We had more trouble
solving the next ones. So we found
out that if constant on the outside, is
the y-intercept then that would
move the parabola up and down.
Then for the other side we thought
of what we could change in the
parabola: f(x)=-(x-4)^2 without
changing the value of 4 so we
switched the sign to get f(x)=(x+4)^2 and it worked, we landed
the parabola exactly where one on
the right was, then tacked on
numbers to move it up and down
like we did the others.
Ex:f(x)=-(x-4)^2+2
Doing this I learned that
sometimes I will get stuck, but most
of the time the answer is fairly
simple, and I just have to persevere
past the feeling of wanting to give
up and think it through.

Here is where I would put down

what I thought was the correlation
between the Vertex point and the
Vertex from. At first I actually had
it wrong: I thought thought the
constant on the outside was the Xintercept and not the Y-intercept
and that the constant on the inside
of the parathasis was the Yintercept and not the X-intercept
and that you dont switch the signs
for the constant on the inside of the
parenthesis.
Ex: f(x)=(x-a)^2+b
(b,a)
When really you switch the the sign
for the constant on the inside which
would be the X-intercept and the
constant on the outside would
simply be the Y-intercept.
Ex: f(x)=(x-a)^2+b
(+a,b)
I guess I learned that I wont be right
all the time and I should ask for
clarification if Im confused about
what it is for sure.

For the Quadratics Test I got two

wrong. They were problems: 3b and
4a. It was relatively easy for me, and
I never really got stuck. I felt pretty
confident that I did good because I
wasnt confused or struggled with
anything, but it was just simple
mistakes that made it so.

What really led me off for 3b was

that I forgot to apply the fact that it
was a negative parabola. So when I
found the factored form it was wrong
then I factored the wrong factored
form. My math wasnt necessarily
wrong, just mislead.

It was the same instance for 4a,

only slightly different. Instead of
forgetting about the negative, when
I was finding the x-intercept to find
the distance it went, I forgot about
the fact that when you have a
problem like this: (-x+2)(x-10) when
you find the x-intercept you switch
the signs for both of the constants
except for (-x+2) because the x is
negative the intercept stays with the
same sign.