AlgebraHandbook Propedeutico

MathHandbook
ofFormulas,ProcessesandTricks
(www.mathguy.us)
AlgebraandPreCalculus
Preparedby:EarlL.Whitney,FSA,MAAA
Version2.8
April19,2016
Copyright200816,EarlWhitney,RenoNV.AllRightsReserved
Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
Page
Description
9
10
11
12
13
14
Chapter1:Basics
OrderofOperations(PEMDAS,ParentheticalDevice)
GraphingwithCoordinates(Coordinates,PlottingPoints)
LinearPatterns(Recognition,ConvertingtoanEquation)
IdentifyingNumberPatterns
CompletingNumberPatterns
BasicNumberSets(SetsofNumbers,BasicNumberSetTree)
15
16
Chapter2:Operations
OperatingwithRealNumbers(AbsoluteValue,Add,Subtract,Multiply,Divide)
PropertiesofAlgebra(Addition&Multiplication,Zero,Equality)
18
19
Chapter3:SolvingEquations
SolvingMultiStepEquations
TipsandTricksinSolvingMultiStepEquations
20
21
22
23
Chapter4:Probability&Statistics
ProbabilityandOdds
ProbabilitywithDice
Combinations
StatisticalMeasures
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
Chapter5:Functions
IntroductiontoFunctions(Definitions,LineTests)
SpecialIntegerFunctions
OperationswithFunctions
CompositionofFunctions
InversesofFunctions
TransformationTranslation
TransformationVerticalStretchandCompression
TransformationHorizontalStretchandCompression
TransformationReflection
TransformationSummary
BuildingaGraphwithTransformations
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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
Page
Description
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
Chapter6:LinearFunctions
SlopeofaLine(MathematicalDefinition)
SlopeofaLine(RiseoverRun)
SlopesofVariousLines(8Variations)
VariousFormsofaLine(Standard,SlopeIntercept,PointSlope)
SlopesofParallelandPerpendicularLines
Parallel,PerpendicularorNeither
Parallel,CoincidentorIntersecting
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
Chapter7:Inequalities
PropertiesofInequality
GraphsofInequalitiesinOneDimension
CompoundInequalitiesinOneDimension
InequalitiesinTwoDimensions
GraphsofInequalitiesinTwoDimensions
AbsoluteValueFunctions(Equations)
AbsoluteValueFunctions(Inequalities)
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
Chapter8:SystemsofEquations
GraphingaSolution
SubstitutionMethod
EliminationMethod
ClassificationofSystemsofEquations
LinearDependence
SystemsofInequalitiesinTwoDimensions
ParametricEquations
56
57
58
59
Chapter9:Exponents(Basic)andScientificNotation
ExponentFormulas
ScientificNotation(Format,Conversion)
AddingandSubtractingwithScientificNotation
MultiplyingandDividingwithScientificNotation
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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
Page
Description
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
Chapter10:PolynomialsBasic
IntroductiontoPolynomials
AddingandSubtractingPolynomials
MultiplyingBinomials(FOIL,Box,NumericalMethods)
MultiplyingPolynomials
DividingPolynomials
FactoringPolynomials
SpecialFormsofQuadraticFunctions(PerfectSquares)
SpecialFormsofQuadraticFunctions(DifferencesofSquares)
FactoringTrinomialsSimpleCaseMethod
FactoringTrinomialsACMethod
FactoringTrinomialsBruteForceMethod
FactoringTrinomialsQuadraticFormulaMethod
SolvingEquationsbyFactoring
73
74
75
76
77
79
Chapter11:QuadraticFunctions
IntroductiontoQuadraticFunctions
CompletingtheSquare
TableofPowersandRoots
TheQuadraticFormula
QuadraticInequalitiesinOneVariable
FittingaQuadraticthroughThreePoints
80
81
82
83
84
85
Chapter12:ComplexNumbers
ComplexNumbersIntroduction
OperationswithComplexNumbers
TheSquareRootofi
ComplexNumbersGraphicalRepresentation
ComplexNumberOperationsinPolarCoordinates
ComplexSolutionstoQuadraticEquations
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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
Page
Description
86
87
88
89
Chapter13:Radicals
RadicalRules
SimplifyingSquareRoots(ExtractingSquares,ExtractingPrimes)
SolvingRadicalEquations
SolvingRadicalEquations(PositiveRoots,TheMissingStep)
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
Chapter14:Matrices
AdditionandScalarMultiplication
MultiplyingMatrices
MatrixDivisionandIdentityMatrices
Inverseofa2x2Matrix
CalculatingInversesTheGeneralCase(GaussJordanElimination)
DeterminantsTheGeneralCase
CramersRule2Equations
AugmentedMatrices
2x2AugmentedMatrixExamples
3x3AugmentedMatrixExample
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
114
115
116
117
Chapter15:ExponentsandLogarithms
ExponentFormulas
LogarithmFormulas
e
TableofExponentsandLogs
ConvertingBetweenExponentialandLogarithmicForms
ExpandingLogarithmicExpressions
CondensingLogarithmicExpressions
CondensingLogarithmicExpressionsMoreExamples
GraphinganExponentialFunction
FourExponentialFunctionGraphs
GraphingaLogarithmicFunction
FourLogarithmicFunctionGraphs
GraphsofVariousFunctions
ApplicationsofExponentialFunctions(Growth,Decay,Interest)
SolvingExponentialandLogarithmicEquations
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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
Page
Description
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
Chapter16:PolynomialsIntermediate
PolynomialFunctionGraphs
FindingExtremawithDerivatives
FactoringHigherDegreePolynomialsSumandDifferenceofCubes
FactoringHigherDegreePolynomialsVariableSubstitution
FactoringHigherDegreePolynomialsSyntheticDivision
ComparingSyntheticDivisionandLongDivision
ZerosofPolynomialsDevelopingPossibleRoots
ZerosofPolynomialsTestingPossibleRoots
IntersectionsofCurves(GeneralCase,TwoLines)
IntersectionsofCurves(aLineandaParabola)
IntersectionsofCurves(aCircleandanEllipse)
129
130
131
131
132
133
135
137
138
139
Chapter17:RationalFunctions
DomainsofRationalFunctions
HolesandAsymptotes
GraphingRationalFunctions
SimpleRationalFunctions
SimpleRationalFunctionsExample
GeneralRationalFunctions
GeneralRationalFunctionsExample
OperatingwithRationalExpressions
SolvingRationalEquations
SolvingRationalInequalities
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
Chapter18:ConicSections
IntroductiontoConicSections
ParabolawithVertexattheOrigin(StandardPosition)
ParabolawithVertexatPoint(h, k)
ParabolainPolarForm
Circles
EllipseCenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
EllipseCenteredatPoint(h, k)
EllipseinPolarForm
HyperbolaCenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
HyperbolaCenteredatPoint(h, k)
HyperbolainPolarForm
HyperbolaConstructionOvertheDomain:0to2
GeneralConicEquationClassification
GeneralConicFormulaManipulation(Steps,Examples)
ParametricEquationsofConicSections
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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
Page
Description
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
Chapter19:SequencesandSeries
IntroductiontoSequencesandSeries
FibonacciSequence
SummationNotationandProperties
SomeInterestingSummationFormulas
ArithmeticSequences
ArithmeticSeries
PythagoreanMeans(Arithmetic,Geometric)
PythagoreanMeans(Harmonic)
GeometricSequences
GeometricSeries
AFewSpecialSeries(,e,cubes)
PascalsTriangle
BinomialExpansion
GammaFunctionandn !
GraphingtheGammaFunction
170
Index
UsefulWebsites
Mathguy.usDevelopedspecificallyformathstudentsfromMiddleSchooltoCollege,basedonthe
author'sextensiveexperienceinprofessionalmathematicsinabusinesssettingandinmath
tutoring.Containsfreedownloadablehandbooks,PCApps,sampletests,andmore.
http://www.mathguy.us/
WolframMathWorldPerhapsthepremiersiteformathematicsontheWeb.Thissitecontains
definitions,explanationsandexamplesforelementaryandadvancedmathtopics.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/
PurpleMathAgreatsitefortheAlgebrastudent,itcontainslessons,reviewsandhomework
guidelines.Thesitealsohasananalysisofyourstudyhabits.TaketheMathStudySkillsSelf
Evaluationtoseewhereyouneedtoimprove.
http://www.purplemath.com/
Math.comHasalotofinformationaboutAlgebra,includingagoodsearchfunction.
http://www.math.com/homeworkhelp/Algebra.html
Version 2.8
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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
SchaumsOutlines
AnimportantstudentresourceforanyhighschoolmathstudentisaSchaumsOutline.Eachbook
inthisseriesprovidesexplanationsofthevarioustopicsinthecourseandasubstantialnumberof
problemsforthestudenttotry.Manyoftheproblemsareworkedoutinthebook,sothestudent
canseeexamplesofhowtheyshouldbesolved.
SchaumsOutlinesareavailableatAmazon.com,Barnes&Noble,Bordersandotherbooksellers.
Note: This study guide was prepared to be a companion to most books on the subject of High
School Algebra. In particular, I used the following texts to determine which subjects to include
in this guide.
Algebra 1 , by James Schultz, Paul Kennedy, Wade Ellis Jr, and Kathleen Hollowelly.
Algebra 2 , by James Schultz, Wade Ellis Jr, Kathleen Hollowelly, and Paul Kennedy.
Although a significant effort was made to make the material in this study guide original, some
material from these texts was used in the preparation of the study guide.
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
OrderofOperations
Tothenonmathematician,theremayappeartobemultiplewaystoevaluateanalgebraic
expression.Forexample,howwouldoneevaluatethefollowing?
347
65
Youcouldworkfromlefttoright,oryoucouldworkfromrighttoleft,oryoucoulddoany
numberofotherthingstoevaluatethisexpression.Asyoumightexpect,mathematiciansdo
notlikethisambiguity,sotheydevelopedasetofrulestomakesurethatanytwopeople
evaluatinganexpressionwouldgetthesameanswer.
PEMDAS
Inordertoevaluateexpressionsliketheoneabove,mathematicianshavedefinedanorderof
operationsthatmustbefollowedtogetthecorrectvaluefortheexpression.Theacronymthat
canbeusedtorememberthisorderisPEMDAS.Alternatively,youcouldusethemnemonic
phrasePleaseExcuseMyDearAuntSallyormakeupyourownwaytomemorizetheorderof
operations.ThecomponentsofPEMDASare:
P
E
M
D
A
S
AnythinginParenthesesisevaluatedfirst.
Usuallywhentherearemultiple
operationsinthesamecategory,
forexample3multiplications,
theycanbeperformedinany
order,butitiseasiesttowork
fromlefttoright.
ItemswithExponentsareevaluatednext.
Multiplicationand
Divisionareperformednext.
Additionand
Subtractionareperformedlast.
ParentheticalDevice.Ausefuldeviceistouseapplyparenthesestohelpyouremember
theorderofoperationswhenyouevaluateanexpression.Parenthesesareplacedaroundthe
itemshighestintheorderofoperations;thensolvingtheproblembecomesmorenatural.
UsingPEMDASandthisparentheticaldevice,wesolvetheexpressionaboveasfollows:
InitialExpression:
3 4 7
65
Addparentheses/brackets:
347
SolveusingPEMDAS:
84
6 25
150
84
FinalAnswer
234
Version 2.8
6 5
Page 9 of 178
Note:Anyexpressionwhichis
ambiguous,liketheoneabove,is
poorlywritten.Studentsshouldstrive
toensurethatanyexpressionsthey
writeareeasilyunderstoodbyothers
andbythemselves.Useofparentheses
andbracketsisagoodwaytomake
yourworkmoreunderstandable.
April 19, 2016
Algebra
GraphingwithCoordinates
Graphsintwodimensionsareverycommoninalgebraandareoneofthemostcommon
algebraapplicationsinreallife.
y
Coordinates
Theplaneofpointsthatcanbegraphedin2dimensionsis
calledtheRectangularCoordinatePlaneortheCartesian
CoordinatePlane(namedaftertheFrenchmathematician
andphilosopherRenDescartes).
Quadrant2
Quadrant1
x
Quadrant3
Quadrant4
Twoaxesaredefined(usuallycalledthexandyaxes).
Eachpointontheplanehasanxvalueandayvalue,writtenas:(xvalue,yvalue)
Thepoint(0,0)iscalledtheorigin,andisusuallydenotedwiththeletterO.
Theaxesbreaktheplaneinto4quadrants,asshownabove.TheybeginwithQuadrant1
wherexandyarebothpositiveandincreasenumericallyinacounterclockwisefashion.
PlottingPointsonthePlane
Whenplottingpoints,
thexvaluedetermineshowfarright(positive)orleft(negative)oftheoriginthepointis
plotted.
Theyvaluedetermineshowfarup(positive)ordown(negative)fromtheoriginthepointis
plotted.
Examples:
Thefollowingpointsareplottedinthefigureto
theright:
A=(2,3)
B=(3,2)
C=(2,2)
D=(4,1)
O=(0,0)
Version 2.8
inQuadrant1
inQuadrant2
inQuadrant3
inQuadrant4
isnotinanyquadrant
Page 10 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
LinearPatterns
RecognizingLinearPatterns
Thefirststeptorecognizingapatternistoarrangeasetofnumbersinatable.Thetablecan
beeitherhorizontalorvertical.Here,weconsiderthepatterninahorizontalformat.More
advancedanalysisgenerallyusestheverticalformat.
Considerthispattern:
xvalue
yvalue
0
6
1
9
2
12
3
15
4
18
5
21
Toanalyzethepattern,wecalculatedifferencesofsuccessivevaluesinthetable.Theseare
calledfirstdifferences.Ifthefirstdifferencesareconstant,wecanproceedtoconvertingthe
patternintoanequation.Ifnot,wedonothavealinearpattern.Inthiscase,wemaychoose
tocontinuebycalculatingdifferencesofthefirstdifferences,whicharecalledsecond
differences,andsoonuntilwegetapatternwecanworkwith.
Intheexampleabove,wegetaconstantsetoffirstdifferences,whichtellsusthatthepattern
isindeedlinear.
xvalue
yvalue
FirstDifferences
0
6
1
9
3
2
12
3
3
15
3
4
18
3
5
21
3
ConvertingaLinearPatterntoanEquation
Creatinganequationfromthepatterniseasyifyouhave
constantdifferencesandayvalueforx=0.Inthiscase,
Theequationtakestheform
,where
mistheconstantdifferencefromthetable,and
bistheyvaluewhenx=0.
Intheexampleabove,thisgivesustheequation:
Note:Ifthetabledoesnothavea
valueforx=0,youcanstillobtain
thevalueofb.Simplyextendthe
tableleftorrightuntilyouhavean
xvalueof0;thenusethefirst
differencestocalculatewhatthe
correspondingyvaluewouldbe.
Thisbecomesyourvalueofb.
Finally,itisagoodideatotestyourequation.Forexample,if
4,theaboveequationgives
34
6 18,whichisthevalueinthetable.Sowecanbeprettysureourequationis
correct.
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
ADVANCED
Algebra
Whenlookingatpatternsinnumbers,isisoftenusefultotakedifferencesofthenumbersyou
areprovided.Ifthefirstdifferencesarenotconstant,takedifferencesagain.
n
3
1
1
3
5
7
n
2
5
10
17
26
37
2
2
2
2
2
Whenfirstdifferencesareconstant,thepatternrepresentsa
linearequation.Inthiscase,theequationis:y=2x5 .The
constantdifferenceisthecoefficientofxintheequation.
3
5
7
9
11
2
2
2
2
Whenseconddifferencesareconstant,thepatternrepresentsa
quadraticequation.Inthiscase,theequationis:y=x 2 +1 .The
constantdifference,dividedby2,givesthecoefficientofx2inthe
equation.
Whentakingsuccessivedifferencesyieldspatternsthatdonotseemtolevelout,thepattern
maybeeitherexponentialorrecursive.
n
5
7
11
19
35
67
n
2
3
5
8
13
21
Version 2.8
2
4
8
16
32
2
4
8
16
Inthepatterntotheleft,noticethatthefirstandsecond
differencesarethesame.Youmightalsonoticethatthese
differencesaresuccessivepowersof2.Thisistypicalforan
exponentialpattern.Inthiscase,theequationis:y=2 x +3 .
1
2
3
5
8
1
1
2
3
Inthepatterntotheleft,noticethatthefirstandsecond
differencesappeartoberepeatingtheoriginalsequence.When
thishappens,thesequencemayberecursive.Thismeansthat
eachnewtermisbasedonthetermsbeforeit.Inthiscase,the
equationis:y n =y n1 +y n2 ,meaningthattogeteachnewterm,
youaddthetwotermsbeforeit.
Page 12 of 178
April 19, 2016
ADVANCED
Algebra
Thefirststepincompletinganumberpatternistoidentifyit.Then,workfromtherighttotheleft,fillingin
thehighestorderdifferencesfirstandworkingbackwards(left)tocompletethetable.Belowaretwo
examples.
Example1
Example2
n
1
6
25
62
123
214
n
1
6
25
62
123
214
n
1
6
25
62
123
214
7
19
37
61
91
12
18
24
30
7
19
37
61
91
n
1
7
6
19
25
37
62
61
123
91
214
127
341
169
510
217
727
12
18
24
30
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
3
6
6
6
6
6
6
Considerintheexamplesthesequencesofsix
numberswhichareprovidedtothestudent.Youare
askedtofindtheninthtermofeachsequence.
n
2
3
5
8
13
21
Step1:Createatableofdifferences.Takesuccessive
differencesuntilyougetacolumnofconstant
differences(Example1)oracolumnthatappearsto
repeatapreviouscolumnofdifferences(Example2).
n
2
3
5
8
13
21
Step2:Inthelastcolumnofdifferencesyoucreated,
continuetheconstantdifferences(Example1)orthe
repeateddifferences(Example2)downthetable.
Createasmanyentriesasyouwillneedtosolvethe
problem.Forexample,ifyouaregiven6termsand
askedtofindthe9thterm,youwillneed3(=96)
additionalentriesinthelastcolumn.
n
2
3
5
8
13
21
Step3:Workbackwards(fromrighttoleft),fillingin
eachcolumnbyaddingthedifferencesinthecolumn
totheright.
n
2
3
5
8
13
21
34
55
89
Intheexampletotheleft,thecalculationsare
performedinthefollowingorder:
2
Column :30+6=36;36+6=42;42+6=48
Column :91+36=127;127+42=169;169+48=217
Columnn:214+127=341;341+169=510;510+217=727
1
2
3
5
8
1
1
2
3
1
2
3
5
8
1
1
2
3
1
2
3
5
8
13
21
34
1
1
2
3
5
8
13
0
1
1
0
1
1
2
3
5
3
0
1
1
2
3
5
Thefinalanswerstotheexamplesaretheninthitemsineachsequence,theitemsinboldred.
Version 2.8
Page 13 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
BasicNumberSets
NumberSet
Definition
Examples
NaturalNumbers(or,
CountingNumbers)
Numbersthatyouwouldnormally
countwith.
1,2,3,4,5,6,
WholeNumbers
Addthenumberzerotothesetof
NaturalNumbers
0,1,2,3,4,5,6,
Integers
Wholenumbersplusthesetof
negativeNaturalNumbers
3,2,1,0,1,2,3,
Anynumberthatcanbeexpressed
Allintegers,plusfractionsand
mixednumbers,suchas:
intheform ,whereaandbare
RationalNumbers
integersand
2
3
0.
Anynumberthatcanbewrittenin
decimalform,evenifthatformis
infinite.
RealNumbers
17
6
4
3
5
Allrationalnumbersplusroots
andsomeothers,suchas:
2, 12, ,e
BasicNumberSetTree

RealNumbers
Rational
Irrational
Integers
Fractionsand
MixedNumbers
Whole
Numbers
Natural
Numbers
Version 2.8
Negative
Integers
Zero
Page 14 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
OperatingwithRealNumbers
AbsoluteValue
Theabsolutevalueofsomethingisthedistanceitisfromzero.Theeasiestwaytogetthe
absolutevalueofanumberistoeliminateitssign.Absolutevaluesarealwayspositiveor0.
1 5
1 5
AddingandSubtractingRealNumbers
AddingNumberswiththeSameSign:
AddingNumberswithDifferentSigns:
Addthenumberswithoutregard
tosign.
Givetheanswerthesamesignas
theoriginalnumbers.
Examples:
6
3
12 6 18
Ignorethesignsandsubtractthe
smallernumberfromthelargerone.
Givetheanswerthesignofthenumber
withthegreaterabsolutevalue.
Examples:
6
3
3
7
11 4
SubtractingNumbers:
Changethesignofthenumberornumbersbeingsubtracted.
Addtheresultingnumbers.
Examples:
6
3
6
3
3
13 4 13
4
MultiplyingandDividingRealNumbers
NumberswiththeSameSign:
Version 2.8
NumberswithDifferentSigns:
Multiplyordividethenumbers
withoutregardtosign.
Givetheanswera sign.
Examples:
6 3
18 18
12 3
4 4
Multiplyordividethenumberswithout
regardtosign.
Givetheanswera sign.
Examples:
6 3
18
12
3
4
Page 15 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
PropertiesofAlgebra
PropertiesofAdditionandMultiplication.Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:
Property
DefinitionforAddition
ClosureProperty
isarealnumber
IdentityProperty
DefinitionforMultiplication
isarealnumber
InverseProperty
CommutativeProperty
AssociativeProperty
DistributiveProperty
PropertiesofZero.Foranyrealnumbera:
0
Multiplicationby0
0DividedbySomething
Divisionby0
Version 2.8
Page 16 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
PropertiesofAlgebra
OperationalPropertiesofEquality.Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:
Property
Definition
AdditionProperty
SubtractionProperty
MultiplicationProperty
DivisionProperty
OtherPropertiesofEquality.Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:
Property
Definition
ReflexiveProperty
SymmetricProperty
TransitiveProperty
SubstitutionProperty
Version 2.8
Page 17 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SolvingMulti StepEquations
ReversePEMDAS
OnesystematicwaytoapproachmultistepequationsisReversePEMDAS.PEMDASdescribes
theorderofoperationsusedtoevaluateanexpression.Solvinganequationistheoppositeof
evaluatingit,soreversingthePEMDASorderofoperationsseemsappropriate.
Theguidingprinciplesintheprocessare:
Eachstepworkstowardisolatingthevariableforwhichyouaretryingtosolve.
EachstepundoesanoperationinReversePEMDASorder:
Subtraction
Inverses
Division
Inverses
Multiplication
Exponents
Inverses
Logarithms
Parentheses
Inverses
RemoveParentheses(andrepeatprocess)
Addition
Note:Logarithmsarethe
inverseoperatortoexponents.
Thistopicistypicallycoveredin
thesecondyearofAlgebra.
Thelistaboveshowsinverseoperationrelationships.Inordertoundoanoperation,you
performitsinverseoperation.Forexample,toundoaddition,yousubtract;toundodivision,
youmultiply.Hereareacoupleofexamples:
Example1
Example2
Solve:
Step1:Add4
3
4
4
Result:
3
Step2:Divideby3 3
Result:
14
4
Solve:
Step1:Add3
18
3
Result:
2 2
Step2:Divideby2 2
2
2
Result:
2
Step3:Removeparentheses
5
5
1
5
Noticethatweaddandsubtractbeforewe
multiplyanddivide.ReversePEMDAS.
Result:
Step4:Subtract5
2 2
5
3
3
5
3
Result:
2
6
Withthisapproach,youwillbeableto
Step5:Divideby2
2
2
solvealmostanymultistepequation.As
Result:
3
yougetbetteratit,youwillbeabletouse
someshortcutstosolvetheproblemfaster.
Sincespeedisimportantinmathematics,learningafewtipsandtrickswithregardtosolving
equationsislikelytobeworthyourtime.
Version 2.8
Page 18 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
TipsandTricksinSolvingMulti StepEquations
FractionalCoefficients
Fractionspresentastumblingblocktomanystudentsinsolvingmultistepequations.When
stumblingblocksoccur,itisagoodtimetodevelopatricktohelpwiththeprocess.Thetrick
shownbelowinvolvesusingthereciprocalofafractionalcoefficientasamultiplierinthe
solutionprocess.(Rememberthatacoefficientisanumberthatismultipliedbyavariable.)
Example1
Multiplyby :
Solve:
Result:
Explanation:Since isthereciprocalof ,
whenwemultiplythem,weget1,and
1
.Usingthisapproach,wecanavoid
dividingbyafraction,whichismoredifficult.
12
Example2
Solve:
Explanation: 4isthereciprocalof
Multiplyby 4:
Result:
,so
whenwemultiplythem,weget1.Notice
theuseofparenthesesaroundthenegative
numbertomakeitclearwearemultiplying
andnotsubtracting.
AnotherApproachtoParentheses
IntheReversePEMDASmethod,parentheses
arehandledafterallotheroperations.
Sometimes,itiseasiertooperateonthe
parenthesesfirst.Inthisway,youmaybeable
torestatetheprobleminaneasierformbefore
solvingit.
Example3,atright,isanotherlookatthe
probleminExample2onthepreviouspage.
Usewhicheverapproachyoufindmosttoyour
liking.Theyarebothcorrect.
Version 2.8
Example3
Solve:
2 2
Step1:Eliminateparentheses
Result:
4
Step2:Combineconstants
10
7
7
Result:
Step3:Subtract7
Result:
Step4:Divideby4
Result:
Page 19 of 178
4
4
5
7
12
4
3
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ProbabilityandOdds
Probability
Probabilityisameasureofthelikelihoodthataneventwilloccur.Itdependsonthenumberof
outcomesthatrepresenttheeventandthetotalnumberofpossibleoutcomes.Inequationterms,
Example1:Theprobabilityofaflippedcoinlandingasaheadis1/2.Therearetwoequallylikelyevents
whenacoinisflippeditwillshowaheadoritwillshowatail.So,thereisonechanceoutoftwothat
thecoinwillshowaheadwhenitlands.
Example2:Inajar,thereare15bluemarbles,10redmarblesand7greenmarbles.Whatisthe
probabilityofselectingaredmarblefromthejar?Inthisexample,thereare32totalmarbles,10of
whicharered,sothereisa10/32(or,whenreduced,5/16)probabilityofselectingaredmarble.
10
32
10
32
16
Odds
Oddsaresimilartoprobability,exceptthatwemeasurethenumberofchancesthataneventwilloccur
relativetothenumberofchancesthattheeventwillnotoccur.
Intheaboveexamples,
1
10
10
5
1
1
22
22 11
1
Notethatthenumeratorandthedenominatorinanoddscalculationaddtothetotalnumberof
possibleoutcomesinthedenominatorofthecorrespondingprobabilitycalculation.
Tothebeginningstudent,theconceptofoddsisnotasintuitiveastheconceptofprobabilities;
however,theyareusedextensivelyinsomeenvironments.
Version 2.8
Page 20 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ProbabilitywithDice
SingleDie
Probabilitywithasingledieisbasedonthenumberofchancesofaneventoutof6possible
outcomesonthedie.Forexample:
TwoDice
Probabilitywithtwodiceisbasedonthenumberofchancesofaneventoutof36possible
outcomesonthedice.Thefollowingtableofresultswhenrolling2diceishelpfulinthisregard:
1stDie
2ndDie
10
10
10
11
11
12
Theprobabilityofrollinganumberwithtwodiceisthenumberoftimesthatnumberoccursin
thetable,dividedby36.Herearetheprobabilitiesforallnumbers2to12.
2
Version 2.8
10
Page 21 of 178
11
12
April 19, 2016
Algebra
Combinations
SingleCategoryCombinations
Thenumberofcombinationsofitemsselectedfromaset,severalatatime,canbecalculated
relativelyeasilyusingthefollowingtechnique:
Technique:Createaratiooftwoproducts.Inthenumerator,startwiththenumberof
totalitemsintheset,andcountdownsothetotalnumberofitemsbeingmultipliedis
equaltothenumberofitemsbeingselected.Inthedenominator,startwiththe
numberofitemsbeingselectedandcountdownto1.
Example:Howmany
combinationsof3itemscan
beselectedfromasetof8
items?Answer:
876
56
321
Example:Howmany
items?Answer:
13 12 11 10
715
4321
Example:Howmany
items?Answer:
30 2
435
21
MultipleCategoryCombinations
Whencalculatingthenumberofcombinationsthatcanbecreatedbyselectingitemsfrom
severalcategories,thetechniqueissimpler:
Technique:Multiplythenumbersofitemsineachcategorytogetthetotalnumberof
possiblecombinations.
Example:Howmanydifferent
pizzascouldbecreatedifyou
have3kindsofdough,4kinds
ofcheeseand8kindsof
toppings?
Answer:
348
6
Example:Howmanydifferent
outfitscanbecreatedifyou
have5pairsofpants,8shirts
and4jackets?
Answer:
5 8 4 160
Example:Howmanydesigns
foracarcanbecreatedifyou
canchoosefrom12exterior
colors,3interiorcolors,2
interiorfabricsand5typesof
wheels?Answer:
12 3 2 5 360
Version 2.8
Page 22 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
StatisticalMeasures
Statisticalmeasureshelpdescribeasetofdata.Adefinitionofanumberoftheseisprovidedinthetablebelow:
Concept
Description
Calculation
Example1
Example2
DataSet
Numbers
35,35,37,38,45
15,20,20,22,25,54
Average
Addthevaluesand
dividethetotalbythe
numberofvalues
Median
Middle
Arrangethevaluesfrom
lowtohighandtakethe
middlevalue(1)
37
21(1)
Mode
Most
Thevaluethatappears
mostofteninthedata
set
35
20
Size
Thedifferencebetween
thehighestandlowest
valuesinthedataset
4535=10
5415=39
Oddballs
Valuesthatlookvery
differentfromtheother
valuesinthedataset
none
54
Mean
(1)
Range
(2)
Outliers
35
35
37
5
38
45
38
15
18
22
22
25
54
26
Notes:
(1) Ifthereareanevennumberofvalues,themedianistheaverageofthetwomiddlevalues.InExample2,themedianis21,
whichistheaverageof20and22.
(2) Thequestionofwhatconstitutesanoutlierisnotalwaysclear.Althoughstatisticiansseektominimizesubjectivityinthe
definitionofoutliers,differentanalystsmaychoosedifferentcriteriaforthesamedataset.
Version 2.8
Page 23 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
IntroductiontoFunctions
Definitions
ARelationisarelationshipbetweenvariables,usuallyexpressedasanequation.
Inatypicalxyequation,theDomainofarelationisthesetofxvaluesforwhichy
valuescanbecalculated.Forexample,intherelation
thedomainis
0
becausethesearethevaluesofxforwhichasquarerootcanbetaken.
Inatypicalxyequation,theRangeofarelationisthesetofyvaluesthatresultforall
valuesofthedomain.Forexample,intherelation
therangeis
0because
thesearethevaluesofythatresultfromallthevaluesofx.
AFunctionisarelationinwhicheachelementinthedomainhasonlyone
correspondingelementintherange.
AOne to OneFunctionisafunctioninwhicheachelementintherangeisproducedby
onlyoneelementinthedomain.
FunctionTestsin2 Dimensions
VerticalLineTestIfaverticallinepassesthroughthegraphofarelationinanytwolocations,
itisnotafunction.Ifitisnotpossibletoconstructaverticallinethatpassesthroughthegraph
ofarelationintwolocations,itisafunction.
HorizontalLineTestIfahorizontallinepassesthroughthegraphofafunctioninanytwo
locations,itisnotaonetoonefunction.Ifitisnotpossibletoconstructahorizontallinethat
passesthroughthegraphofafunctionintwolocations,itisaonetoonefunction.
Examples:
Figure1:
Figure2:
Notafunction.
Figure3:
Failsverticallinetest.
Isafunction,butnotaone
toonefunction.
Passesverticallinetest.
Passesverticallinetest.
Passeshorizontallinetest.
Version 2.8
Isaonetoonefunction.
Failshorizontallinetest.
Page 24 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SpecialIntegerFunctions
GreatestIntegerFunction
AlsocalledtheFloorFunction,thisfunctiongivesthe
greatestintegerlessthanorequaltoanumber.There
aretwocommonnotationsforthis,asshowninthe
examplesbelow.
Notationandexamples:
3 5
27
2 4
71
Inthegraphtotheright,noticethesoliddotsontheleftofthesegments(indicatingthepointsare
included)andtheopenlinesontherightofthesegments(indicatingthepointsarenotincluded).
LeastIntegerFunction
AlsocalledtheCeilingFunction,thisfunctiongivesthe
leastintegergreaterthanorequaltoanumber.The
commonnotationforthisisshownintheexamples
below.
3 5
27
Inthegraphtotheright,noticetheopendotsonthe
leftofthesegments(indicatingthepointsarenotincluded)andthecloseddotsontherightofthe
segments(indicatingthepointsareincluded).
NearestIntegerFunction
AlsocalledtheRoundingFunction,thisfunctiongives
thenearestintegertoanumber(roundingtotheeven
numberwhenavalueendsin.5).Thereisnoclean
notationforthis,asshownintheexamplesbelow.
35
27
Inthegraphtotheright,noticetheopendotsonthe
leftofthesegments(indicatingthepointsarenot
included)andthecloseddotsontherightofthesegments(indicatingthepointsareincluded).
Version 2.8
Page 25 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
FunctionNotation
Functionnotationreplacesthevariableywithafunctionname.Thexinparenthesesindicates
thatxisthedomainvariableofthefunction.Byconvention,functionstendtousethelettersf,
g,andhasnamesofthefunction.
Thedomainofthecombination
offunctionsistheintersection
ofthedomainsofthetwo
individualfunctions.Thatis,
thecombinedfunctionhasa
valueinitsdomainifandonlyif
thevalueisinthedomainof
eachindividualfunction.
AddingFunctions
SubtractingFunctions
MultiplyingFunctions
DividingFunctions
Examples:
Let:
1Then:
Notethatin
thereistherequirement
1.Thisisbecause
0inthe
denominatorwouldrequiredividingby0,producinganundefinedresult.
OtherOperations
Otheroperationsofequalityalsoholdforfunctions,forexample:
Version 2.8
Page 26 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
CompositionofFunctions
InaCompositionofFunctions,firstonefunctionisperformed,andthentheother.The
notationforcompositionis,forexample:
.Inbothofthesenotations,
thefunctiongisperformedfirst,andthenthefunctionfisperformedontheresultofg.
Alwaysperformthefunctionclosesttothevariablefirst.
DoubleMapping
Acompositioncanbethoughtofasadoublemapping.Firstgmapsfromitsdomaintoits
range.Then,fmapsfromtherangeofgtotherangeoff:
Rangeofg
Domainofg
Rangeoff
Domainoff
TheWordsMethod
Example:Let
and
Then:
And:
Intheexample,
Thefunction sayssquaretheargument.
Thefunction saysadd1totheargument.
Sometimesitiseasiertothinkofthefunctionsin
wordsratherthanintermsofanargumentlikex.
saysadd1first,thensquaretheresult.
sayssquarefirst,thenadd1totheresult.
Usingthewordsmethod,
Calculate:
g:add1toit 12
f:squareit
Version 2.8
12
Calculate:
f:squareit
g:add1toit 4
Page 27 of 178
2
2
4
1
April 19, 2016
Algebra
InversesofFunctions
Inorderforafunctiontohaveaninverse,itmustbeaonetoonefunction.Therequirement
forafunctiontobeaninverseis:
Thenotation
isusedfortheInverseFunctionof
Anotherwayofsayingthisisthatif
,then
forall inthedomainof .
DerivinganInverseFunction
Thefollowingstepscanbeusedtoderiveaninversefunction.Thisprocessassumesthatthe
originalfunctionisexpressedintermsof
.
Makesurethefunctionisonetoone.Otherwiseithasnoinverse.Youcanaccomplish
thisbygraphingthefunctionandapplyingtheverticalandhorizontallinetests.
Substitutethevariableyfor
.
Exchangevariables.Thatis,changeallthexstoysandalltheystoxs.
Solveforthenewyintermsofthenewx.
(Optional)Switchtheexpressionsoneachsideoftheequationifyoulike.
Replacethevariabley
.
Checkyourwork.
Examples:
Substitute for
Exchangevariables:
Subtract2:
Multiplyby3:
Switchsides:
6
3
Version 2.8
Exchangevariables:
Add1:
Divideby2:
Switchsides:
ChangeNotation:
Tochecktheresult,notethat:
Tochecktheresult,notethat:
ChangeNotation:
1
3
3
Substitute for
Derivetheinverseof:
Derivetheinverseof:
1
2
Page 28 of 178
1
2
April 19, 2016
Algebra
TransformationTranslation
ATranslationisamovementofthegraphofarelationtoadifferentlocationintheplane.It
preservestheshapeandorientationofthegraphonthepage.Alternatively,atranslationcan
bethoughtofasleavingthegraphwhereitisandmovingtheaxesaroundontheplane.
InAlgebra,thetranslationsofprimaryinterestaretheverticalandhorizontaltranslationsofa
graph.
VerticalTranslation
Startingform:
VerticalTranslation:
Ateachpoint,thegraphofthetranslationis unitshigheror
lowerdependingonwhether ispositiveornegative.The
letter isusedasaconventionwhenmovingupordown.In
algebra, usuallyrepresentsayvalueofsomeimportance.
Note:
Apositive shiftsthegraphup.
Anegative shiftsthegraphdown.
HorizontalTranslation
Startingform:
HorizontalTranslation:
Ateachpoint,thegraphofthetranslationis unitsto
theleftorrightdependingonwhether ispositiveor
negative.Theletter isusedasaconventionwhen
movingleftorright.Inalgebra, usuallyrepresentsan
xvalueofsomeimportance.
Note:
Apositive shiftsthegraphtotheleft.
Anegative shiftsthegraphtotheright.
Forhorizontaltranslation,thedirectionofmovementofthegraphiscounter intuitive;be
carefulwiththese.
Version 2.8
Page 29 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
TransformationVerticalStretchandCompression
AVerticalStretchorCompressionisastretchorcompressionintheverticaldirection,relative
tothexaxis.Itdoesnotslidethegrapharoundontheplanelikeatranslation.Analternative
viewofaverticalstretchorcompressionwouldbeachangeinthescaleoftheyaxis.
VerticalStretch
Startingform:
VerticalStretch:
Ateachpoint,thegraphisstretchedverticallybyafactorof
.Theresultisanelongatedcurve,onethatexaggeratesall
ofthefeaturesoftheoriginal.
VerticalCompression
Startingform:
VerticalCompression:
Ateachpoint,thegraphiscompressedverticallybya
factorof .Theresultisaflattenedoutcurve,onethat
mutesallofthefeaturesoftheoriginal.
Note:Theformsoftheequations
forverticalstretchandvertical
compressionarethesame.The
onlydifferenceisthevalueof .
Valueof
in
reflection
xaxis
1
Version 2.8
ResultingCurve
compression
originalcurve
stretch
Page 30 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
TransformationHorizontalStretchandCompression
AHorizontalStretchorCompressionisastretchorcompressioninthehorizontaldirection,
relativetotheyaxis.Itdoesnotslidethegrapharoundontheplanelikeatranslation.An
alternativeviewofahorizontalstretchorcompressionwouldbeachangeinthescaleofthex
axis.
HorizontalStretch
Startingform:
HorizontalStretch:
Ateachpoint,thegraphisstretchedhorizontally
byafactorof .Theresultisawidenedcurve,one
thatexaggeratesallofthefeaturesoftheoriginal.
HorizontalCompression
Startingform:
HorizontalCompression:
Ateachpoint,thegraphiscompressedhorizontallybya
factorof .Theresultisaskinniercurve,onethatmutes
Note:Theformsoftheequations
forthehorizontalstretchandthe
horizontalcompressionarethe
same.Theonlydifferenceisthe
valueof .
allofthefeaturesoftheoriginal.
Valueof
in
reflection
ResultingCurve
stretch
originalcurve
compression
Note:Forhorizontalstretchandcompression,thechangeinthegraphcausedbythevalue
ofbiscounter intuitive;becarefulwiththese.
Version 2.8
Page 31 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
TransformationReflection
AReflectionisaflipofthegraphacrossamirrorintheplane.Itpreservestheshapethe
graphbutcanmakeitlookbackwards.
InAlgebra,thereflectionsofprimaryinterestarethereflectionsacrossanaxisintheplane.
X AxisReflection
Startingform:
xaxisReflection:
Notethefollowing:
Version 2.8
Y Axis Reflection
Startingform:
yaxisReflection:
Notethefollowing:
Ateachpoint,thegraphis
reflectedacrossthexaxis.
Theformofthetransformationis
thesameasaverticalstretchor
compressionwith
.
Theflipofthegraphoverthex
axisis,ineffect,avertical
transformation.
Page 32 of 178
Ateachpoint,thegraphis
reflectedacrosstheyaxis.
Theformofthetransformationis
thesameasahorizontalstretch
orcompressionwith
.
Theflipofthegraphoverthey
axisis,ineffect,ahorizontal
transformation.
April 19, 2016
Algebra
TransformationsSummary
Startingform:
Forpurposesofthefollowingtable,thevariableshandkarepositivetomaketheformsmore
likewhatthestudentwillencounterwhensolvingproblemsinvolvingtransformations.
TransformationSummary
FormofTransformation
ResultofTransformation
Verticaltranslationupkunits.
Verticaltranslationdownkunits.
Horizontaltranslationlefthunits.
Horizontaltranslationrighthunits.
1
1
1
Horizontalcompressionbyafactorof .
1
Verticalstretchbyafactorof .
Verticalcompressionbyafactorof .
Horizontalstretchbyafactorof .
Reflectionacrossthexaxis(vertical).
Reflectionacrosstheyaxis(horizontal).
Transformationsbasedonthevalues
ofaandb(stretches,
compressions,reflections)canbe
representedbythesegraphics.
Version 2.8
Page 33 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
BuildingaGraphwithTransformations
Thegraphofanequationcanbebuiltwithblocksmadeupoftransformations.Asanexample,
wewillbuildthegraphof
2
3
4.
Step1:Startwiththebasic
quadraticequation:
Step2:Translate3unitsto
therighttogetequation:
Step3:Stretchverticallyby
afactorof2togetequation:
Step5:Translateup4
unitstogetequation:
FinalResult:Showthegraph
ofthefinalequation:
Step4:Reflectoverthe
x
togetequation:
Version 2.8
Page 34 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SlopeofaLine
Theslopeofalinetellshowfastitrisesorfallsasitmovesfromlefttoright.Iftheslopeis
rising,theslopeispositive;ifitisfalling,theslopeisnegative.Thelettermisoftenusedas
thesymbolforslope.
Thetwomostusefulwaystocalculatetheslopeofalinearediscussedbelow.
MathematicalDefinitionofSlope
Thedefinitionisbasedontwopointswith
coordinates
and
.Thedefinition,
then,is:
Comments:
Youcanselectany2pointsontheline.
Atablesuchastheoneatrightcanbehelpfulfordoing
yourcalculations.
Notethat
Point2
Point1
impliesthat
So,itdoesnotmatterwhichpointyouassignasPoint1
andwhichyouassignasPoint2.Therefore,neitherdoes
itmatterwhichpointisfirstinthetable.
x value
Difference
y value
ItisimportantthatonceyouassignapointasPoint1andanotherasPoint2,thatyouuse
theircoordinatesintheproperplacesintheformula.
Examples:
Forthetwolinesinthefigureabove,wegetthefollowing:
GreenLine
x value
y value
PointA
PointC
Difference
RedLine
x value
y value
PointD
PointB
Difference
GreenLine:
Version 2.8
RedLine:
Page 35 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SlopeofaLine(contd)
RiseoverRun
Anequivalentmethodofcalculatingslopethatismore
visualistheRiseoverRunmethod.Underthis
method,ithelpstodrawverticalandhorizontallines
thatindicatethehorizontalandverticaldistances
betweenpointsontheline.
Theslopecanthenbecalculatedasfollows:
Theriseofalineishowmuchitincreases(positive)ordecreases(negative)betweentwo
points.Therunishowfarthelinemovestotheright(positive)ortheleft(negative)between
thesametwopoints.
Comments:
Youcanselectany2pointsontheline.
Itisimportanttostartatthesamepointinmeasuringboththeriseandtherun.
Agoodconventionistoalwaysstartwiththepointontheleftandworkyourwaytothe
right;thatway,therun(i.e.,thedenominatorintheformula)isalwayspositive.Theonly
exceptiontothisiswhentheruniszero,inwhichcasetheslopeisundefined.
Ifthetwopointsareclearlymarkedasintegersonagraph,theriseandrunmayactuallybe
countedonthegraph.Thismakestheprocessmuchsimplerthanusingtheformulaforthe
definitionofslope.However,whencounting,makesureyougettherightsignfortheslope
oftheline,e.g.,movingdownasthelinemovestotherightisanegativeslope.
Examples:
Forthetwolinesinthefigureabove,wegetthefollowing:
GreenLine:
RedLine:
Version 2.8
Page 36 of 178
Noticehowsimilarthe
calculationsintheexamples
areunderthetwomethods
ofcalculatingslopes.
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SlopesofVariousLines
5
lineissteepandgoingdown
2
lineisvertical
Whenyoulookataline,you
shouldnoticethefollowing
aboutitsslope:
Whetheritis0,positive,
negativeorundefined.
Ifpositiveornegative,
whetheritislessthan1,
about1,orgreaterthan1.
1
linegoesdownata45 angle
Thepurposeofthegraphson
thispageistohelpyougetafeel
forthesethings.
Thiscanhelpyoucheck:
Givenaslope,whetheryou
drewthelinecorrectly,or
Givenaline,whetheryou
calculatedtheslope
correctly.
2
lineissteepandgoingup
3
1
linegoesupata45 angle
17
lineisshallowandgoingdown
11
lineisshallowandgoingup
Version 2.8
0
lineishorizontal
Page 37 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
VariousFormsofaLine
TherearethreeformsofalinearequationwhicharemostusefultotheAlgebrastudent,each
ofwhichcanbeconvertedintotheothertwothroughalgebraicmanipulation.Theabilityto
movebetweenformsisaveryusefulskillinAlgebra,andshouldbepracticedbythestudent.
StandardForm
TheStandardFormofalinearequationis:
whereA,B,andCarerealnumbersandAandBarenotbothzero.
Usuallyinthisform,theconventionisforAtobepositive.
StandardFormExamples
3
14
Why,youmightask,isthisStandardForm?Onereasonisthatthisformiseasilyextendedto
additionalvariables,whereasotherformsarenot.Forexample,infourvariables,theStandard
Formwouldbe:
.Anotherreasonisthatthisformeasilylendsitself
toanalysiswithmatrices,whichcanbeveryusefulinsolvingsystemsofequations.
Slope InterceptForm
TheSlopeInterceptFormofalinearequationistheonemost
familiartomanystudents.Itis:
Slope InterceptExamples
3
3
4
6
14
wheremistheslopeandbistheyinterceptoftheline(i.e.,the
valueatwhichthelinecrossestheyaxisinagraph).mandbmustalsoberealnumbers.
Point SlopeForm
ThePointSlopeFormofalinearequationistheoneusedleastby
thestudent,butitcanbeveryusefulincertaincircumstances.In
particular,asyoumightexpect,itisusefulifthestudentisaskedfor
theequationofalineandisgiventhelinesslopeandthe
coordinatesofapointontheline.Theformoftheequationis:
Point SlopeExamples
3
isanypointontheline.Onestrengthofthisformisthat
wheremistheslopeand
equationsformedusingdifferentpointsonthesamelinewillbeequivalent.
Version 2.8
Page 38 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ParallelLines
Twolinesareparalleliftheirslopesareequal.
In
thesame.
form,ifthevaluesof are
Example:
3
1
InStandardForm,ifthecoefficientsof and
areproportionalbetweentheequations.
Example:3
6
2
2
2
4
Also,ifthelinesarebothvertical(i.e.,their
slopesareundefined).
Example:
3
PerpendicularLines
Twolinesareperpendiculariftheproductoftheir
slopesis .Thatis,iftheslopeshavedifferent
signsandaremultiplicativeinverses.
In
form,thevaluesof
multiplytoget 1..
Example:
InStandardForm,ifyouaddtheproductof
thexcoefficientstotheproductofthey
coefficientsandgetzero.
Example:4
6
2
5because 4 3
Also,ifonelineisvertical(i.e., isundefined)andonelineishorizontal(i.e.,
Example:
6
Version 2.8
Page 39 of 178
0).
April 19, 2016
Algebra
Parallel,PerpendicularorNeither
Thefollowingflowchartcanbeusedtodeterminewhetherapairoflinesareparallel,
perpendicular,orneither.
First,putbothlinesin:
form.
Arethe
slopesofthe
twolinesthe
same?
yes
Result:The
linesare
parallel.
yes
Result:Thelines
are
perpendicular.
no
Isthe
productof
thetwo
slopes = 1?
no
Version 2.8
Result:The
linesare
neither.
Page 40 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
Parallel,CoincidentorIntersecting
Thefollowingflowchartcanbeusedtodeterminewhetherapairoflinesareparallel,
coincident,orintersecting.Coincidentlinesarelinesthatarethesame,eventhoughtheymay
beexpresseddifferently.Technically,coincidentlinesarenotparallelbecauseparallellines
neverintersectandcoincidentlinesintersectatallpointsontheline.
First,putbothlinesin:
form.
Arethe
slopesofthe
twolinesthe
same?
Arethey
interceptsof
thetwolines
thesame?
yes
yes
Result:The
linesare
coincident.
no
no
Result:The
linesare
intersecting.
Result:The
linesare
parallel.
Theintersectionofthetwolinesis:
Forintersectinglines,thepointofintersection.
Forparallellines,theemptyset, .
Forcoincidentlines,allpointsontheline.
Version 2.8
Page 41 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:
Property
Definition
Addition
Property
Subtraction
Property
Multiplication For
Property
Division
Property
For
0,
For
0,
0,
For
0,
Note:allpropertieswhichholdfor<alsoholdfor ,andallpropertieswhichholdfor>
alsoholdfor .
Thereisnothingtoosurprisingintheseproperties.Themostimportantthingtobeobtained
fromthemcanbedescribedasfollows:Whenyoumultiplyordivideaninequalitybya
negativenumber,youmustflipthesign.Thatis, becomes
becomes
etc.
Inaddition,itisusefultonotethatyoucanfliparoundanentireinequalityaslongasyoukeep
thepointypartofthesigndirectedatthesameitem.Examples:
isthesameas
isthesameas
Version 2.8
Onewaytorememberthis
isthatwhenyoufliparound
aninequality,youmustalso
fliparoundthesign.
Page 42 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
GraphsofInequalitiesinOneDimension
Inequalitiesinonedimensionaregenerallygraphedonthenumberline.Alternatively,ifitis
clearthatthegraphisonedimensional,thegraphscanbeshowninrelationtoanumberline
butnotspecificallyonit(examplesofthisareonthenextpage).
One DimensionalGraphComponents
Theendpoint(s)Theendpointsfortherayorsegmentinthegraphareshownaseither
openorclosedcircles.
o Ifthepointisincludedinthesolutiontotheinequality(i.e.,ifthesignis or ),the
circleisclosed.
o Ifthepointisnotincludedinthesolutiontotheinequality(i.e.,ifthesignis<or>),
thecircleisopen.
ThearrowIfallnumbersinonedirectionofthenumberlinearesolutionstothe
inequality,anarrowpointsinthatdirection.
o For<or signs,thearrowpointstotheleft().
o For>or signs,thearrowpointstotheright().
Thelineinasimpleinequality,alineisdrawnfromtheendpointtothearrow.Ifthereare
twoendpoints,alineisdrawnfromonetotheother.
Examples:
Version 2.8
Page 43 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
CompoundInequalitiesinOneDimension
Compoundinequalitiesareasetofinequalitiesthatmustallbetrueatthesametime.Usually,
therearetwoinequalities,butmorethantwocanalsoformacompoundset.Theprinciples
describedbeloweasilyextendtocaseswheretherearemorethantwoinequalities.
CompoundInequalitieswiththeWordAND
AnexampleofcompoundinequalitieswiththewordANDwouldbe:
12
2
(SimpleForm)
1
(CompoundForm)
or
Thesearethesameconditions,
expressedintwodifferentforms.
Graphically,ANDinequalitiesexistatpointswherethegraphsoftheindividualinequalities
overlap.Thisistheintersectionofthegraphsoftheindividualinequalities.Belowaretwo
examplesofgraphsofcompoundinequalitiesusingthewordAND.
AtypicalANDexample:Theresultisa
segmentthatcontainsthepointsthatoverlap
thegraphsoftheindividualinequalities.
ANDcompoundinequalitiessometimesresult
intheemptyset.Thishappenswhenno
numbersmeetbothconditionsatthesametime.
CompoundInequalitieswiththeWordOR
Graphically,ORinequalitiesexistatpointswhereanyoftheoriginalgraphshavepoints.This
istheunionofthegraphsoftheindividualinequalities.Belowaretwoexamplesofgraphsof
compoundinequalitiesusingthewordOR.
AtypicalORexample:Theresultisapairof
raysextendinginoppositedirections,witha
gapinbetween.
Version 2.8
ORcompoundinequalitiessometimesresultin
thesetofallnumbers.Thishappenswhenevery
numbermeetsatleastoneoftheconditions.
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
InequalitiesinTwoDimensions
Graphinganinequalityintwodimensionsinvolvesthefollowingsteps:
Graphtheunderlyingequation.
Makethelinesolidordottedbasedonwhethertheinequalitycontainsan=sign.
o Forinequalitieswith<or>thelineisdotted.
o Forinequalitieswith or thelineissolid.
Determinewhethertheregioncontainingthesolutionsetisabovethelineorbelowthe
line.
o Forinequalitieswith>or theshadedregionisabovetheline.
o Forinequalitieswith<or theshadedregionisbelowtheline.
Shadeintheappropriateregion.
Example:
Graphthesolutionsetofthefollowingsystemofinequality:
Step1:Graphtheunderlying
equation.
Step2:Determinewhethertheline
shouldbesolidordotted:
1 the>signdoesnot
contain=,sothelineisdotted
Step3:Determinetheregiontobe
shadedbasedonthesigninthe
equation:
1 the>signindicates
shadingabovetheline
Thesolutionsetistheshadedarea.
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
GraphsofInequalitiesinTwoDimensions
DashedLine
BelowtheLine
DashedLine
AbovetheLine
SolidLine
BelowtheLine
SolidLine
AbovetheLine
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
AbsoluteValueFunctions
Equations
GraphsofequationsinvolvingabsolutevaluesgenerallyhaveaVpattern.Wheneveryousee
aVinagraph,thinkabsolutevalue.Ageneralequationforanabsolutevaluefunctionisof
theform:
where,
istheabsolutevalueoftheslopesofthelinesinthegraph.
(h,k)isthelocationofthevertex(i.e.,thesharppoint)inthegraph.
Examples:
12
1
3
2
3
3
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
AbsoluteValueFunctions(contd)
Inequalities
Sinceapositivenumberandanegativenumbercanhavethesameabsolutevalue,inequalities
involvingabsolutevaluesmustbebrokenintotwoseparateequations.Forexample:
3
Thefirstnewequationissimplytheoriginal
equationwithouttheabsolutevaluesign.
4
3
Signthatdetermines
useofANDorOR
Inthesecondnewequation,twothings
change:(1)thesignflips,and(2)thevalueon
therightsideoftheinequalitychangesitssign.
Atthispointtheabsolutevalueproblemhasconvertedintoapairofcompoundinequalities.
Equation1
Equation2
Solve:
Step1:Add3
Result:
3
3
4
3
Solve:
Step1:Add3
Result:
3
3
4
3
1
Next,weneedtoknowwhethertouseANDorORwiththeresults.Todecidewhichword
touse,lookatthesignintheinequality;then
UsethewordANDwithlessthandsigns.
UsethewordORwithgreatorsigns.
Note:theEnglishispoor,butthemath
iseasiertorememberwiththistrick!
Thesolutiontotheaboveabsolutevalueproblem,then,isthesameasthesolutiontothe
followingsetofcompoundinequalities:
Thesolutionsetisallxintherange(1,7)
Note:thesolutionsettothisexampleisgiveninrangenotation.Whenusingthisnotation,
useparentheses()wheneveranendpointisnotincludedinthesolutionset,and
usesquarebrackets[]wheneveranendpointisincludedinthesolutionset.
Alwaysuseparentheses()withinfinitysigns(
).
Examples:
Version 2.8
Therange:
Notation: 2 6
Page 48 of 178
Therange:
Notation:
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SystemsofEquations
Asystemofequationsisasetof2ormoreequationsforwhichwewishtodetermineall
solutionswhichsatisfyeachequation.Generally,therewillbethesamenumberofequations
asvariablesandasinglesolutiontoeachvariablewillbesought.However,sometimesthereis
eithernosolutionorthereisaninfinitenumberofsolutions.
Therearemanymethodsavailabletosolveasystemofequations.Wewillshowthreeofthem
below.
GraphingaSolution
Inthesimplestcases,asetof2equationsin2unknownscanbesolvedusingagraph.Asingle
equationintwounknownsisaline,sotwoequationsgiveus2lines.Thefollowingsituations
arepossiblewith2lines:
Theywillintersect.Inthiscase,thepointofintersectionistheonlysolution.
Theywillbethesameline.Inthiscase,allpointsonthelinearesolutions(note:thisis
aninfiniteset).
Theywillbeparallelbutnotthesameline.Inthiscase,therearenosolutions.
Examples
SolutionSet:
Thepointofintersection
canbereadoffthegraph;
thepoint(2,0).
Version 2.8
SolutionSet:
SolutionSet:
Theemptyset;
theseparallellines
willnevercross.
Allpointsontheline.
Althoughtheequationslook
different,theyactually
describethesameline.
Page 49 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SystemsofEquations(contd)
SubstitutionMethod
IntheSubstitutionMethod,weeliminateoneofthevariablesbysubstitutingintooneofthe
equationsitsequivalentintermsoftheothervariable.Thenwesolveforeachvariableinturn
andchecktheresult.Thestepsinthisprocessareillustratedintheexamplebelow.
Example:Solveforxandyif:
and:2
.
Step1:Reviewthetwoequations.Lookforavariablethatcanbesubstitutedfromone
equationintotheother.Inthisexample,weseeasingleyinthefirstequation;thisisaprime
candidateforsubstitution.
Wewillsubstitute
fromthefirstequationfor inthesecondequation.
Step2:Performthesubstitution.
becomes:
Step3:Solvetheresultingequationforthesinglevariablethatisleft.
Step4:Substitutetheknownvariableintooneoftheoriginalequationstosolveforthe
remainingvariable.
Afterthisstep,thesolutionistentativelyidentifiedas:
,meaningthepoint(3, 1).
Step5:ChecktheresultbysubstitutingthesolutionintotheequationnotusedinStep4.Ifthe
solutioniscorrect,theresultshouldbeatruestatement.Ifitisnot,youhavemadeamistake
andshouldcheckyourworkcarefully.
Version 2.8
Sincethisisatruemathematical
statement,thesolution(3, 1)can
beacceptedascorrect.
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
EliminationMethod
IntheSubstitutionMethod,wemanipulateoneorbothoftheequationssothatwecanadd
themandeliminateoneofthevariables.Thenwesolveforeachvariableinturnandcheckthe
result.Thisisanoutstandingmethodforsystemsofequationswithuglycoefficients.The
stepsinthisprocessareillustratedintheexamplebelow.Notetheflowofthesolutiononthe
page.
Example:Solveforxandyif:
and:2
Step1:Rewritetheequationsin
standardform.
.
Step2: Multiplyeachequationbyavalue
selectedsothat,whentheequationsareadded,
avariablewillbeeliminated.
(Multiplyby2)
(Multiplyby1)
Step3: Addtheresultingequations.
Step5:Substitutetheresultinto
oneoftheoriginalequationsand
solvefortheothervariable.
Step4: Solveforthevariable.
Step6:Checktheresultbysubstituting
thesolutionintotheequationnotusedin
Step5.Ifthesolutioniscorrect,the
resultshouldbeatruestatement.Ifitis
not,youhavemadeamistakeandshould
checkyourwork.
Version 2.8
Sincethisisatruemathematicalstatement,the
solution(3, 1)canbeacceptedascorrect.
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
ClassificationofSystems
Therearetwomainclassificationsofsystemsofequations:Consistentvs.Inconsistent,and
Dependentvs.Independent.
Consistentvs.Inconsistent
ConsistentSystemshaveoneormoresolutions.
InconsistentSystemshavenosolutions.Whenyoutrytosolveaninconsistentsetof
equations,youoftengettoapointwhereyouhaveanimpossiblestatement,suchas
1 2.Thisindicatesthatthereisnosolutiontothesystem.
Dependentvs.Independent
LinearlyDependentSystemshaveaninfinitenumberofsolutions.InLinearAlgebra,a
systemislinearlydependentifthereisasetofrealnumbers(notallzero)that,when
theyaremultipliedbytheequationsinthesystemandtheresultsareadded,thefinal
resultiszero.
LinearlyIndependentSystemshaveatmostonesolution.InLinearAlgebra,asystemis
linearlyindependentifitisnotlinearlydependent.Note:sometextbooksindicatethat
anindependentsystemmusthaveasolution.Thisisnotcorrect;theycanhaveno
solutions(seethemiddleexamplebelow).Formoreonthis,seethenextpage.
Examples
OneSolution
Consistent
Independent
NoSolution
Inconsistent
Independent
InfiniteSolutions
Consistent
Dependent
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
ADVANCED
Algebra
LinearDependence
LineardependenceisaconceptfromLinearAlgebra,andisveryusefulindeterminingif
solutionstocomplexsystemsofequationsexist.Essentially,asystemoffunctions isdefined
tobelinearlydependentifthereisasetofrealnumbers (notallzero),suchthat:
0or,insummationnotation,
Ifthereisnosetofrealnumbers ,suchthattheaboveequationsaretrue,thesystemissaid
tobelinearlyindependent.
Theexpression
iscalledalinearcombinationofthefunctions .The
importanceoftheconceptoflineardependenceliesintherecognitionthatadependent
systemisredundant,i.e.,thesystemcanbedefinedwithfewerequations.Itisusefultonote
thatalinearlydependentsystemofequationshasadeterminantofcoefficientsequalto0.
Example:
Considerthefollowingsystemofequations:
Noticethat:
.
Therefore,thesystemislinearly
dependent.
Checkingthedeterminantofthecoefficientmatrix:
3
1
1
2
1
0
1
2
5
2
1
1
2
3
1
1
2
3
1
2
1
0 7
5 1
0.
Itshouldbenotedthatthefactthat
0 issufficienttoprovelineardependenceonlyifthere
arenoconstanttermsinthefunctions(e.g.,iftheprobleminvolvesvectors).Ifthereare
constantterms,itisalsonecessarythatthesetermscombineproperly.Thereareadditional
techniquestotestthis,suchastheuseofaugmentedmatricesandGaussJordanElimination.
MuchofLinearAlgebraconcernsitselfwithsetsofequationsthatarelinearlyindependent.If
thedeterminantofthecoefficientmatrixisnonzero,thenthesetofequationsislinearly
independent.
Version 2.8
Page 53 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SystemsofInequalitiesinTwoDimensions
Systemsofinequalitiesaresetsofmorethanoneinequality.Tographasystemofinequalities,
grapheachinequalityseparately(includingshadingintheappropriateregion).Thesolutionset,
then,iseithertheoverlapoftheregionsoftheseparateinequalities(ANDSystems)orthe
unionoftheregionsoftheseparateinequalities(ORSystems).
Examples:
Graphthesolutionsetofthefollowingsystemofinequalities:
2
(a)
3AND
(b)
3OR
Step1:Graphtheunderlyingequations.
Step2:Determinewhethereachlineshouldbe
solidordotted:
2
3the signcontains=,sothe
lineissolid
1the>signdoesnotcontain=,
sothelineisdotted
Step3:Determinetheregionstobeshadedbasedonthesignsintheequations:
3the signindicatesshadingbelowtheline
1the>signindicatesshadingabovetheline
Step4:Determinethefinalsolutionset.
(a) IftheproblemhasanANDbetween
theinequalities,thesolutionsetisthe
overlapoftheshadedareas(i.e.,the
greenpartinthegraphbelow).
Version 2.8
Page 54 of 178
(b) IftheproblemhasanORbetween
theinequalities,thesolutionsetisthe
unionofalloftheshadedareas(i.e.,
thebluepartinthegraphbelow).
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ParametricEquations
ParametricEquationsin2dimensionsarefunctionsthatexpresseachofthetwokeyvariables
intermsofaoneormoreothers.Forexample,
intermsofaoneormoreothers.Forexample,
Parametricequationsaresometimesthemostusefulwaytosolveaproblem.
PythagoreanTriples
Asanexample,thefollowingparametricequationscanbeusedtofindPythagoreanTriples:
Let berelativelyprimeintegersandlet
.Then,thefollowingequationsproduceaset
ofintegervaluesthatsatisfythePythagoreanTheorem:
Examples:
12
13
12
13
24
25
24
25
21
20
29
21
20
16
30
34
16
30
34
PythagoreanRelationship
CreatingaStandardEquationfromParametricEquations
Tocreateastandardequationfromasetof
parametricequationsintwodimensions,
Solveoneparametricequationfort.
Substitutethisvalueoftintotheother
equation.
Cleanuptheremainingexpressionas
necessary.
Note:anyothermethodofsolving
simultaneousequationscanalsobeusedfor
thispurpose.
Example:Createastandardequationforthe
parametricequations:
Solvingfortinthefirstequation,weget:
Substitutingintothesecondequationgives:
Cleaningthisup,wegetthesolutionweseek:
seek:
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
ExponentFormulas
Word Description
Math Description
Limitations
of Property
of Property
on variables
Product of Powers
Examples
Quotient of Powers
Power of a Power
Anything to the zero power is 1

, if
Negative powers generate the
reciprocal of what a positive
power generates
Power of a product
Power of a quotient
Converting a root to a power
Version 2.8
Page 56 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ScientificNotation
Format
Anumberinscientificnotationhastwoparts:
Anumberwhichisatleast1andislessthan10(i.e.,itmusthaveonlyonedigitbefore
thedecimalpoint).Thisnumberiscalledthecoefficient.
Apowerof10whichismultipliedbythefirstnumber.
Hereareafewexamplesofregularnumbersexpressedinscientificnotation.
32
32
1 420 000
0 00034
10
1 42
10
34
1000
10
10
1
450
10
45
10
Howmanydigits?Howmanyzeroes?
Thereareacoupleofsimplerulesforconvertingfromscientificnotationtoaregularnumberor
forconvertingfromaregularnumbertoscientificnotation:
Ifaregularnumberislessthan1,theexponentof10inscientificnotationisnegative.
Thenumberofleadingzeroesintheregularnumberisequaltotheabsolutevalueof
thisexponent.Inapplyingthisrule,youmustcountthezerobeforethedecimalpointin
theregularnumber.Examples:
OriginalNumber
Action
Conversion
0.00034
Count4zeroes
3.4x104
6.234x108
Add8zeroesbeforethedigits
0.00000006234
Ifthenumberisgreaterthan1,thenumberofdigitsafterthefirstoneintheregular
numberisequaltotheexponentof10inthescientificnotation.
OriginalNumber
Action
Conversion
4,800,000
Count6digitsafterthe4
4.8x106
9.6x103
Add3digitsafterthe9
9,600
Asageneralrule,multiplyingbypowersof10movesthedecimalpointoneplacefor
eachpowerof10.
o Multiplyingbypositivepowersof10movesthedecimaltotheright.
o Multiplyingbynegativepowersof10movesthedecimaltotheleft.
Version 2.8
Page 57 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
AddingandSubtractingwithScientificNotation
Whenaddingorsubtractingnumbersinscientificnotation:
Adjustthenumberssotheyhavethesamepowerof10.Thisworksbestifyouadjust
therepresentationofthesmallernumbersothatithasthesamepowerof10asthe
largernumber.Todothis:
o Callthedifferencebetweentheexponentsof10inthetwonumbersn.
o Raisethepowerof10ofthesmallernumberbyn,and
o Movethedecimalpointofthecoefficientofthesmallernumbernplacesto
theleft.
Addthecoefficients,keepingthepowerof10unchanged.
Iftheresultisnotinscientificnotation,adjustitsothatitis.
o Ifthecoefficientisatleast1andlessthan10,theanswerisinthecorrectform.
o Ifthecoefficientis10orgreater,increasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheleft.
o Ifthecoefficientislessthan1,decreasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheright.
Examples:
3 2
10
0 32 10
10
0 10
10 22
10
1 022
10
Explanation:Aconversionofthesmaller
numberisrequiredpriortoaddingbecausethe
exponentsofthetwonumbersaredifferent.
Afteradding,theresultisnolongerinscientific
notation,soanextrastepisneededtoconvertit
intotheappropriateformat.
6 1
10
6 1
10
23
10
2 3
10
8 4
10
1 2
10
1 20
10
45
10
0 45
10
0 75
10
Explanation:Noconversionisnecessary
becausetheexponentsofthetwonumbersare
thesame.Afteradding,theresultisinscientific
notation,sonoadditionalstepsarerequired.
Version 2.8
75
10
Explanation:Aconversionofthesmaller
numberisrequiredpriortosubtractingbecause
theexponentsofthetwonumbersaredifferent.
Aftersubtracting,theresultisnolongerin
scientificnotation,soanextrastepisneededto
convertitintotheappropriateformat.
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
MultiplyingandDividingwithScientificNotation
Whenmultiplyingordividingnumbersinscientificnotation:
Multiplyordividethecoefficients.
Multiplyordividethepowersof10.Rememberthatthismeansaddingorsubtracting
theexponentswhilekeepingthebaseof10unchanged.
o Ifyouaremultiplying,addtheexponentsof10.
o Ifyouaredividing,subtracttheexponentsof10.
Iftheresultisnotinscientificnotation,adjustitsothatitis.
o Ifthecoefficientisatleast1andlessthan10,theanswerisinthecorrectform.
o Ifthecoefficientis10orgreater,increasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheleft.
o Ifthecoefficientislessthan1,decreasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheright.
Examples:
10
10
20
10
20
10
1 2
10
2 0
10
2 4
10
3 3
10
Explanation:Thecoefficientsaremultipliedand
theexponentsareadded.Aftermultiplying,the
resultisnolongerinscientificnotation,soan
extrastepisneededtoconvertitintothe
appropriateformat.
Explanation:Thecoefficientsaremultipliedand
theexponentsareadded.Aftermultiplying,the
resultisinscientificnotation,sonoadditional
stepsarerequired.
5 5
10
0 6
10
Version 2.8
60
10
Explanation:Thecoefficientsaredividedand
theexponentsaresubtracted.Afterdividing,
theresultisnolongerinscientificnotation,so
anextrastepisneededtoconvertitintothe
appropriateformat.
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
IntroductiontoPolynomials
WhatisaPolynomial?
Apolynomialisanexpressionthatcanbewrittenasatermorasumofterms,eachofwhichis
theproductofascalar(thecoefficient)andaseriesofvariables.Eachofthetermsisalsocalled
amonomial.
Examples(allofthesearepolynomials):
3
Monomial
2
Binomial
Trinomial
4
Other
4
8
15
12
7
3
3
Definitions:
Scalar:Arealnumber.
Monomial:Polynomialwithoneterm.
Binomial:Polynomialwithtwoterms.
Trinomial:Polynomialwiththreeterms.
DegreeofaPolynomial
Thedegreeofamonomialisthesumoftheexponentsonitsvariables.
Thedegreeofapolynomialisthehighestdegreeofanyofitsmonomialterms.
Examples:
Polynomial
Degree
15
Polynomial
6
Degree
12
7
Version 2.8
Page 60 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
AddingandSubtractingPolynomials
Problemsaskingthestudenttoaddorsubtractpolynomialsareoftenwritteninlinearform:
3
Theproblemismuchmoreeasilysolvediftheproblemiswrittenincolumnform,witheach
polynomialwritteninstandardform.
Definitions
StandardForm:Apolynomialinstandardformhasitstermswrittenfromhighestdegreeto
lowestdegreefromlefttoright.
Example:Thestandardformof
4 is 3
LikeTerms:Termswiththesamevariablesraisedtothesamepowers.Onlythenumerical
coefficientsaredifferent.
, 6
Example:2
,and
areliketerms.
AdditionandSubtractionSteps
Step1:Writeeachpolynomialinstandardform.Leaveblankspacesformissingterms.For
example,ifadding 3
2
4 ,leavespaceforthemissing term.
Step2:Ifyouaresubtracting,changethesignofeachtermofthepolynomialtobesubtracted
andaddinstead.Addingismucheasierthansubtracting.
Step3:Placethepolynomialsincolumnform,beingcarefultolineupliketerms.
Step4:Addthepolynomials.
Examples:
Solution:
Version 2.8
Solution:
Page 61 of 178
10
April 19, 2016
Algebra
MultiplyingBinomials
Thethreemethodsshownbelowareequivalent.Usewhicheveroneyoulikebest.
FOILMethod
FOILstandsforFirst,Outside,Inside,Last.TomultiplyusingtheFOILmethod,youmakefour
separatemultiplicationsandaddtheresults.
Example:Multiply 2
First:
2 3
Outside:
Inside:
3 3
Last:
3 3
6
Theresultisobtainedbyaddingtheresultsof
the4separatemultiplications.
3 3
FOIL
4
12
12
12
BoxMethod
TheBoxMethodisprettymuchthesameastheFOILmethod,exceptforthepresentation.In
theboxmethod,a2x2arrayofmultiplicationsiscreated,the4multiplicationsareperformed,
andtheresultsareadded.
Example:Multiply 2
Multiply
2x
3 3
3x
6
+3
4
Theresult isobtainedbyaddingtheresultsof
the4separatemultiplications.
3 3
12
12
12
StackedPolynomialMethod
Athirdmethodistomultiplythebinomials
likeyouwouldmultiply2digitnumbers.
Thenamecomesfromhowthetwo
polynomialsareplacedinastackin
preparationformultiplication.
Example:Multiply 2
Version 2.8
3 3
2
3
3
4
8
6
6
12
12
Page 62 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
Ifthepolynomialstobemultipliedcontainmorethantwoterms(i.e.,theyarelargerthan
binomials),theFOILMethodwillnotwork.Instead,eithertheBoxMethodortheStacked
PolynomialMethodshouldbeused.Noticethateachofthesemethodsisessentiallyawayto
applythedistributivepropertyofmultiplicationoveraddition.
Themethodsshownbelowareequivalent.Usewhicheveroneyoulikebest.
BoxMethod
TheBoxMethodisthesameforlargerpolynomialsasitisforbinomials,excepttheboxis
bigger.Anarrayofmultiplicationsiscreated;themultiplicationsareperformed;andliketerms
areadded.
2
Example:Multiply
Multiply
3 2
Results:
2
3 2
12
Results:
IntheStackedPolynomialMethod,the
polynomialsaremultipliedusingthesame
techniquetomultiplymultidigitnumbers
Onehelpfultipistoplacethesmaller
polynomialbelowthelargeroneinthe
stack.
Version 2.8
StackedPolynomialMethod
12
Page 63 of 178
17
12
April 19, 2016
Algebra
DividingPolynomials
Dividingpolynomialsisperformedmuchlikedividinglargenumberslonghand.
LongDivisionMethod
Thisprocessisbestdescribedbyexample:
Thisproce
ssisbestdescribedbyexample:
Example: 2
Step1:Setupthedivisionlikeatypicallonghand
divisionproblem.
Step2:Dividetheleadingtermofthedividendby
theleadingtermofthedivisor.Placetheresult
abovethetermoflikedegreeofthedividend.
2
Step3:Multiplythenewtermontopbythedivisor
andsubtractfromthedividend.
andsubtractfromthedividend.
2
Thisprocessresultsinthefinalanswerappearing
abovethedividend,sothat:
5
22
22
22
2
Step4:Repeatsteps2and3ontheremainderof
thedivisionuntiltheproblemiscompleted.
22
2
5
2
5
2
5
4
5
4
2
2
2
Remainders
0
Iftherewerearemainder,itwouldbeappendedto
theresultoftheproblemintheformofafraction,justlikewhendividingintegers.For
theresultoftheproblemintheformofafraction,justlikewhendividingintegers.For
example,intheproblemabove,iftheremainderwere3,thefraction
wouldbeaddedto
theresultofthedivision. 2
Alternatives
Thisprocesscanbetedious.Fortunately,therearebettermethodsfordividingpolynomials
thanlongdivision.TheseincludeFactoring,whichisdiscussednextandelsewhereinthis
Guide,andSyntheticDivision,whichisdiscussedinthechapteronPolynomialsIntermediate.
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
FactoringPolynomials
Polynomialscannotbedividedinthesamewaynumberscan.Inordertodividepolynomials,it
isoftenusefultofactorthemfirst.Factoringinvolvesextractingsimplertermsfromthemore
complexpolynomial.
GreatestCommonFactor
TheGreatestCommonFactorofthetermsofapolynomialisdeterminedasfollows:
Step1:FindtheGreatestCommonFactorofthecoefficients.
Step2:FindtheGreatestCommonFactorforeachvariable.Thisissimplyeachvariabletaken
tothelowestpowerthatexistsforthatvariableinanyoftheterms.
Step3:MultiplytheGCFofthecoefficientsbytheGCFforeachvariable.
Example:
FindtheGCFof 18
42
30
18 42 30
TheGCFofthecoefficientsandeachvariableareshown
intheboxtotheright.TheGCFofthepolynomialisthe
productofthefourindividualGCFs.
So,
FactoringSteps
Step1:FactoroutofalltermstheGCFofthepolynomial.
Step2:Factoroutoftheremainingpolynomialanybinomialsthatcanbe
extracted.
Step3:Factoroutoftheremainingpolynomialanytrinomialsthatcan
beextracted.
Note:Typicallyonly
steps1and2are
neededinhighschool
algebraproblems.
Step4:Continuethisprocessuntilnofurthersimplificationispossible.
Examples:
Factor:
18
27
Thefactoringofthebluetrinomial(2ndline)into
thesquareofabinomialistheresultof
recognizingthespecialformitrepresents.Special
formsareshownonthenexttwopages.
Version 2.8
Factor:
24
4
2
Thefactoringofthebluebinomial(2ndline)into
binomialsoflowerdegreeistheresultof
recognizingthespecialformitrepresents.Special
formsareshownonthenexttwopages.
Page 65 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SpecialFormsofQuadraticFunctions
Itishelpfultobeabletorecognizeacouplespecialformsofquadraticfunctions.Inparticular,
ifyoucanrecognizeperfectsquaresanddifferencesofsquares,yourworkwillbecomeeasier
andmoreaccurate.
PerfectSquares
Perfectsquaresareoftheform:
IdentificationandSolution
Thefollowingstepsallowthestudenttoidentifyandsolveatrinomialthatisaperfectsquare:
Step1:Noticethefirsttermofthetrinomialisasquare.Takeitssquareroot.
Step2:Noticethelasttermofthetrinomialisasquare.Takeitssquareroot.
Step3:Multiplytheresultsofthefirst2stepsanddoublethatproduct.Iftheresultisthe
middletermofthetrinomial,theexpressionisaperfectsquare.
Step4:Thebinomialinthesolutionisthesumordifferenceofthesquarerootscalculatedin
steps1and2.Thesignbetweenthetermsofthebinomialisthesignofthemiddle
termofthetrinomial.
Example:
Identifythetrinomialasaperfectsquare:
Noticethatthemiddletermisdoubletheproduct
ofthetwosquareroots( and ).Thisisa
telltalesignthattheexpressionisaperfectsquare.
Takethesquarerootsofthefirstandlastterms.Theyare2 and3 .
Testthemiddleterm.Multiplytherootsfromthepreviousstep,thendoubletheresult:
2 3 2 12 .Theresult(witha signinfront)isthemiddletermofthe
originaltrinomial.Therefore,theexpressionisaperfectsquare.
Toexpressthetrinomialasthesquareofabinomial:
Thesquarerootsofthefirstandlastterms 2 and3 makeupthebinomialweseek.
Wemaychoosethesignofthefirstterm,soletschoosethe sign.
Havingchosenthe signforthefirstterm,thesecondtermofthebinomialtakesthe
signofthemiddletermoftheoriginaltrinomial( ).Therefore,theresultis:
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
SpecialFormsofQuadraticFunctions
DifferencesofSquares
Differencesofsquaresareoftheform:
Thesearemucheasiertorecognizethantheperfectsquaresbecausethereisnomiddleterm
toconsider.Noticewhythereisnomiddleterm:
thesetwo
termscancel
Identification
Toseeifanexpressionisadifferenceofsquares,youmustansweryestofourquestions:
1. Arethereonlytwoterms?
2. Istherea signbetweenthetwoterms?
3. Isthefirsttermasquare?Ifso,takeitssquareroot.
4. Isthesecondtermasquare?Ifso,takeitssquareroot.
Thesolutionistheproductofa)thesumofthesquarerootsinquestions3and4,andb)the
differenceofthesquarerootsinsteps3and4.
Note:Atelltalesignofwhenanexpressionmightbethedifferenceof2squaresiswhenthe
coefficientsonthevariablesaresquares:1,4,9,16,25,36,49,64,81,etc.
Examples:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
ADVANCED:Overthefieldofcomplexnumbers,itisalsopossibletofactorthesumof2squares:
Thisisnotpossibleoverthefieldofrealnumbers.
Version 2.8
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Algebra
FactoringTrinomialsSimpleCaseMethod
AcommonprobleminElementaryAlgebraisthefactoringofatrinomialthatisneithera
perfectsquarenoradifferenceofsquares.
Considerthesimplecasewherethecoefficientof
is1.Thegeneralformforthiscaseis:
sign1
sign2
coefficient
ofx
constant
Inordertosimplifytheillustrationoffactoringapolynomialwherethecoefficientof is1,we
willusetheorangedescriptorsaboveforthecomponentsofthetrinomialbeingfactored.
SimpleCaseMethod
Example:Factor
Step1:Setupparenthesesforapairofbinomials.Putxinthe
lefthandpositionofeachbinomial.
Step2:Putsign1inthemiddlepositionintheleftbinomial.
Step3:Multiplysign1andsign2togetthesignfortheright
binomial.Remember:
Step4:Findtwonumbersthat:
Fillin:
(a)Multiplytogettheconstant,and
___
(b)Addtogetthecoefficientof
___
Step5:Placethenumbersinthebinomialssothattheirsigns
matchthesignsfromSteps2and3.Thisisthefinal
answer.
Step6:Checkyourworkbymultiplyingthetwobinomialstosee
ifyougettheoriginaltrinomial.
Thenumbersweseekare
and because:
,and

Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
FactoringTrinomialsACMethod
Therearetimeswhenthesimplemethodoffactoringatrinomialisnotsufficient.Primarilythis
occurswhenthecoefficientof isnot1.Inthiscase,youmayusetheACmethodpresented
here,oryoumayuseeitherthebruteforcemethodorthequadraticformulamethod
(describedonthenextcoupleofpages).
ACMethod
TheACMethodderivesitsnamefromthefirststepofthe
process,whichistomultiplythevaluesof and fromthe
generalformofthequadraticequation:
Step1:Multiplythevaluesof and .
Example:Factor
Step2:Findtwonumbersthat:
(a) Multiplytogetthevalueof
and
Fillin:
___
___
(b)Addtogetthecoefficientof
Step3:Splitthemiddletermintotwoterms,withcoefficients
equaltothevaluesfoundinStep2.(Tip:ifonlyoneof
thecoefficientsisnegative,putthattermfirst.)
Step4:Groupthetermsintopairs.
Step5:Factoreachpairofterms.
Step6:Usethedistributivepropertytocombinethe
multipliersofthecommonterm.Thisisthefinal
answer.
Step7:Checkyourworkbymultiplyingthetwobinomialsto
seeifyougettheoriginaltrinomial.
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
FactoringTrinomialsBruteForceMethod
Whenthecoefficientof isnot1,thefactoringprocessbecomesmoredifficult.Therearea
numberofmethodsthatcanbeusedinthiscase.
Ifthequestionbeingaskedistofindrootsoftheequation,andnottofactorit,thestudentmay
wanttousethequadraticformulawheneverthecoefficientof isnot1.Evenifyouare
requiredtofactor,andnotjustfindroots,thequadraticformulamaybeaviableapproach.
BruteForceMethod
Thismethodisexactlywhatitsoundslike.Multipleequationsarepossibleandyoumusttry
eachofthemuntilyoufindtheonethatworks.Herearethestepstofindingwhichequations
arecandidatesolutions:
Example:Factor
Step1:Findallsetsofwholenumbersthatmultiplyto
getthecoefficientofthefirstterminthe
trinomial.Ifthefirsttermispositive,youneed
onlyconsiderpositivefactors.
Step2:Findallsetsofwholenumbersthatmultiplyto
getthecoefficientofthelastterminthe
trinomial.Youmustconsiderbothpositiveand
negativefactors.
Combinationsthatproduceaproduct
of4are:
1
4or2
2
Combinationsthatproduceaproduct
of 3are:
1
3or1
3
Step3:Createallpossibleproductsofbinomialsthat
containthewholenumbersfoundinthefirst
twosteps.
Step4:Multiplythebinomialpairsuntilyoufindone
thatresultsinthetrinomialyouaretryingto
factor.
2
2
2
2
1
1
3
3
1
1
1 4
1 4
3 4
3 4
1 2
1 2
3
3
1
1
3
3
4
4
4
4
2
2
3
3
1
1
3
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
Step5:Identifythecorrectsolution.
11
11
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
NoticethepatternsinthecandidatesolutionsinStep4.Eachpairofequationsisidenticalexceptfor
thesignofthemiddletermintheproduct.Therefore,youcancutyourworkinhalfbyconsideringonly
oneofeachpairuntilyouseeamiddletermcoefficientthathastherightabsolutevalue.Ifyouhave
everythingrightbutthesignofthemiddleterm,switchthesignsinthebinomialstoobtainthecorrect
solution.Remembertocheckyourwork!
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
FactoringTrinomialsQuadraticFormulaMethod
QuadraticFormulaMethod
TheQuadraticFormulaisdesignedspecificallytofindrootsofaseconddegreeequation.
However,itcanalsobeusedasabackdoormethodtofactorequationsofseconddegree.The
stepsare:
Step1:Applythequadraticformulatodeterminetherootsoftheequation.
0.
Step2:Puteachrootintotheform:
Step3:Showthetwo
binomialsasaproduct.Notethatthesebinomialsmay
containfractions.Wewilleliminatethefractions,ifpossible,inthenextstep.
Step4:MultiplythebinomialsinStep3bythecoefficientof
(a) Breakthecoefficientof
thefollowingway:
intoitsprimefactors.
(b) Allocatetheprimefactorstothebinomialsinawaythateliminatesthefractions.
Step5:Checkyourwork.
Example:
Factor:
Step1:
Step2:Thetwoequationscontainingrootsare:
Step3:
0.
Step4:Thecoefficientof intheoriginalequationis4,and4 2 2.Aninspectionofthe

binomialsinStep3indicatesweneedtomultiplyeachbinomialby2inorderto
eliminatethefractions:
Sothat:
and
infactoredform
Step5:Check(usingFOIL) 2
3 2
1
4
whichistheequationweweretryingtofactor.
3,
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
SolvingEquationsbyFactoring
Thereareanumberofreasonstofactorapolynomialinalgebra;oneofthemostcommon
reasonsistofindthezeroesofthepolynomial.Azeroisadomainvalue(e.g.,xvalue)for
whichthepolynomialgeneratesavalueofzero.Eachzeroisasolutionofthepolynomial.
Infactoredform,itismucheasiertofindapolynomialszeroes.Considerthefollowing:
2
3 isthefactoredformofapolynomial.
Ifanumberofitemsaremultipliedtogether,theresultiszerowheneveranyoftheindividual
itemsiszero.Thisistrueforconstantsandforpolynomials.Therefore,ifanyofthefactorsof
thepolynomialhasavalueofzero,thenthewholepolynomialmustbezero.Weusethisfact
tofindzeroesofpolynomialsinfactoredform.
Example1:
2
Findthezeroesof
3 .
Step1:Settheequationequaltozero.
Step1:Setthe
equationequaltozero.
Step2:Thewholeequationiszerowheneveranyofitsfactorsiszero.Fortheexample,this
occurswhen:
2
0,or
Thesolutionset,then,is:
4
0,or
0,or
or,moreconventionally,thexvaluesareput
innumericalorderfromsmallesttolargest:
0,or
48
32
SetNotation: Wemaylisttheset
ofsolutionstoaproblemby
placingthesolutionsinbraces{},
separatedbycommas.
Example2:
7
Findthezeroesof
6
0
6
1
Version 2.8
0
6
0
1
Page 72 of 178
Thesolutionsetcontainsthetwo
domainvaluesthatmaketheoriginal
equationzero,namely:
16
April 19, 2016
Algebra
IntroductiontoQuadraticFunctions
StandardFormofaQuadraticFunction
TheStandardFormofaseconddegreepolynomialis:
0
Anequationofthisformiscalledaquadraticfunction.
Thegraphofthisequationiscalledaparabola.
Upordown?
Thedirectioninwhichtheparabolaopensonagraphis
basedonthesign( or )of intheequation.
If
0,theparabolapointsdownanditopensup.
If
0,theparabolapointsupanditopensdown.
Ifyouforgetthisrule,justrememberthatupordown
dependsonthesignof ,anddoaquickgraphof
,
where
1 onyourpaper.
VertexandAxisofSymmetry
InStandardForm,thevertexoftheparabolahascoordinates:
bysubstituting
whereyiscalculated
forx intheequation.Thevertexiseitherthehighestpointonthegraph
(calledamaximum)orthelowestpointonthegraph(calledaminimum).Italsoliesontheaxis
ofsymmetryofthegraph.
Theequation
iscalledtheaxisofsymmetryoftheparabola.
VertexFormofaQuadraticFunction
Asecondusefulformofaquadraticfunctionisbasedonthevertex,andiscalledVertexForm:
ItispossibletoconvertfromStandardFormtoVertexFormandfromVertexFormtoStandard
Form.Bothareequallycorrect.
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
CompletingtheSquare
AveryusefulmethodforsolvingquadraticequationsisCompletingtheSquare.Infact,thisis
themethodusedtoderivethequadraticformulafromthegeneralquadraticequationin
StandardForm.ThestepsinvolvedinCompletingtheSquareandanexampleareprovided
below:
Considerthestartingequation:
Step1:Modifytheequationsothatthecoefficientof
wholeequationbythevalueof .
is1.Todothis,simplydividethe
Example:
Considertheequation:
18
21
Divideby3toget:
Step2:Getridofthepeskyconstant.Wewillgenerateourown.
Example:
Add 7tobothsides:
Step3:Calculateanewconstant.Therequiredconstantisthesquareofonehalfofthe
coefficientof .Addittobothsidesoftheequation.
6
Example:
Result:
Halfit,thensquaretheresult:
6
3,3
Step4:Recognizethelefthandsideoftheequationasaperfectsquare.Afterall,thatwasthe
reasonweselectedthenewconstantthewaywedid.
16
Example:
Step5:Takethesquarerootofbothsides.Rememberthe signontheconstantterm.
Example:
16
4
Step6:Breaktheresultingequationintotwoseparateequations,andsolve.
Example:
4
1
Solution:
Version 2.8
4
7
Page 74 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
TableofPowersandRoots
SquareRoot
Number
Square
Cube
4thPower
1 000
1 414
16
1 732
27
81
2 000
16
64
256
2 236
25
125
625
2 44
36
216
12 6
2 646
343
2 401
2 828
64
512
40 6
81
3 000
6 561
72
3 162
10
10
100
10
1 000
10
10 000
11
3 317
11
11
121
11
1 331
11
14 641
12
3 464
12
12
144
12
1 728
12
20 736
13
3 606
13
13
16
13
21 7
13
28 561
14
3 742
14
14
1 6
14
2 744
14
38 416
15
3 873
15
15
225
15
3 375
15
50 625
16
4 000
16
16
256
16
40 6
16
65 536
17
4 123
17
17
28
17
4 13
17
83 521
18
4 243
18
18
324
18
5 832
18
104 76
4 35
361
6 85
130 321
20
4 472
20
20
400
20
8 000
20
160 000
21
4 583
21
21
441
21
261
21
1 4 481
22
4 6 0
22
22
484
22
10 648
22
234 256
23
4 7 6
23
23
52
23
12 167
23
27 841
24
48
24
24
576
24
13 824
24
331 776
25
5 000
25
25
625
25
15 625
25
3 0 625
10
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
TheQuadraticFormula
TheQuadraticFormulaisoneofthefirstdifficultmathformulasthatstudentsareaskedto
memorize.Masteringtheformula,thoughdifficult,isfullofrewards.Byknowingwhyitworks
andwhatthevariouspartsoftheformulaare,astudentcangeneratealotofknowledgeina
shortperiodoftime.
Foraquadraticfunctionoftheform:
Theformulafortheroots(i.e.,wherey=0)is:
Quadratic
Formula
HowManyRealRoots?
Thediscriminantisthepartundertheradical:
Ifthediscriminantisnegative,thequadraticfunctionhas0realroots.Thisisbecausea
negativenumberundertheradicalresultsinimaginaryrootsinsteadofrealroots.In
thiscasethegraphthegraphwillnotcrossthexaxis.Itwillbeeitherentirelyabovethe
xaxisorentirelybelowthexaxis,dependingonthevalueofa .
Ifthediscriminantiszero,thequadraticfunctionhas1realroot.Thesquarerootof
zeroiszero,sotheradicaldisappearsandtheonlyrootis
.Inthiscase,the
graphwillappeartobounceoffthexaxis;ittouchesthexaxisatonlyonespotthe
valueoftheroot.
Ifthediscriminantispositive,thequadraticfunctionhas2realroots.Thisisbecausea
realsquarerootexists,anditmustbeaddedintheformulatogetonerootand
subtractedtogettheotherroot.Inthiscase,thegraphwillcrossthexaxisintwo
places,thevaluesoftheroots.
WherearetheVertexandAxisofSymmetry?
Thexcoordinateofthevertexisalsoeasilycalculatedfromthequadraticformulabecausethe
vertexishalfwaybetweenthetworoots.Ifweaveragethetworoots,the portionofthe
formuladisappearsandtheresultingxvalueis
.Theyvalueofthevertexmuststill
becalculated,butthexvaluecanbereaddirectlyoutofthequadraticformula.
Also,oncethexvalueofthevertexisknown,theequationfortheaxisofsymmetryisalso
known.Itistheverticallinecontainingthevertex:
Version 2.8
Page 76 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
Note:Thesameprocessworksfor
inequalitieswith<, ,or>signs.
Solvetheinequalityoftheform:
Step1:If isnegative,multiplythewholeinequalityby 1 .Thiswillmaketheproblem

easiertoworkwith.Dontforgettochangethesignoftheinequality.
3
Example:convert
0 to 3
Step2:Factoroutanyscalarsthatdivideintoallofthetermsoftheinequality.Thiswillalso
maketheproblemeasiertoworkwith.
Example:factor 3
0 to 3
thendivideby3toget:[
Step3:Solvetheequationthatcorrespondstotheinequality.Thesolutionsoftheequation
arethecriticalvaluesinthesolutionoftheinequality.
3
Example:solve[
0 ,whichgives:
Thesolutiontotheinequality,whenshownonanumberline,mustbeeitheroutside
thesolutionsorbetweenthesolutions.Thatis,either:
2
2
But,whichone?
12
Step4:Orvs.And.Lookattheinequalityyouareworkingwith(attheendofStep2).Asin
solvinginequalitieswithabsolutevalues,usethefollowingtricktorememberifthe
answerusesOrvs.And.
Iftheinequalitycontainsa sign,useand.Think:lessthand
Iftheinequalitycontainsa sign,useor.Think:greator
Dontforgettouse
insteadof
iftheyareintheoriginalinequality.
Example:Usingthismethod,westartwith
3
2 0 andnotethe partof
theinequality.Thismeanstheresultintheexamplewouldbe
Inintervalnotationthissolutionsetisshownas:
Insetnotation,thissolutionisshownas:
Version 2.8
Page 77 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
QuadraticInequalitiesinOneVariable(contd)
Step5:CheckingyourOrvs.Anddecision.ThesolutionstotheequationinStep3break
thenumberlineinto3distinctpieces;intheexample:
Lessthan1
a bc
Between1and2
Morethan2
12
Testtoseeiftheoriginalinequalityiscorrectforanumberineachofthesesegmentsof
thenumberline.Althoughyoucouldtestaderivationoftheoriginalinequality(e.g.,
afterSteps1or2),itisbesttoworkwiththeoriginalwhencheckingyourwork.
So,youmighttestvalueslikethefollowing:
a. Lessthan1:trythevalue0
b. Between1and2:trythevalue
c. Morethan2:trythevalue3
Intheexample,youfindthat works,but0and3donotwork.Theanswermustthen
beinthemiddleinterval.ThismatchestheanswerobtainedinStep4.
Step5Alternative:Anotherwaytocheckyourwork.
Analternativewaytocheckyourworkistographthe
equationcorrespondingtotheinequality.
3
2
0fromStep2
Usetheequation
onlyifyouaresureyouperformedSteps1and2
correctly.
Thegraphofthecorrespondingequationisatright.
Noticethattheportionofthegraphthatisbelow
zeroistheportionbetween1and2.
Becausethe signincludestheequalssign,the
endpointsoftheintervalsareincludedinthesolutionset.
Therefore,thesolutionoftheinequalityis:
Theportionofthegraphbelowthe axis
iswherethe
3
2
0
ThismatchestheanswerobtainedinStep4.
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
ADVANCED
Algebra
FittingaQuadraticEquationthroughThreePoints
Ittakesthreepointstodefineaquadraticequation,justlikeittakes2pointstodefinealine.In
general,ittakes(n+1)pointstodefineapolynomialofdegreen.
Startingwith:
thebasicquadraticequation:
threepoints:
,and
,
itispossibletocalculatethecoefficientsofthequadraticequationbysubstitutinginthexand
yvaluesofthe3pointstocreateasystemof3equationsin3unknowns:
Now,thatsalotofsymbols,soletslookatanexample.
Example:
Findthequadraticequationthatpassesthroughthethreepoints:
1 4
2 13
Usingthebasicquadraticequation,andsubstitutingin valuesand values,weget3

equationsin3unknowns:
13 4
2
These3equationscanbesolvedbyeliminatingvariablesorbyusingCramersRule,whichever
thestudentfindsmorecomfortable.Solvingbyeithermethodgives:
Sothat:
Theoddthingaboutthisprocessisthatinmostalgebraproblemsthestudentisaskedtosolve
for or ,butthatisnotthecaseincurvefitting.Instead,thestudentisaskedtoderivea
quadraticequationgiven3setsof sand s,whichrequiressolvingfor , ,and instead.
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
ComplexNumbersIntroduction
Definitions
1.
ImaginaryNumberAnynumberthatcanbeexpressedintheform whereaisreal.
7,6 ,
Examples:
23, 3
ComplexNumberAnynumberthatcanbeexpressedintheform
2 , 6
Examples:6
wherea,barereal.
Note:allrealnumbersandallimaginarynumbersarealsocomplexnumbers.
Intheform
iscalledtherealpartofthecomplexnumber,and
iscalledtheimaginarypartofthecomplexnumber.
AbsoluteValueofaComplexNumber
Theabsolutevalueofacomplexnumberisalsocalleditsmagnitude.Algebraically,itis:
ConjugateofaComplexNumber
Theconjugateofacomplexnumber
Examples:
ComplexNumber
2
isdenoted
Conjugate
2
ComplexNumber
6
Conjugate
6
2
7
2
3
Commentsaboutconjugates:
1. Theconjugateofaconjugateisthenumberyoustatedwith.
,
2. Theproductofconjugatesisarealnumber.
3. Conjugatenumbershavethesameabsolutevalue.
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
OperationswithComplexNumbers
AddingandSubtracting
AddorsubtractboththeRealandImaginaryparts:
Example:
Multiplying
Step1:Multiplylikeyoumultiplybinomials.
Step2:Substitute 1for andsimplify.
Example:
1 3 3 6
3 6
3 6
15 15
18
18
Dividing
Step1:Multiplybyafractionwhosenumeratoranddenominatoraretheconjugateofthe
originalexpressionsdenominator.
Step2:Substitute 1for andsimplify.
Theresultingcomplexnumberwillhaveadenominatorthatisfreeofimaginarynumbers.
Rememberthemethod,nottheformula!
Example:
1 3
3 6
1 3
3 6
3
18
36
Version 2.8
3
3
6
6
21 3
45
18
36
Page 81 of 178
April 19, 2016
ADVANCED
Algebra
TheSquareRootofi
If
,whatis
Thisisaninterestingquestionandsolvingitwillillustrateaveryusefulmethodinworkingwith
complexnumbers.Youcanusethismethodtocalculatethesquarerootofanycomplex
number.
Recallthateachcomplexnumberisoftheform
,whereaandbarereal.
Wewantacomplexnumberthat,whensquared,generates .
So,wewanttocalculateaandbsuchthat
Letssolvethatequation:
Now,breakthisinto2equations,onefortherealpart,andonefortheimaginarypart.
0and2
Herearethe2equations:
Substitutingfor ,
and
0,and isreal,
Since
Since
So,ourcandidatesfor
are:
Letstrythem:
Results:
2
2
2
2
So,wehavefoundnotonlythetwosquarerootsof ,but
alsothetwosquarerootsof
Version 2.8
2
2
2
2
Page 82 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ComplexNumbersGraphicalRepresentation
Complexnumbersoftheform
canberepresentedonasetofaxesthatrepresentReal
andImaginarynumbersinsteadof and .Considerthecomplexnumber3 4 .Itwould
looklikethisonasetofReal(R)andImaginary(I)axes:
I
4i
Graphical
representationof
3 4
PolarCoordinates
Representedinthismanner,complexnumbershaveinterestingproperties(seethenextpage
forsomeofthese).Eachcomplexnumbercanbethoughtofasnotonlyapairofrectangular
coordinates,e.g.,(3,4),butalsoasasetofpolarcoordinateswithmagnitude(i.e.,length) and
angle .Then,tomultiplycomplexnumbers,youmultiplytheirmagnitudesandaddtheir
angles.
Powersofi
Thisisausefulbitofinformationforseeingthevalueof ingraphicalterms.Since
1,
algebraically,wehave:
1etc.
Since hasmagnitude1,allpowers alsohavemagnitude1.Eachsucceedingpowerof ,

then,resultsonlyinachangeoftheangle ,andcanbeconsidereda90 rotationinthe
coordinateplanecontainingtheRealandImaginaryaxes,likeso:
I
I
I
I
R
R
R
R
Thisshowstherotatingpatterninthevaluesofthepowersof every4increments.After4
rotationsyoureturntowhereyoustarted.
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
ADVANCED
Algebra
ComplexNumberOperationsinPolarCoordinates
PolarCoordinates
Ifacomplexnumberisexpressedintermsofitspolarcoordinates,manycalculationsaremade
mucheasier.First,letsinvestigatetherelationshipbetweenapointsrectangularcoordinates
anditspolarcoordinates
.
Themagnitude, isthedistanceofthepointfromthe
origin:
Theangle, ,istheanglethelinefromthepointtothe
originmakeswiththepositiveportionofthexaxis.
Generally,thisangleisexpressedinradians,notdegrees.
Conversionfrompolarcoordinatestorectangularcoordinatesisstraightforward:
and
Example:Intheillustrationabove,thepointshownhas:
Rectangularcoordinates:
44
PolarCoordinates:
4 2
ComplexNumberFormulas:
Toseehowusefulthiscanbe,considerthefollowingformulasforcomplexnumbers:
Multiplication:
So,tomultiplycomplexnumbers,youmultiplytheirmagnitudesandaddtheirangles.
Division:
So,todividecomplexnumbers,youdividetheirmagnitudesandsubtracttheirangles.
Powers:
Noteon
Thisresultsdirectlyfromthemultiplicationrule.
Roots:
Thisresultsdirectlyfromthepowerruleifthe
exponentisafraction.
Sinceiinpolarcoordinatesis 1
,
1
Usingtherootformula,
Inrectangularcoordinates,then,
Version 2.8
Page 84 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ComplexSolutionstoQuadraticEquations
Overthefieldofrealnumberstherearenorootstoaquadraticfunctionifthediscriminantis
lessthanzero.Overthefieldofcomplexnumbers,however,suchaquadraticfunctionhastwo
roots.
QuadraticRefresher
Foraquadraticfunctionoftheform:
Theformulafortheroots(i.e.,wherey=0)is:
Thediscriminantisthepartundertheradical:
Quadratic
Formula
HowManyRoots?
Thefollowingtabletellsushowmanyrealorcomplexrootsexistforafunction,basedonits
discriminant:
ValueofDiscriminant
NumberofRoots
2complex
1real
2real
Note:becauseofthe signinthequadraticformula,whenthereare2complexrootsthey
areconjugates.
Example1:Solve
10
0
4 1 10
2
2 1
2
Example2:Solve2
4
2
7
4
36
6
2
0
4
4 2 7
2 2
40
4
2 10
4
Version 2.8
Page 85 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
RadicalRules
SimpleRulesInvolvingRadicals
GeneralRadicalRule
RuleforSquareRoots
Example
12
4 3
5
4
5
4
2 3
5
Notealsothat:
,sotherulesforexponentsalsoapplyforroots.
e.g.,
RationalizingtheDenominator
Mathematiciansprefertokeepradicalsoutofthedenominator.Herearetwo
methodstoaccomplishthis,dependingonwhatsinthedenominator.
Case1:Simpleradicalinthedenominator.Solution:multiplythebeginning
expressionbyafractionwhichistheoffendingradicaldividedbyitself.
Example:
Case2:Numberandradicalinthedenominator.Solution:multiplybythe
beginningexpressionbyafractionwhichisdesignedtoeliminatetheradicalfrom
thedenominator.Thenumeratoranddenominatorofthefractionarecreatedby
changingthesignbetweenthenumberandtheradicalinthedenominator.
Example:
Version 2.8
Page 86 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SimplifyingSquareRootsTwoMethods
Method1:ExtractingSquares
Inthismethod,youpullsquaresoutfromundertheradical.Thisisthequickest
methodifyouarecomfortablewithwhatthesquaresareandwithdividingthem
outoflargernumbers.
1
1
11
121
Examples: (1)
(2)
600
4 2
7 2
100
100 16 6
10 4 6
40 6
Method2:ExtractingPrimeNumbers
IfyouarenotcomfortablewithMethod1,youcanpull
primenumbersoutfromundertheradicalandpairthem
uptosimplifythesquareroot.
12
144
13
16
16
14
1 6
25
15
225
36
16
256
17
28
64
18
324
81
361
100
20
400
10
Example:
54
Version 2.8
2 27
Method2maytakealotlongerthan
Method1,butitworks.Agoodusefor
Method2iswhenyoutryusingthe
quickerMethod1butgetstuckthen
workingwithprimescangetyouback
ontracktowardsolvingtheproblem.
2 3
2 3 3 3
2 3 3 3
2 3 3
3 2 3
Notethatthelaststepis torecombineroots
3 6
thatdonotcomeinpairs.
Page 87 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SolvingRadicalEquations
Whenanequationinvolvesradicals,theradicalsmustbeeliminatedinordertoobtaina
solution.Theonespecialthingabouttheseequationsisthat,intheprocessofeliminatingthe
radical,itispossibletoaddanothersolutionthatisnotasolutiontotheoriginalproblem.
SolutionsthatareaddedbytheprocessusedtosolvetheproblemarecalledExtraneous
Solutions.Attheendoftheproblem,wemustcheckforextraneoussolutionsandeliminate
them.
SolvingaRadicalEquation
Thestepstosolvinganequationinvolvingradicalsare:
Isolatetheradicalononesideoftheequation.Todothis,addorsubtractanyvariables
orconstantsthatareonthesamesideoftheequationastheradical.
Iftheradicalisasquareroot,squarebothsidesoftheequation.Iftheradicalisacube
root,cubebothsides,etc.Thisshouldgetridoftheradical.
Ifthereareanyradicalsremainingintheproblem,repeatthefirsttwostepsuntilthey
aregone.
Solvetheequationthatremains.
Checkallsolutionstotheproblemusingtheequationintheoriginalstatementofthe
problem.
Discardextraneousroots.
Example:Solve 4
Subtract1frombothsides:
StartingProblem:
Squarebothsides:
Subtract
Factor:
0
1
1 5
asasolution:
Test asasolution:
4 5
Version 2.8
IdentifythefinalSolutionSet:
ObtainPreliminarySolutions:
Test
frombothsides:
6
5
Ifweallowed
to
be 2,theequationwould
workand 1wouldworkasa
solution.However,the
squarerootofanumberis
definedtobethepositive
rootonly.So, 1failsasa
solutiontotheproblem.
Page 88 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SolvingRadicalEquations(contd)
WhyOnlyPositiveSquareRoots?
Itisgenerallytaughtinhighschoolalgebrathatsquarerootshavebothpositiveandnegative
roots.Sowhyarewenowsayingthatthesquarerootofanumberisdefinedtobeapositive
numberonly?
Theanswerliesinthemissingstep,whichisoftennottaughttohighschoolstudents.What
youlearnisthis:
.And,thatiscorrect,butnotbecause
whichitdoesnot!
TheMissingStep
Intheboxtotherightisthedevelopmentwiththe
missingstepincluded.Noticethat:
StartingProblem:
Takesquareroots:
Solveforx:
Whenwetakesquareroots,wehavepositive
numbersoneachsideoftheresultingequation.
Both and2arepositive.
Thetwopossiblevaluesfor comefromsolvingthemiddleequation
Thissolvestheapparentarbitrarinessofwhenarootisonlypositiveandwhenitisboth
positiveandnegative.
Inequalities
Themissingstepalsoprovidesanexplanationforthemethodusedtosolveinequalities.
.Theprocessforsolvingthiswiththemissingstepincludedis:
Considertheinequality:
StartingProblem:
Takesquareroots:
Casei
3
3
and
and
Solution:
3
Caseii
3
3
3
Noticethat convertsto inCaseIandto

inCaseii.Bytheendoftheproblem,you
seethatthesigninCaseiihasbeenflipped
aroundfromtheoriginalproblem.Thisisnot
magic;itistheresultofTheMissingStep
beingappliedinallitsmathematicalglory!
Version 2.8
Page 89 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
MatrixAdditionandScalarMultiplication
WhatisaMatrix?
Amatrixisanorderedsetofnumberssetupina2dimensionalarray.Matricesareveryuseful
inalgebra,statisticsandotherapplicationsbecausetheyprovideaconcisewaytocarryout
morecomplexmathematicalmethodsandprocesses.
Matriceshavedimensions,expressedasthenumberofrowsxthenumberofcolumns.For
example,a2x3matrix(read2by3matrix)has2rowsand3columns.Knowingthe
dimensionsofamatrixisimportantbecausemanymatrixoperationscanonlyoccuron
matriceswithcertaindimensions.
AddingMatrices
Eachnumberinamatrixiscalledanelement.Matricesareaddedbyaddingthecorresponding
elementsinthematrices.Matricesmusthavethesamedimensionstobeadded.
Example:

1strow,1stcolumn: ( )
1strow,2ndcolumn:( )
ScalarMultiplication
Multiplyingamatrixbyascalar(i.e.,anumber)isaccomplishedbymultiplyingeachelementin
thematrixbythescalar.Thetermscalarsimplyreferstoscalingthematrixbymakingits
valueslargerorsmaller.Scalarmultiplicationcanbeperformedonmatricesofanydimensions.
Example:

1strow,1stcolumn: ( )
1strow,2ndcolumn:
Version 2.8
Page 90 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
MatrixMultiplication
MultiplyingMatrices
Multiplicationofmatricesisamorecomplexprocess.Althoughthestudentmayfinditdifficult
atfirst,itisapowerfultoolthatisusefulinmanyfieldsofmathematicsandscience.
Matrixmultiplicationcanbeperformedonlyonmatricesthatareconformable(i.e.,compatible
insize).Inorderfortwomatricestobemultipliedtogether,thenumberofcolumnsinthefirst
matrixmustequalthenumberofrowsinthesecondmatrix.Ifanm x nmatrixismultipliedby
ann x pmatrix,theresultisanm x pmatrix.Thisisillustratedasfollows:
mustmatch
sizeofresultingmatrix
Tomultiplymatrices,youmultiplytheelementsinarowofonematrixbythecorresponding
elementsinacolumnoftheothermatrixandaddtheresults.Ifrowiinthefirstmatrixis
multipliedbyrowjinthesecondmatrix,theresultisplacedinrowi,columnjoftheresulting
matrix.Theelementinpositioni, jofamatrixisoftendenoted , .
Example1:
Noticethatmultiplyinga2x3
matrixbya3x2matrixresults
ina2x2matrix.
Example2:
1strow,1stcolumn: (
1strow,2ndcolumn: ( )
2ndrow,1stcolumn:
2ndrow,2ndcolumn: ( )
)
( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( )
Noticethatmultiplyinga3x2
matrixbya2x3matrixresults
ina3x3matrix.
Fromtheexamples,itisclearthatmatrixmultiplicationisnotcommutative.Thatis,ifwe
nametwomatricesAandB,itisnotnecessarilytruethatAB=BA.Further,ifmatricesare
notsquare(i.e.,havingthesamenumberofrowsandcolumns),matrixmultiplicationisnever
commutative;thatisABBA.
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
MatrixDivisionandIdentityMatrices
Multiplicationanddivisionareinverseprocesseswithwhichthestudentisfamiliarwhen
workingwithrealnumbers.Multiplicationofmatrices,asdescribedaboveismuchmore
complexthanmultiplicationofrealnumbers.So,howdoyoudividematrices?
Divisionofrealnumberscanbeconsideredtheprocessofmultiplyinganumberbytheinverse
ofthenumberbywhichyouwanttodivide.Forexample:
(i.e.,12dividedby3isthesameas12times ;theresultis4eitherway)
dividingby3isthesameamultiplyingbytheinverseof3,whichis
3and aremultiplicativeinversesbecausewhenmultiplied,theyresultin1,whichis
calledthemultiplicativeidentity
Matrixdivisionworksinasimilarfashion.First,weneedtoidentifyanidentitymatrix,thenwe
needtodeterminehowtocalculateaninversematrixwhich,whenmultipliedbytheoriginal
matrix,resultsintheidentitymatrix.Onlysquarematriceshaveinverses.Identitymatrices
mustalso,bydefinition,besquare.
IdentityMatrices
Identitymatricesexistforeachsquaredimension.Identitymatriceshave1sdownthediagonal
and0sineveryotherlocation.Forexample,thefollowingareidentitymatrices,generally
denotedbytheletter :
Whenamatrixismultipliedbyanidentitymatrix,theresultistheoriginalmatrix.
Example:Ifwenameamatrix ,then
Version 2.8
asfollows:
Page 92 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
Inverseofa2x2Matrix
Usingmatrixnotation:
Lettheidentitymatrixofsize becalled
Letan matrixbecalled
Letthedeterminantofmatrix bedenoted
Lettheinverseofmatrix bedenoted 1
Then, 1
1
Notallsquarematriceshaveinverses.Inorderforamatrixtohaveaninverse,itsdeterminant
mustbenonzero.Thatis,matrix hasaninverseifandonlyif:
.
FormulafortheInverseofa2x2Matrix

Ifa2x2matrixhaselements , , andd,suchthat
,then:
Inwords,theinverseiscalculatedasfollows:
Fromtheoriginalmatrix,switchelementsaandd,andchangethesignsofbandc.
Dividetheresultingmatrixbythedeterminantoftheoriginalmatrix.(Note:the
determinantofamatrixisascalar).
Thedeterminantofmatrix
,iscalculatedas
Example:2x2MatrixInverseCalculation
Let:
Then:
So:
Finally,checktomakesure:
Version 2.8
and
Page 93 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
CalculatingInversesTheGeneralCase
ADVANCED
Thecalculationoftheinverseofamatrixofsizegreaterthan2x2canbeperformedbya
processcalledGaussJordanElimination.Theprocessisalsocalled,moregenerically,Row
Reduction.Inthisprocess,youbeginwithtwosidebysidematrices,theoneyouwantto
invert(thesubjectmatrix)andtheidentitymatrixofthesamesize.Operationsareperformed
onbothmatrices,graduallyconvertingtheoriginalmatrixtotheidentityMatrix.
Allowableoperationsare:
Multiplyingordividingarowbyascalar(i.e.,anumber).
Switchingrows.
Addingorsubtractingamultipleofonerowtoorfromanother.
Whenthisprocessiscomplete,theoriginalidentitymatrixhasbeenconvertedtotheinverse
matrix.Belowisanexampleofthedevelopmentofaninverseofa3x3matrixusingthis
process:
Startwiththeidentity
matrixtotherightofthe
originalsubjectmatrix.
Eachoperation
performedontheoriginal
subjectmatrixisalso
performedontheoriginal
identitymatrix.
Endwiththeinverse
matrixtotherightofthe
newidentitymatrix.
Version 2.8
Page 94 of 178
April 19, 2016
ADVANCED
Algebra
DeterminantsTheGeneralCase
Determinantsareveryusefulinmatrixoperations.Thedeterminantofa2x2matrixisdefinedtobe:
Inwords,thediagonalsaremultipliedandtheproductofseconddiagonalissubtractedfromthe
productofthefirstdiagonal.Thisprocessisgeneralizedindeterminantsoflargermatricesusingwhat
arereferredtoasminors.Aminoriswhatisleftofadeterminantwhentherowandcolumnofthe
elementareeliminated.
Thedeterminantofamatrixcanbecalculatedbyselectingarowandmultiplyingeachelementofthe
rowbyitscorrespondingminor.Theresultsarealternatelyaddedandsubtractedtogetthevalueofthe
determinant.Thesignoftheeachtermisdeterminedbytherowandcolumninwhichitresides.The
signfortheelementinrowmandcolumnnis
theyareappliedtoeachrowelement:
2x2:
Thefollowingmatricesofsignsshowhow
3x3:
4x4:
Usingminorsofthefirstrowtoevaluatea3x3matrix,
Or,usingminorsofthesecondcolumntoevaluatethesame3x3matrix,
Theresultsofthecalculationwillbethesame,regardlessofwhichrowisselected,becauseofthepower
ofmatricesanddeterminants.
Examplefora3x3matrixusingminorsofthefirstrow:

Note:thisisthematrixthatforms
thedenominatorinthesolutionof
thesystemofequationsinthe
CramersRuleexample.
Thesameprocessisfollowedforlargerdeterminants.Forexample,a5x5determinantisfirstreduced
toasumoffiveelementseachmultipliedbytheir4x4minors.Eachofthe4x4minorsisreducedtoa
sumoffourelementseachmultipliedbytheir3x3minors,etc.Theprocessiscalculationintensive;
todayitwouldtypicallybeperformedusingacomputer.
Version 2.8
Page 95 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
CramersRuleprovidesapowerfulandsimplewaytosolvesystemsoftwoorthreelinear
equations.Inlargersystemsofequations,itisausefulwaytosolveforjustoneofthe
variables,withouthavingtosolvetheentiresystemofequations.Tosolveanentiresystemof
fourormoreequations,abettertechniquewouldbeGaussJordanElimination,especiallyifthe
studentisaidedbyacomputerandspreadsheetsoftwaresuchasMicrosoftExcel.
CramersRuleworksaslongasthedeterminantofvariablecoefficients(i.e.,thedeterminantin
thedenominator)isnonzero.Ifthisdeterminantiszero,thenthereisnouniquesolutionto
thesystemofequations.
GeneralCasefor2Equationsin2Unknowns
Thestandardformoftheequationsis:
Usingdeterminantnotation,CramersRulestatesthatthesolutionsforxandyare:
Noticethatthedeterminantsinthedenominatorsarethesame;thecolumnsinthese
determinantsarethecoefficientsofthevariablesintheequations.Thedeterminantsinthe
numeratorsarealmostthesameastheonesinthedenominators;theonlydifferenceisthat
thecolumnofcoefficientsassociatedwiththevariablebeingevaluatedisreplacedbythe
equationsconstantterms.
Example:Considertheseequations:
Then,
Version 2.8
Page 96 of 178
April 19, 2016
ADVANCED
Algebra
GeneralCasefor3Equationsin3Unknowns
Thestandardformoftheequationsis:
Usingdeterminantnotation,CramersRulestatesthatthesolutionsforx, yandzare:
Asinthecasewithtwoequations,thedeterminantsinthedenominatorsareallthesame;the
columnsinthesedeterminantsarethecoefficientsofthevariablesintheequations.The
determinantsinthenumeratorsarealmostthesameastheonesinthedenominators;theonly
differenceisthatthecolumnofcoefficientsassociatedwiththevariablebeingevaluatedis
replacedbytheequationsconstantterms.
Notethatthedeterminantof
Example:Considertheseequations:

variablecoefficientsmustbenon
zeroinordertouseCramers
Rule.Ifthisdeterminantiszero,
thereisnouniquesolutiontothe
systemofequations.
Usingdeterminantnotation:
Performingtherequiredcalculations,weobtaintheuniquesolution:
Version 2.8
Page 97 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
AugmentedMatrices
ADVANCED
SolvingSimultaneousEquations
Onerelativelyadvancedmethodofsolvingsimultaneousequationsisthroughtheuseofan
AugmentedMatrix.Amatrixisconsideredaugmentedifitconsistsofthematrixofthe
coefficientsofthevariables,augmentedbytheconstantterms.Inorderforasystemof
equationstobesolvedinthisform,theymustbewritteninstandardform.
Example:
Tosolvethe
system:
Theaugmented
matrixwouldbe:
Gauss JordanElimination
AprocesscalledGaussJordanElimination(GJE)isusedtomanipulatetheaugmentedmatrixto
obtainasolutiontotheequations.GJEisalsocalledRowReductionbecauseeachstepadjusts
thevaluesinonerowoftheaugmentedmatrix.Attheendoftheprocess,therowsofthe
coefficientmatrixarereducedtotheIdentityMatrix.
Thefollowingmanipulationsoftherowsareallowed:
Multiplyingordividingarowbyascalar(i.e.,anumber).
Switchingrows.
Addingorsubtractingamultipleofonerowtoorfromanother.
Whenthisprocessiscomplete,theconstantcolumnoftheaugmentedmatrixhasbeen
convertedtothesolutionofthesystemofequations.Whydoesthiswork?Theprocessusedis
essentiallythesameassolvingasystemofequationsbytheeliminationmethod.InGJE,you
ignorethevariablenamesbyusingmatrices,butthemanipulationsarethesame.
InverseMatrix
ThisprocesscanalsobeusedtodevelopanInverseMatrix.Todothis,
Placeanidentitymatrixtotherightoftheaugmentedmatrixatthestart.
Performallrowoperationsonthismatrixasyouprogress.
Attheend,theoriginalidentitymatrixwillhavebeenconvertedtotheinversematrix.
Inthefollowingexamples,augmentedmatricesaremanipulatedtodevelopsolutionsto
systemsofequationsandidentitymatricesareconvertedtoinversematrices.
Version 2.8
Page 98 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
2x2AugmentedMatrixExamples
Problem:solvethefollowingsetofsimultaneousequationsusingrowreduction
(formallycalledGaussJordanElimination)
ActionTaken
Start
StartingAugmentedMatrix
AdjustTopRow
(Row1)(a11)>Row1
Row2(nochange)
Adjust2ndRow
Row1(nochange)
(Row2)(a21*Row1)>Row2
Adjust2ndRow
Row1(nochange)
(Row2)(a22)>Row2
AdjustTopRow
Row2(nochange)
AugmentedMatrix
x
y
=
2
8
36
1
5
10
Why?
Togeta"1"incolumn1
InverseMatrix
1
0
0
1
1
1
4
5
18
10
0.5
0
0
1
Togeta"0"incolumn1
1
0
4
1
18
8
0.5
0.5
0
1
Togeta"1"incolumn2
1
0
4
1
18
8
0.5
0.5
0
1
1
0
0
1
50 =x
8 =y
Togeta"0"incolumn2
MatrixInverseTest
OriginalMatrix
2
8
1
5
InverseMatrix
2.5
4
0.5
1
Problem:solvethefollowingsetofsimultaneousequationsusingrowreduction
(formallycalledGaussJordanElimination)
ActionTaken
2x+8y=36
x+5y=10
Why?
2.5
4
0.5
1
InverseMatrix
ProductMatrix
1
0
0
1
x+3y=13
2xy=4
AugmentedMatrix
Start
InverseMatrix
13
13
Togeta"0"incolumn1
1
0
3
5
13
30
1
2
0
1
Row1(nochange)
(Row2)(a22)>Row2
Togeta"1"incolumn2
1
0
3
1
13
6
1
0.4
0
0.2
AdjustTopRow
Togeta"0"incolumn2
5 =x
0.2
0.6
6 =y
AdjustTopRow
(Row1)(a11)>Row1
Togeta"1"incolumn1
Row2(nochange)
Adjust2ndRow
Row1(nochange)
Adjust2ndRow
Row2(nochange)
MatrixInverseTest
Version 2.8
OriginalMatrix
1
3
2
1
Page 99 of 178
InverseMatrix
0.2
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.4
0.2
InverseMatrix
ProductMatrix
1
0
0
1
April 19, 2016
Algebra
3x3AugmentedMatrixExample
Problem:solvethefollowingsetofsimultaneous
equationsusingrowreduction(formallycalled
GaussJordanElimination)
ActionTaken
WorkDown
Row1*1/2>Row1
Row2(newRow1)>Row2
Row3(3*newRow1)>Row3
WorkDown
Row1(nochange)
SwitchRows2and3
SwitchRows2and3
WorkDown
Row1(nochange)
Row2/2.5>Row2
Row3*2>Row3
WorkDown
Row1(nochange)
Row2(nochange)
Row3(9*Row2)>Row3
WorkDown
Row1(nochange)
Row2(nochange)
Row3*.5>Row3
WorkUp
Row1(Row3*1.5)>Row1
Row2+Row3>Row2
Row3(nochange)
WorkUp
Row1+(Row2*.5)>Row1
Row2(nochange)
Row3(nochange)
MatrixInverseTest
Version 2.8
2xy+3z=7
x+4y2z=17
3x+y+2z=2
Why?
x
2
1
3
AugmentedMatrix
y
z
1
3
4
2
1
2
InverseMatrix
=
7
17
2
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
Togeta"1"incolumn1
Togeta"0"incolumn1
Togeta"0"incolumn1
1
0
0
0.5
4.5
2.5
1.5
3.5
2.5
3.5
20.5
12.5
0.5
0.5
1.5
0
1
0
0
0
1
NewRow2lookseasiertoworkwith
NewRow2lookseasiertoworkwith
1
0
0
0.5
2.5
4.5
1.5
2.5
3.5
3.5
12.5
20.5
0.5
1.5
0.5
0
0
1
0
1
0
Togeta"1"incolumn2
Togetridofthefractions
1
0
0
0.5
1
9
1.5
1
7
3.5
5
41
0.5
0.6
1
0
0
2
0
0.4
0
Togeta"0"incolumn2
1
0
0
0.5
1
0
1.5
1
2
3.5
5
4
0.5
0.6
4.4
0
0
2
0
0.4
3.6
Togeta"1"incolumn3
1
0
0
0.5
1
0
1.5
1
1
3.5
5
2
0.5
0.6
2.2
0
0
1
0
0.4
1.8
Togeta"0"incolumn3
Togeta"0"incolumn3
1
0
0
0.5
1
0
0
0
1
0.5
3
2
2.8
1.6
2.2
1.5
1
1
2.7
1.4
1.8
Togeta"0"incolumn2
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
OriginalMatrix
2
1
1
4
3
1
3
2
2
InverseMatrix
2
1
1.6
1
2.2
1
Page 100 of 178
2
1.4
1.8
1 =x
3 =y
2 =z
ProductMatrix
1
0
0
1
0
0
2
1
2
1.6
1
1.4
2.2
1
1.8
InverseMatrix
0
0
1
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ExponentFormulas
Word Description
Math Description
Limitations
of Property
of Property
on variables
Product of Powers
Examples
Quotient of Powers
Power of a Power
Anything to the zero power is 1

, if
Negative powers generate the
reciprocal of what a positive
power generates
Power of a product
Power of a quotient
Converting a root to a power
Version 2.8
Page 101 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
LogarithmFormulas
Word Description
Math Description
Limitations
of Property
of Property
on variables
Definition of logarithm
implies
Examples
implies
isundefined
0
Log (base anything) of 1 is

zero
Exponents and logs are
inverse operators, leaving
what you started with
Logs and exponents are

inverse operators, leaving
what you started with
The log of a product is the

sum of the logs
The log of a quotient is the

difference of the logs
The log of something to a
power is the power times the
log
Change the base to whatever

you want by dividing by the
log of the old base
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ADVANCED
Algebra
e
Whatise?
eisatranscendentalnumber,meaningthatitisnottherootofanypolynomialwith
integercoefficients.
eisthebaseofthenaturallogarithms.
WhatMakesesoSpecial?
eshowsupoverandoverinmathematics,especiallyinregardtolimits,derivatives,and
integrals.Inparticular,itisnoteworthythat:
Perhaps,mostinterestingly,thefollowingequation,calledEulersEquation,relatesfive
seeminglyunrelatedmathematicalconstantstoeachother.
SomeSeriesRepresentationsofe

Therearemanymoreseriesinvolvinge.
Asamplingoftheseisprovidedat:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/e.html.
DecimalExpansion

h
h
e
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Algebra
TableofExponentsandLogarithms
Definition:
024
ifandonlyif
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
ConvertingBetweenExponentialandLogarithmicForms
Toconvertbetweenanexponentialexpressionandalogarithmicexpression,itisoftenhelpful
tousethefirstlastmiddleruletoperformtheconversion.Ifnecessasy,settheexpression
equalto beforeapplyingtherule.
Note:thefirstlastmiddlerulerequiresthatthelogarithmicorexponentialportionofthe
expressionbeonthelefthandsideoftheequation.
Converting from Logarithmic Form
to Exponential Form
Converting from Exponential Form

to Logarithmic Form

first last middle
first last middle
Examples:
Examples:
1) Solvefor :
Firstis4,lastis andmiddleis
64.So,
.
Then,
So,wehave:
Solvefor :

(remember isshorthandfor
So,wehave:
Converttheexpression,
logarithmicform.

,
convertsto:
to
,
convertsto:
So,wehave:
to
Firstis2,lastis32andmiddleis
5.
So,wehave:
Converttheexpression,
logarithmicform.
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Algebra
ExpandingLogarithmicExpressions
Expandingalogarithmicexpressionisaprocessbestdescribedbyexample.Eachstepofthe
processisdescribedandillustratedintheexamplebelow.
Expand:
Whenexpanded:
Eachiteminthenumeratorwillbecomeatermprecededbya+sign
Eachiteminthedenominatorwillbecomeatermprecededbyasign.
Allexponentsbecometermcoefficientsinexpandedform.
Step1:Simplifytermsintheoriginalexpression,ifpossible:
Step2:Writethelogofalloftheitemsinparenthesesinthesimplifiedexpression:

Step3:Writetheexponentsfromthesimplifiedexpressionascoefficientsofeachlog:

Step4:Writethesigns( foritemsinthenumerator; foritemsinthedenominator):
Step5:Simplifytermsinthesolution,ifpossible:
Result:
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
CondensingLogarithmicExpressions
Condensingalogarithmicexpressionisaprocessbestdescribedbyexample.Eachstepofthe
processisdescribedandillustratedintheexamplebelow.
Condense:

Step1:Reviewtheexpressionandidentifyeachelement.
Theargumentofeachlogwillbecomethebaseofanexponentialterm.
Thecoefficientofeachlogwillbecomeanexponentonthatterm
Thesignofeachtermdetermineswhethertheexponentialtermgoesinthe
numerator(+)ordenominatorofthecondensedexpression.
exponents
Whencondensed,eachtermwill
becomeexponentialinform.All
termsinthenumeratorwillbe

multipliedtogether.Alltermsin
indicatesthataterm
goesinthedenominator
thedenominatorwillbemultiplied
together.
+indicatesthataterm
goesinthenumerator
Step2:Setupthelogexpressionwiththeproperbaseandparenthesestocontainthevarious
terms.Ifthereisatleastonenegativesign,setupafractioninsidetheparentheses:
Step3:Convertanyconstantstopowersofthebaseofthelog:
Step4:Bringineachtermcontainingavariableasanexponentialexpressionwiththeproper
exponentandbase:
Step5:Simplifytotheextentpossible:
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Algebra
CondensingLogarithmicExpressionsMoreExamples
Suggestionsfordoingproblems:
Useparenthesesliberallytohelpyourselfseewhatisgoingonintheproblem.
Dotheproblemsonestepatatime,workingcarefullydownthepage.
Leaveyourselfalotofroomtodothework;theremaybealotofsteps.
Someadditionalexamplestohelpseehowthevariousrulesfittogether:
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Algebra
GraphinganExponentialFunction
Graphinganexponentialorlogarithmicfunctionisaprocessbestdescribedbyexample.Each
stepoftheprocessisdescribedandillustratedintheexamplesoverthenextfewpages.
Graphthefunction:
Step1:Thehorizontalasymptoteoccursatthe
valueoftheconstantterm.Thisisbecausethe
exponentialtermapproacheszeroasthe
exponentbecomesmoreandmorenegative.
istheasymptote.
Step2:Selectpointsforthegraph:
Inselectingpointsforan
exponentialcurve,good
choicesoftenrelatetothe
valueoftheexponent.
Choosevaluesthatmake
theexponent1,0and1;or
1,0and2.
Inthisexample,select sothat:

Step3:Graphtheexponentialfunction:
3A:Graphthe
asymptote
3B:Graphthepoints
3C:Sketchinthecurve
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Four Exponential Function Graphs

h

h

h h ( h

h
) h

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Algebra
GraphingaLogarithmicFunction
Method 1: Direct Method

GraphthesampleFunction:
Step1:Findtheverticalasymptoteatthevalueof
xthatmakestheargumentofthelogzero.
,
istheasymptote.
Inselectingpointsforalogarithmiccurve,goodchoicesoftenrelatetothevalueoftheargument.
Choosevaluesthatmaketheargument1andthebaseofthelogarithm(1and4inthisexample).
Inthisexample,select
sothat:
,
Seewhathappenswhenwedothis
inthetabletotheright:
1and
Byselectingxssothatthevaluesinparenthesesare
thebaseofthelog,thecalculationofysbecomeseasy.
Notethattwopointsmaybesufficient tographthecurveif wehavealsodrawntheasymptote.
Step3:Graphthelogarithmicfunction:
3A:Graphthe
asymptote
3B:Graphthepoints
3C:Sketchinthecurve
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
GraphingaLogarithmicFunction(contd)
Natural Logarithm Notation:
standsforlogarithmusnaturalis(Latinfornaturallogarithm)andisthelogarithmwithbase .
The
notationwasinventedinthelate1800s,whenalotofworkwasdonebyhand(therewereno
electroniccalculatorsorcomputers).Thosewhoworkedwithlogarithmsoftenusednaturallogarithms
extensively,sothisshorthandnotationbecamequitepopular,andhassurvivedtothisday.
So,whenyousee:
think
Method 1: Direct Method when the base of the logarithm is

Step1:Findtheverticalasymptoteatthevalueof
xthatmakestheargumentofthelogzero.
,
istheasymptote.
Inselectingpointsforalogarithmiccurve,goodchoicesoftenrelatetothevalueoftheargument.
Choosevaluesthatmaketheargument1andthebaseofthelogarithm(1andeinthisexample).
Inthisexample,select
sothat:
,
Youneedtoknowthat

So,
.
1and
Byselectingxssothatthevaluesinparenthesesare
thebaseofthelog,thecalculationofysbecomeseasy.
Notethattwopointsmaybesufficient tographthecurveif wehavealsodrawntheasymptote.
3A:Graphthe
asymptote
3B:Graphthepoints
3C:Sketchinthecurve
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Algebra
GraphingaLogarithmicFunction(contd)
Method 2: Double Inverse Method

Step1:Findtheinversefunction:
Switchvariables:
Subtracttheconstant:
Result:
Takepowersofthelogbase:
Simplify:
Subtracttheconstant:
ResultingINVERSEFunction:
Step2:Findthevertical
asymptoteatthevalueofx
thatmakestheargumentof
thelogzero.

istheasymptote.
or
Inselectingpointsforan
exponentialcurve,good
choicesoftenrelatetothe
valueoftheexponent.
Choosevaluesthatmake
theexponent1,0and1;or
1,0and2.
Inthisexample,select sothat:

Step4:Switchthexandyvaluestogetpointsforthelogarithmicfunction:

5A:Graphthe
asymptote
Version 2.8
5B:Graphthepoints
5C:Sketchinthecurve
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Four Logarithmic Graphs

h

h h ( h
) h

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Algebra
p
y=2x
y=()x
10.0
10.0
5.0
5.0
0.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
0.0
5.0
10.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
5.0
5.0
10.0
10.0
10.0
10.0
5.0
5.0
0.0
5.0
5.0
0.0
10.0
5.0
5.0
10.0
10.0
y=x
y=x2
y=x3
10.0
10.0
10.0
5.0
5.0
5.0
5.0
Version 2.8
10.0
10.0
0.0
0.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
0.0
00
5.0
10.0
y=log x
y=log2 x
10.0
5.0
0.0
5.0
10.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
0.0
5.0
10.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
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5.0
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Algebra
ApplicationsofExponentialFunctions
ExponentialGrowthandDecay
Note:ifyoulettheendvaluebe
representedby
andthe
startvalueby ,yougetsimilar
formulastotheinterest
formulasbelow.
InterestFormulas
Let:
=Amountofmoneyattime
=Principal(startingamountofmoney);notethat
=theannualrateofinterest(e.g.,4%or.04)
=thenumberoftimesperyearthatinterestiscredited
Compoundinterestpaysinterestanumberoftimesduringtheyear;thatis,in
periodsafterthefirst,interestispaidontheoriginalamountinvestedplus
interestearnedinpriorperiods.
Compoundinterestpaidntimesayear:
Simplecase.Ifinterestiscompoundedonanannualbasis,wegetthesimplest
formula:
Annualinterestpaidonceayear:
Continuouscompounding.Themorefrequentthecompoundingofinterest,the
moremoneyyouget.Thebestreturnonyourmoneyoccursifinterestis
compoundedcontinuously.Becauseofthedefinitionofthemathematical
constant ,wegetthefollowingformula(knownasthePertformula).
Interestcompoundedcontinuously:
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Algebra
SolvingExponentialandLogarithmicEquations
Logarithmsandexponentsareinverseoperationsinthesamewayadditionandsubtractionare,
andinthesamewaymultiplicationanddivisionare.So,toundoanexponent,youtakea
logarithm,andtoundoalogarithm,youtakeanexponent.
SolvinganExponentialEquation
Sometimesanequationhasavariableinanexponent.Tosolvethiskindofequation,follow
thesesteps:
Isolatethetermwiththeexponentononeside
oftheequation.Thatis,undoanyadditions,
subtractions,multiplications,anddivisionsin
theequation.
Takealogarithmofbothsidesoftheequation.
Usethebasethatexistsintheexponential
term.
Example:
Start:
Subtract2:
Divideby4:
Takelogs:
Simplify:
Add2:
Note:intheexampleatright,thebaseof3isselected
forthelogarithmsbecauseitisthebaseoftheexponentintheproblem.
SolvingaLogarithmicEquation
Tosolveanequationwithalogarithminit,followthesesteps:
Isolatethelogarithmononesideofthe
equation.Thatis,undoanyadditions,
subtractions,multiplications,anddivisionsin
theequation.
Takethebaseofthelogarithmtothepowerof
bothsidesoftheequation.Usethesamebase
thatexistsinthelogarithmicterm.
Start:
Add1:
Multiplyby :
Exponentiate:
Note:intheexampleatright,thebaseof isselected
foruseinexponentiationbecauseitisthebaseofthe
logarithmintheproblem.
Version 2.8
Example:
Page 117 of 178
Simplify:
Subtract1:
April 19, 2016
Algebra
PolynomialFunctionGraphs
Definitions
LocalMaximumThelargestvaluethatafunctiontakesinaneighborhoodaroundthe
point.Theremustbesmallervaluesonbothsidesofthelocalmaximum.
LocalMinimumThesmallestvaluethatafunctiontakesinaneighborhoodaroundthe
point.Theremustbelargervaluesonbothsidesofthelocalminimum.
AfunctionisIncreasingoveranintervalifit
generateslargervaluesasxincreasesoverthe
sameinterval.
AfunctionisDecreasingoveranintervalifit
generatessmallervaluesasxincreasesoverthe
sameinterval.
Thegraphattherighthastwolocalmaximaandtwolocal
minima.Italsohasthreeintervalswhereitisincreasing
andtwointervalswhereitisdecreasing.
CharacteristicsoftheGraphofaPolynomial
If
isapolynomialofdegree ,then
iscontinuousoverallvaluesofx.
Roots(i.e.,zeroes)of
most ofthem.
Theyinterceptofthegraphoccursat
polynomial.
willhaveatmost
1localextrema(eithermaximaorminima).Forexample,a
5 degreepolynomialwillhaveatmost4extrema;theexampleabovehas4extrema.
existwhereverthegraphintersectsthexaxis.Thereareat
0 ,whichistheconstanttermofthe
th
Ateachextreme,theslopeofalinetangenttothecurvewillbezero.However,ifthe
slopeofthetangentlinetothecurveatapointiszero,thepointisnotnecessarilyan
extreme.
Atalocalmaximum,thepolynomialmustbeincreasingontheleftanddecreasingon
theright.
Atalocalminimum,thepolynomialmustbedecreasingontheleftandincreasingon
theright.
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Algebra
Derivatives
Thederivativeofamonomialis:
Thenotation meanstakeaderivativewithrespecttothevariablex.Weneedtoknowtwo
otherthingsaboutderivativesinordertofindextremawiththem.
Thederivativeofasumisthesumofthederivatives.Thatis:
Derivativesprovideinformationabouttheslopesoflinestangenttothecurveateach
point.Sincetheslopeofatangentlineataminimumormaximumiszero,wecan
calculatethederivativeofapolynomialandsetitequaltozerotofindthexvaluesofits
extrema.
If
isapolynomial,anyextremalieatpointswhere
Example1:Takethegeneralquadraticequation:
Weknowthatthegraphofthisequationhasasinglemaximumorminimumwhichisthevertex
oftheparabola.Takingaderivativeofthisformulaandsettingitequaltozero,weget:
Solvingforx,weget:
,whichwealreadyknowisthexvalueofthevertex.
Example2:
Findlocalmaximaandminimaforthecubicequation:
Solvingthisforx,wefindlocalmaximaorminimamayexistat
Onecaution:Whenaderivativeisequaltozero,itonlyprovidesthepossibilityofanextreme;
itdoesnotguaranteeanextreme.Itispossiblefortheslopeofacurvetobezeroandnothave
where
0.
eitheralocalmaximumorminimum.Foranexampleofthis,lookat
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
FactoringHigherDegreePolynomials
SumandDifferenceofCubes
Thesumofcubesisoftheform:
Thedifferenceofcubesisoftheform:
Noticethefollowingaboutthesetwoformulas:
Eachformulafactorsintoabinomialandatrinomial.
Eachterminthebinomialisofdegree1.
Eachterminthetrinomialisofdegree2.
Eachformulahasoneminussigninitsfactorization.
Ineachformula,thesecondtermofthebinomialfactortakesthesignofthesecond
termoftheoriginalexpression.
Identification
Toseeifanexpressionisasumordifferenceofcubes,youmustansweryes
tothreequestions:
1. Arethereonlytwoterms?
2. Isthefirsttermacube?Ifso,takeitscuberoottogetthevalueofa.
3. Isthesecondtermacube?Ifso,takeitscuberoottogetthevalueofb.
Thesolutionisbasedontheappropriateformulaabove,substitutingthecube
rootsofthetwotermsforaandb.Becareful!
Tableof
Cubes
1
27
Note:Atelltalesignofwhenanexpressionmightbethesumordifferenceof2
cubesiswhenthecoefficientsonthevariablesarecubesandtheexponentson
thevariablesaremultiplesof3.
64
125
216
Examples:
343
512
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Version 2.8
72
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10
1 000
11
1 331
12
1 728
April 19, 2016
Algebra
VariableSubstitution
Onoccasionyouwillencounterapolynomialthatlooksfamiliarexceptthattheexponentson
thevariablesarehigherthanusual.Inthiscase,atechniquecalledVariableSubstitutionmay
beuseful.
Thestepsforvariablesubstitutionare:
Identifywhichkindofequationtheproblemresembles.
Identifywhattermsarelikelytorequiresubstitution.Oftenthereareonlyoneortwo
termsthatneedtobesubstituted.
Createnewvariablesforpurposesofsubstitution.
Rewritetheproblemintermsofthenewvariables.
Solvetheproblemintermsofthenewvariables.
Substitutetheoriginalvariablesintothesolution.
Performanyadditionalworkthatisneededbasedontheoriginalvariables.
Checkyourwork.
Example1:
Factor:
Thislookslikeatypicaltrinomialfactoringproblemexceptforthelargeexponents.
Createtwonewvariables:
and
Rewritetheexpression:
Factortheexpression:
Substituteoriginalvariables:
Performadditionalwork:
Checkyourworkbymultiplyingthefactoredformtoseeifyougettheoriginalpolynomial.
Example2:
Factor:
Thislookslikeasumofcubes.
Createtwonewvariables:
and
Usethesumofcubesformula:
Substituteoriginalvariables:
Checkyourworkbymultiplyingthefactoredformtoseeifyougettheoriginalpolynomial.
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Algebra
SyntheticDivision
SyntheticDivisionisashortcuttodividingpolynomialsbyalinearfactor.Hereshowitworks.
Wewilluseanexampletoillustratetheprocess.
Example1: 2
Step1:Inthelinearterm
takethevaluerasthedivisor.Intheexample,thedivisor
willbe .Weusetheletterrtoindicatethatthevalueisactuallyarootoftheequation.So,
insyntheticdivision,therootisusedasthedivisor.
Step2:Lineupthecoefficientsofthetermsfromhighest
degreetolowestdegreeinarowtotherightofthedivisor.If
atermismissing,useazeroforthecoefficientofthatterm.
Wewillcallthisarrayofcoefficientsthedividend.
Step3:Bringtheleadingcoefficientdownbelowtheline.
Step4:Multiplythedivisorbythenumberjustplacedbelow
thelineandputtheresultabovethelineandonecolumnto
theright.Addthetwonumbersinthatcolumntogeta
numberbelowthelineforthatcolumn.
Step5:RepeatStep4untilallofthecolumnshavebeen
completed.
Thefinalresultisasetofcoefficientsofthepolynomialthat
resultsfromthedivision.Theexponentsofthetermsofthe
resultingpolynomialbeginonelowerthanthedegreeofthe
originalpolynomial.
Intheexample,theresultis
,witharemainderof0.Theremainderof0isagood
indicationthatthedivisionwasperformedproperly.
Example2:
1
1
Fromthesyntheticdivisiontotheright,weget:
Thereisnoconstanttermandnoremainderinthe
solutiontothisexample.
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Algebra
ComparingSyntheticDivisiontoLongDivision
AdvantagesofSyntheticDivision
Syntheticdivisionhasthefollowingadvantagesoverlongdivision:
Thedivisorisapossiblerootofthepolynomial;itisarootiftheremainderiszero.
Itisshorter.
Itismuchquicker.
Itworksbyadditionandmultiplicationinsteadofbysubtractionanddivision.Because
ofthis,itismuchlesspronetoerror.
ComparisonofMethods
Itisinstructivetocomparesyntheticdivisionandlongdivisiontogetabetterideaofwhy
syntheticdivisionworks.Considerthedivision: 2
5
2
2
Thetwomethodsofperformingthisdivisionarelaidoutbelow.Noticethefollowing
correspondencesbetweentheexamples:
SyntheticDivision
Rootvs.Factor.Syntheticdivisionusestherootofthe
polynomialasthedivisor.Longdivisionusesthewholefactor.
Thesignsontherootareoppositeinthetwomethods.
Dividend.Thedividendsinthetwomethodsarethesame
(exceptthatsyntheticdivisionleavesoutthevariables).
SecondRow.Thesecondrowinsyntheticdivision
correspondstothesecondarycoefficientsof
eachdivisioninlongdivision(butwithopposite
signs).
AnswerRow.Insyntheticdivisiontheanswerrow
(ofcoefficients)iscalculateddirectlybyaddingthe
valuesintherowsaboveit.Inlongdivision,itis
necessarytosubtractexpressionstodetermine
anotherexpressionthatmustbedividedbythe
divisortogetthenexttermoftheanswer.
AddingVariables.Insyntheticdivision,itis
necessarytoaddthevariablesaftertheansweris
determined.Inlongdivision,theansweris
provideddirectly.
LongDivision
2
22
2
5
4
2
1
2
1
1
2
2
0
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
ZeroesofPolynomials
DevelopingPossibleRoots
Ifapolynomialhastheform:
Then,
willhaveexactly complexroots.Forexample,a5thdegreepolynomialwillhave
exactly5complexroots.Note:someoftheserootsmaybethesame,andsomeof
themmaybereal.
willhaveexactly
realroots,where isawholenumber.Forexample,a
5 degreepolynomialwillhaveeither5realroots,3realroots,or1realroot.
th
DescartesRuleofSigns.(Notehowthistiesintothebulletabove.)
o Thenumberofpositiverealrootsofapolynomial
isequaltothenumberof
signchangesin
,orislessthanthisbyamultipleof2.
o Thenumberofnegativerealrootsofapolynomial
isequaltothenumber
ofsignchangesin
,orislessthanthisbyamultipleof2.Note:to
generate
quickly,justchangethesignsofthetermswithoddexponents.
willhaveanevennumberofnonrealroots.Forexample,a5thdegreepolynomial
willhaveeither0nonrealroots,2nonrealroots,or4nonrealroots.Further,the
nonrealrootsexistinconjugatepairs;soif
isarootof
,thensois
.
RationalRootTheorem.Anyrationalrootshavethecharacteristic
.This
factisespeciallyusefuliftheleadcoefficientofthepolynomialis1;inthiscase,anyreal
rootsarefactorsoftheconstantterm.Thisfact,incombinationwiththeeaseof
syntheticdivision,makesfindingintegerrootsaquickprocess.
Example:
Whatcanwesayabouttherootsof
?(note:4signchanges)
First,notethat
So,
Therealrootsmustbe1,2,or4(thepositivefactorsoftheconstantterm4).
Tofindoutmore,wehavetotestthepossiblerealrootvalues.
Version 2.8
(note:zerosignchanges)
has4complexroots.0,2,or4ofthemarereal;allrealrootsarepositive.
Page 124 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ZeroesofPolynomials
TestingPossibleRoots
Thefollowingtwotheoremsareveryusefulintestingpossibleroots(zeroes)ofPolynomials.
FactorTheorem:
isafactorofapolynomial
RemainderTheorem:If
isdividedby
0.
ifandonlyif
,thentheremainderis
MethodsofTestingPossibleRoots
Ifapolynomialcanbefactored,thenfirst,factorthepolynomial;theproblemwillbeeasierto
solveafterfactoring.Inaddition,ifyouareabletoproducelinearorquadraticfactors,the
rootsofthosefactorswillberootsofthepolynomial.
Afterfactoring,thefollowingmethodscanbeusedtotestpossiblerootsofapolynomial.
Usesyntheticdivisiontotestpossibleroots.Becausesyntheticdivisionisquick,several
potentialrootscanbetestedinashortperiodoftime.
Substitutepossiblerootsintothepolynomialtoseeiftheremainderiszero.
If
,then isarootof
.
Graphthepolynomial.Realrootsexistwhereverthegraphcrossesthexaxis.Although
thismethodmayhelpfindtheapproximatelocationofroots,itisnotareliablemethod
fordeterminingexactvaluesofroots.
Example:Factorandfindtherootsof
Usingsyntheticdivision:
1
Tryingfirstthepossibleroot
1,thenthepossibleroot
2,wefindthattheybothwork.So,
Usingthequadraticformulaonthequadraticfactorinthis
expressionwefindtwononrealroots.Sothefourrootsare:
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
IntersectionsofCurves
GeneralCase(BezoutsTheorem)
BezoutsTheoremstatesthatthemaximumnumberofintersectionsoftwodistinctcurvesin
thecomplexfieldistheproductofthedegreesofthecurves.(Note:forthesepurposes,aline
isconsideredacurveofdegree1.)Forgraphsintwodimensions,ifthedegreesoftwodistinct
curvesarerands,then:
Thereareatmost intersectionsofthetwocurves.
Therearealsocaseswherefewerthan intersectionsexist.
Tosolveforthepointsofintersection,eithersetthetwoequationsequaltoeachother
orusevariablesubstitution;thensolve.
Toapplythistheorem,itisusefultosetupeachcurveasanequationequaltozero.Examples
areprovidedbelowandonthepagesthatfollow.
TwoLines
Twodistinctlinesmayhaveeitherzerooronepointofintersection,asshowninthefollowing
illustrations:
ParallelLines:
0pointsofintersection
Lineshavetheform:
IntersectingLines:
1pointofintersection
,sotheequationsofanytwolinescanbewrittenas:
0and
Noticethatbothlinesareofdegree1;i.e.,
1and
Themaximumnumberofintersectionsis:
Theremaybelessthanoneintersection.
Version 2.8
Page 126 of 178
1.UsingBezoutsTheorem:
.
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ALineandaParabola
Thegeneralformsforalineandaparabolaare:
Line:
Parabola:
Note:weusethelettertinsteadof
bintheequationofalineinorderto
avoidconfusionwiththecoefficient
bintheequationofaparabola.
ForpurposesofBezoutsTheorem,theseconvertto:
Line:
Parabola:
UsingBezoutsTheorem,themaximumnumberofintersectionsis:
and2intersectionsareprovidedbelow:
.Casesfor0,1,
FindingthePoint(s)ofIntersection
Inordertofindanypointsofintersection,setthetwooriginalequationsequaltoeachother
andsolve:
Thisequationcanbesolvedforxbyanyofthemethodsusedtofindtherootsofaquadratic
equation.Thevalueofycanbecalculatedforeachvalueofxbysubstitutingxintoeitherof
theoriginalequations.
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
ACircleandanEllipse
Thegeneralformsforacircleandanellipseare:
Circle:
Ellipse:
ForpurposesofBezoutsTheorem,theseconvertto:
Circle:
Ellipse:
UsingBezoutsTheorem,themaximumnumberofintersectionsis:
3and4intersectionsareprovidedbelow:
.Casesfor0,1,2,
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
DomainsofRationalFunctions
RationalExpressionsarefractionswithpolynomialsinboththenumeratoranddenominator.If
therationalexpressionisafunction,itisaRationalFunction.
FindingtheDomainofaRationalFunction
Thedomain(e.g.,xvalues)ofarationalfunctionisthesetofallvaluesthatresultinvalidrange
values(e.g.,yvalues).Generally,therearetwosituationswhereavalueisnotincludedinthe
domainofarationalfunction:
Anyxthatgeneratesazerointhedenominator.
Anyxthatgeneratesasquarerootofanegativenumber.
Example1:
Considertherationalfunction:
Sincetherearenosquareroots,theonlyvalueforwhich
wecannotcalculate
iswhere
or,where
.Sothedomainisallrealxexcept
,or:
|
Noticetheholeinthegraphofthefunctionatthepoint
2, 4 .Thisindicatesthatthefunctiondoesnothave
avaluefor
.
Example2:
Considerthefunction:
Thisfunctionhasnovalidxvaluesfor
3because
theywouldgeneratethesquarerootofanegative
numberinthenumerator.Inaddition,thedenominator
wouldbezeroif
.Sothedomainisallrealx
greaterthan3except
,or:
|
Version 2.8
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April 19, 2016
Algebra
HolesandAsymptotes
Holes
Aholeinagraphexistswheneverafactor
occurs
moretimesinthenumeratorthaninthedenominatorofa
rationalfunction.
thefactor
Example:Inthefunction
is
inboththenumeratorandthedenominator.Infact,the
functioncanbereducedto
exceptatthepoint
wherethefunctionisundefined.
VerticalAsymptotes
Averticalasymptoteexistswheneverafactor
thaninthenumeratorofarationalfunction.
occursmoretimesinthedenominator
the
Example:In
factors
and
occurinthedenominatorbutnot
inthenumeratorofthefunction,sotheygeneratevertical
asymptotes.Theverticalasymptotesareshownasred
dottedlinesat
and
inthegraphatright.
HorizontalAsymptotes
Therearethreeseparatecasesforhorizontalasymptotesofarationalfunction
1. IfthedegreeofP(x) >thedegreeofQ(x),thereisnohorizontalasymptote.
2. IfthedegreeofP(x) = the degree ofQ(x),ahorizontalasymptoteexistsattheline:
3. IfthedegreeofP(x) <thedegreeofQ(x),ahorizontalasymptoteexistsattheline
Example:Inthefunction
thedegreesofthepolynomialsinthenumerator
anddenominatorarethesame,andtheratiooftheirleadcoefficientsis
ofthehorizontalasymptoteisshownasthereddottedline
Version 2.8
Page 130 of 178
.Thelocation
inthegraphabove.
April 19, 2016
Algebra
GraphingRationalFunctions
Rationalfunctionsareoftwotypes:
Simplerationalfunctionsareoftheform
oranequivalentformthatdoes
notcontainapolynomialofdegreehigherthan1(i.e.,no
constants).
Generalrationalfunctionsareoftheform
, etc.just sand
whereeither
,
polynomialofdegree2orhigher(i.e.,containsan
or
isa
.).
Ingeneral,itisagoodideatofindtheasymptotesforafunctionfirst,andthenfindpointsthat
helpgraphthecurve.Thedomainandanyholescantypicallybeeasilyidentifiedduringthis
process.Therangeandtheendbehaviorbecomeidentifiableoncethefunctionisgraphed.
Ifyoucanputarationalfunctionintheform
,hereswhatyouget:
VerticalAsymptote:Occursat
.Theverticalasymptoteiseasytofindbecauseitoccurs
at
.Atthisvalueof ,thedenominatoris
0,andyoucannotdividebyzero.
Hence,as approaches ,thedenominatorof
becomesverysmall,andthegraphshoots
offeitherupordown.
HorizontalAsymptote:Occursat
thatwouldrequiretheleadterm,
Hence,thefunctionwillapproach
Domain:AllReal
Range:AllReal
functions.
.Thefunctioncannothaveavalueof
tobezero,whichcanneverhappensince
because
0.
,butwillneverreachit.
.Novalueof existsatanyverticalasymptote.
.Novalueof existsatahorizontalasymptoteinsimplerational
Holes:None.
EndBehavior:Bothendsofthefunctiontendtowardthehorizontalasymptote,so:
Version 2.8
and
Page 131 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SimpleRationalFunctionsExample
Recallthatthesimplerational
Example:
formis:
First,notethat
and
1becauseif
VerticalAsymptote:Occursat
zero.
1,thedenominator,
2becausetheleadterm,
HorizontalAsymptote:Occursat
zero.Hence,thefunctioncanapproach
1,wouldbe
,canneverbe
2,butwillneverreachit.
Domain:AllReal
1.Novalueof existsatanyverticalasymptote.
Range:AllReal
function.
2.Novalueof existsatahorizontalasymptoteinasimplerational
Holes:None.
EndBehavior:Bothendsofthefunctiontendtowardthehorizontalasymptote,so:
, 2

and
, 2

Graphing:
Step1.Graphtheverticalandhorizontalasymptotes
(thedashedhorizontalandverticallinesshown).
Step2.Picksome valuesandcalculatethe
correspondingyvalues.Iliketopickacoupleof
valuestotheleftoftheverticalasymptote(
1)and
acoupleofxvaluestoitsright.So,letstrysome.
Version 2.8
3.67
4.5
0.5
0.33
Notethattheintersectionofthe
asymptoteshascoordinates , .
Step3.Drawacurveoneachsideof
theverticalasymptote:throughthe
pointsonthatsideandapproaching
boththehorizontalandvertical
asymptotes.
Page 132 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
Generalrationalfunctionsareoftheform:
Theeasiestwaytographageneralrationalfunctionistofactorboththenumeratorand
denominatorandsimplifyingtheresultingfraction.
Example:in
2 inthenumeratoranddenominatorcanbe
the
eliminatedtoobtainthefunctiontobegraphed:
VerticalAsymptotesandHoles:Anyroot(alsocalledazero)ofthedenominatorofarational
function(priortosimplification)willproduceeitheraverticalasymptoteorahole.
VerticalAsymptote:If isarootofthedenominatorisalsoarootofthesimplified
denominator,then
isaverticalasymptoteofthefunction.
Hole:If isarootofthedenominatorandisnotarootofthesimplifieddenominator,then
definesthelocationofaholeinthefunction.
HorizontalAsymptote:Onewaytofindthehorizontalasymptotesofageneralrational
function(also,seethesectiononHolesandAsymptotes,above)istoeliminatealltermsof
thepolynomialsinboththenumeratoranddenominatorexcepttheoneswiththesingle
greatestexponentofalltheterms.Then,
Ifalltermsareeliminatedfromthenumerator,thehorizontalasymptoteoccursat
0.
Example:
hasahorizontalasymptoteat
0.
Notethatalltermsinthenumeratorwereeliminatedbecausenoneofthemhadthe
greatestexponentintherationalfunction,whichinthisexampleis2.
Ifatermremainsinboththenumeratoranddenominator,thehorizontalasymptote
occursatthereducedformoftheremainingterms.
Example:
hasahorizontalasymptoteat
.
Ifalltermsareeliminatedfromthedenominator,thefunctiondoesnothavea
horizontalasymptote.
Example:
doesnothaveahorizontalasymptote.
Notethatalltermsinthedenominatorwereeliminatedbecausenoneofthemhadthe
greatestexponentintherationalfunction,whichinthisexampleis2.
Version 2.8
Page 133 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
GeneralRationalFunctions(contd)
Domain:ThedomainisalwaysallReal exceptwherethereisaverticalasymptoteorahole.
Nofunctionvalueisassociatedwith ateitheraverticalasymptoteorahole(orwhenaneven
rootofanegativenumberisrequired).
Range:Therangeisabittrickier.Youwillneedtolookatthegraphtodeterminetherange.
Youmightthinkthatno valuewouldexistatahorizontalasymptote,likeinsimplerational
functions.However,itispossibleforafunctiontocrossoveritshorizontalasymptoteandthen
workitswaybacktotheasymptoteas oras .Oddbuttrue(seebelow,right).

Forodditiesintherangeofafunction,checktheseoutthesetworationalfunctions:
EndBehavior:Bothendsofthefunctiontendtowardthehorizontalasymptoteifthereisone.
However,ifthereisnotone,youcanlookatthegraphtodetermineendbehavior.Notethat
thefunctionbelowdoesnothaveahorizontalasymptote:
Inthisfunction,
, ,

Version 2.8
Althoughthisfunctiondoesnothavea
horizontalasymptote,itdoeshavea
slantasymptote:theline
.
Page 134 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
GeneralRationalFunctionsExample

Example:
Factorboththenumeratorandthedenominator:
GettheRoots:
. ,
:
Simplify:Since1isarootofboththenumeratorandthedenominator,thefunctionmaybe
simplifiedasfollows:
VerticalAsymptotesandHoles: 1and1arerootsoftheoriginaldenominator,sothey
mustgenerateeitherverticalasymptotesorholes.
VerticalAsymptote:Aftersimplification,thisfunctionstillcontains 1asarootinthe
denominator.Therefore,
isaverticalasymptoteofthefunction.
Hole:1isarootofthedenominatoroftheoriginalfunctionbutisnotarootofthe
denominatorofthesimplifiedfunction.Therefore,thisfunctionhasaholeat
.
HorizontalAsymptote:Eliminatealltermsofbothpolynomialsexceptanywiththesingle
greatestexponentofalltheterms.Inthiscase:
isahorizontalasymptote.Sinceatermremainsinboththe
numeratoranddenominator,thehorizontalasymptoteoccursatthereducedformofthe
remainingterms.
Domain:AllReal exceptwherethereisaverticalasymptoteorahole.
So,thedomainisallReal
.
Wemustgraphthefunctioninordertogetagoodlookatitsrangeandendbehavior.We
mustplotpointsonbothsidesoftheverticalasymptote.
(graphonnextpage)
Version 2.8
Page 135 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
GeneralRationalFunctionsExample(contd)
Graphing:
Step1.Graphtheverticalandhorizontalasymptotes.
Step2.Picksome valuesoneachsideoftheverticalasymptoteandcalculatethe
correspondingyvalues.
Step3.Drawacurveoneachsideoftheverticalasymptote:
throughthepointsonthatsideandapproachingboththe
horizontalandverticalasymptotes.
1.67
Step4:Drawanopencircleatthepointofanyholes.
1.5
2.5(ahole)
2.33
Seethehole
at , . !
Range:Therangecanbedeterminedfromthegraph.
Itappearsthattherangeexcludesonlythehorizontalasymptoteandthehole.
Sotherangeis:allReal
, . .
EndBehavior:Inthisfunction,
, ,

Version 2.8
Page 136 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
OperatingwithRationalExpressions
Performingoperationswithrationalexpressionsisverysimilartoperformingoperationswith
fractions.Afterall,thatsreallywhatrationalexpressionsarefractionsinvolvingpolynomials.
AdditionandSubtraction
Toaddorsubtractrationalexpressions:
Factorboththenumeratoranddenominatorasmuchaspossible.
Createacommondenominator.
Addorsubtractexpressions.
Afterthenumeratorsareadded,youmust
Simplify.
checktoseeifthenewnumeratorcanbe
Example:
factored.Ifso,furthersimplificationmay
bepossible.Note:nofurther
simplificationispossibleinthisexample.
MultiplicationandDivision
Tomultiplyordividerationalexpressions:
Factorboththenumeratoranddenominatorasmuchaspossible.
Multiplyordivideexpressions.(Remember,todivide,flipthatguyandmultiply.)
Cancelallfactorsthatappearinboththenumeratoranddenominator.
Simplify.
Example:
Notethatyoucancrossoutcommon
factorsinthenumeratorand
denominatoracrosstheexpressions
thatarebeingmultiplied.
Version 2.8
Page 137 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
Solvingrationalequationsinvolvesonemainrule:Getridofthedenominators!
Afullerlistingofthestepsinvolvedis:
Multiplybywhateverexpressionsarenecessarytoeliminatethedenominators.
Paycarefulattentiontowhichvaluesmaketheexpressionsyouuseequaltozero
(becauseyouarenotallowedtomultiplybothsidesofanequationbyzero).
Solvetheremainingproblem.
Checkeachanswertoseeifitisasolutiontotheoriginalproblem.Note:aslongasyou
donotmultiplybyzero,yoursolutionsarelikelytobevalid.
Example1:Solve
Example2:Solve
Firstnotethatxcannotbe3or 1since
eachofthesecreatesanundefined
fractionintheoriginalproblem.
Firstnotethatxcannotbe8or 3since
eachofthesecreatesanundefined
fractionintheoriginalproblem.
Theeasiestwaytostartthisproblemisto
crossmultiplytoget:
Theeasiestwaytostartthisproblemisto
crossmultiplytoget:
Then,
So,
Then,
Andfinally,
So,
Andfinally,
Checkwork:
Check 4:
Check2:
Version 2.8
Page 138 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SolvingRationalInequalitiesisabitmoreinvolvedthansolvingRationalEquations.Thekey
issueintheInequalitiesiswhetherinthestepwhereyoueliminatethedenominator,youare
multiplyingbyanegativenumber.Remember,whenyoumultiplybyanegativenumber,you
mustflipaninequalitysign.
Thestepsinvolvedaresimilartothoseforsolvingrationalequations:
Multiplybywhateverexpressionsarenecessarytoeliminatethedenominators.
Identifywhenthedenominatorsarepositiveandwhentheyarenegative;setupcases
foreachsituation.Withineachcase,youwillneedtomeetmultipleconditions(i.e.,
usingthewordandbetweenconditionswithinacase).
Paycarefulattentiontowhichvaluesmaketheexpressionyoumultiplyequaltozero
(becauseyouarenotallowedtomultiplybothsidesofaninequalitybyzero).
Solvetheremainingproblems.Anyofthecasesproducesvalidresults,soyoumust
combinethesolutionsforthevariouscaseswithors.
Checksampleanswersineachrangeyoudeveloptoseeiftheyaresolutionstothe
originalproblem.Alternatively,graphthesolutiontoseeiftheresultsarecorrect.
Example:Solve
Wewanttoeliminatethedenominator

Case1:

Then:
So,
Thesolutionhererequires:

Whichsimplifiesto:

butweneedtocreate2cases:
Thecombinedresultofthetwocasesis:

Tochecktheresult,wegraphthefunctionandsee
whereitproducesayvalueabove2;thisistheset
ofxvalueswherethedarkgreencurveintersects
thelightgreenregioninthegraphbelow.
Case2:

Then:
So,
Thesolutionhererequires:

Whichsimplifiesto:

Version 2.8
Page 139 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
IntroductiontoConicSections
Theintersectionofaconeandaplaneiscalledaconicsection.
Therearefourtypesofcurvesthatresultfromtheseintersections
thatareofparticularinterest:
Parabola
Circle
Ellipse
Hyperbola
Eachofthesehasageometricdefinition,fromwhichthealgebraic
formisderived.
GeometricDefinitions
ParabolaThe
setofallpoints
thatarethe
samedistance
fromapoint
(calledthe
focus)anda
line(calledthe
Directrix).
EllipseThesetofallpointsfor
whichthesumofthedistancesto
twopoints(calledfoci)isconstant.
CircleThesetofallpointsthatarethe
samedistancefromapoint(calledthe
center).Thedistanceiscalledtheradius.
Version 2.8
Hyperbola
Thesetofall
pointsfor
whichthe
differenceof
thedistances
totwopoints
(calledfoci)is
constant.
Page 140 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ParabolawithVertexattheOrigin(StandardPosition)
HorizontalDirectrix
VerticalDirectrix
CharacteristicsofaParabolainStandardPosition
HorizontalDirectrix
Equation
VerticalDirectrix
If
opensup
opensright
If
opensdown
opensleft
Eccentricity(e)
Valueofp(inillustration)
Vertex
theorigin
,
Focus
Directrix
Axisofsymmetry
theorigin
,
(yaxis)
(xaxis)
Version 2.8
Page 141 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
,
ParabolawithVertexat
HorizontalDirectrix
VerticalDirectrix
CharacteristicsofaParabolawithVertexatPoint
HorizontalDirectrix
Equation
VerticalDirectrix
If
opensup
opensright
If
opensdown
opensleft
Eccentricity(e)
,
Vertex
Focus
Version 2.8
Directrix
Axisofsymmetry
Page 142 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ParabolainPolarForm
HorizontalDirectrix
VerticalDirectrix
CharacteristicsofaParabolasinPolarForm
HorizontalDirectrix
Equation(simplified)
VerticalDirectrix
If
indenominator
opensup
DirectrixbelowPole
opensright
DirectrixleftofPole
If
indenominator
opensdown
DirectrixabovePole
opensleft
DirectrixrightofPole
Eccentricity(e)
distancebetweentheDirectrixandtheFocus
Note:pinPolarFormisdifferentfrompinCartesianForm
FocalParameter(p)
CoordinatesofKeyPoints:(changeallinstancesofpbelowtopif+isinthedenominator)
,
Vertex
Focus
Directrix
Version 2.8
0,0)
Page 143 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
Circles
CharacteristicsofaCircle
inStandardPosition
Equation
Center
, theorigin
Radius
Intheexample
CenteredatPoint(h,k)
Equation
Center
Radius
inPolarForm
Equation
Pole
Radius
Version 2.8
Page 144 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
EllipseCenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
HorizontalMajorAxis
VerticalMajorAxis
CharacteristicsofanEllipseinStandardPosition
HorizontalMajorAxis
Intheaboveexample
Equation
and
Eccentricity(e)
, theorigin
Center
,
MajorAxisVertices
MinorAxisVertices
Foci
Directrixes(notshown)
Version 2.8
Valuesof
Valueof
VerticalMajorAxis
Page 145 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
EllipseCenteredat
HorizontalMajorAxis
VerticalMajorAxis
CharacteristicsofanEllipseCenteredatPoint
HorizontalMajorAxis
Equation
VerticalMajorAxis
and
Eccentricity(e)
Center
,
MajorAxisVertices
MinorAxisVertices
Foci
Page 146 of 178
Version 2.8
Valuesof
Valueof
April 19, 2016
Algebra
EllipseinPolarForm(Pole=OneFocus)
VerticalMajorAxis
HorizontalMajorAxis
CharacteristicsofanEllipseinPolarForm
HorizontalMajorAxis
VerticalMajorAxis
Equation
Valueofa
distancefromtheCentertoeachmajoraxisVertex
Valueofc
distancefromtheCentertoeachFocus
Eccentricity(e)
FocalParameter(p)
CoordinatesofKeyPoints:
If
indenominator
If
indenominator
Center
allcoordinatevaluesareshownbelow
changeallinstancesof
,
, below,to
MajorAxisVertices
Foci
Directrixes
Version 2.8
Page 147 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
HyperbolaCenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
HorizontalTransverseAxis
VerticalTransverseAxis
CharacteristicsofaHyperbolainStandardPosition
Intheaboveexample
,
,
Equation
Valueofc
Eccentricity(e)
, theorigin
Center
Vertices
Foci
Asymptotes
Version 2.8
Page 148 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
HyperbolaCenteredat
CharacteristicsofaHyperbolaCenteredatPoint
Equation
Valueofc
Eccentricity(e)
Center
Vertices
Foci
Asymptotes
Version 2.8
Page 149 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
HyperbolainPolarForm(Pole=OneFocus)
CharacteristicsofaHyperbolainPolarForm
Equation
Valueofa
distancefromtheCentertoeachVertex
Valueofc
distancefromtheCentertoeachFocus
Eccentricity(e)
FocalParameter(p)
CoordinatesofKeyPoints:
If
indenominator
If
indenominator
Center
allcoordinatevaluesareshownbelow
changeallinstancesof
,
, below,to
,
Vertices
Foci
Directrixes
Version 2.8
Page 150 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
HyperbolainPolarForm(Pole=OneFocus)
PartialConstructionOvertheDomain: to
Itisinstructivetolookatpartialconstructionsofahyperbolainpolarform.Letstakealookat
acurveconstructedbyvarying from to ,quadrantbyquadrant:

Intheplotsbelow,eachquadrantinthedomainisrepresentedbyaseparatecolor.The
portionofthecurveaddedineachillustrationispresentedasathickerlinethantherestofthe
curve.TheFociofthecurvearedarkbluepointsandtheDirectrixesarelightblueverticallines.
Thefinalcurvelookslikethis.
Thecurveisplottedoverthe
domain
butcould
alsobeplottedoverthedomain
.
Thecosinefunctionhasamajor
impactonhowthecurvegraphs.
Notethetwoyellowpoints
where
.Atthese
points,thecurveisundefined.
Q II:Domain
.The
curvecontinuesontherightside
ofthegraphandgentlycurves
downtothexaxis.
Version 2.8
Q III:Domain
.
Thecurvecontinuesitsgentle
swingbelowthexaxis. is
essentiallyareflectionofthe
curvein overthexaxis.
Page 151 of 178
Q I:Domain
.Note
thatthecurvestartsoutonthe
leftandswitchestotherightat
,wherethecurveis
undefined.
Q IV:Domain
.
Thecurvecontinuesontheright
andswitchestotheleftat
,wherethecurveis
undefined.
April 19, 2016
Algebra
GeneralConicEquationClassification
TheGeneralCaseoftheConicEquationis:
ThesecondtermmaybeomittedifthecurveisnotrotatedrelativetotheaxesintheCartesian
Plane,givingthesimplerform:
ConicClassificationTree
Inthisform,itisrelativelyeasytoidentifywhichtypeofcurvetheequationrepresents,using
thefollowingdecisiontree:
Examples:
Are
and
Theequationisnot
yes
bothmissing?
aconic.Itisaline.
no
Iseither
or
missing?
yes
Theequationisa
parabola.
no
Arethesignson
and
different?
yes
Theequationisa
hyperbola.
no
Are and the

samenumber?
yes
Theequationisa
circle.
no
Are and
differentnumbers?
(
)
Version 2.8
yes
Theequationisan
ellipse.
Page 152 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
GeneralConicEquationManipulation
Afteraconicequationisclassified,itmustbealgebraicallymanipulatedintotheproperform.
Thestepsinvolvedare:
1. Iftherearenegativecoefficientsinfrontofthesquareterms(
and/or
),youmay
choosetoeliminatethembymultiplyingtheentireequationby .
2. Groupthextermsontheleft,theytermsontheright,andmovetheconstanttothe
rightsideofthe=sign.Setupparenthesesaroundthextermsandtheyterms.
3. Factoroutthecoefficientsofthe and terms.
4. Completethesquaresforboththextermsandtheyterms.Becarefultoaddthesame
numberstoboththerightandleftsidesoftheequations.
5. Reducethecompletedsquarestosquaredbinomialform.
6. Ifnecessary,dividebothsidesbytherequiredscalarandrearrangetermstoobtainthe
properform.
Example1:
Solve: Equation
Step1: Changesigns
Step2: Groupvariables
Step3: Factorcoefficients
Step4: CompleteSquares
Step5: ReduceSquareTerms
Step6: Divideby
RearrangeTerms
Thefinalresultisahyperbola
withcenter(1,6)anda
verticaltransverseaxis.
Example2:
Solve: Equation
Step1: Changesigns
Step2: Groupvariables
Step3: FactorCoefficients
Step4: CompleteSquares
Step5: ReduceSquareTerms
Step6: Divideby
Version 2.8
Thefinalresultisacircle with
center(2,1)andradius .
Page 153 of 178
April 19, 2016
ADVANCED
Algebra
ParametricEquationsofConicSections
Parabola(note:
ParametricEquations
ParametricEquations
CenteredattheOrigin
Centeredat(h,k)
Circle
ParametricEquations
ParametricEquations
CenteredattheOrigin
Centeredat(h,k)
Ellipse
ParametricEquations
ParametricEquations
CenteredattheOrigin
Centeredat(h,k)
Hyperbola
ParametricEquations
ParametricEquations
CenteredattheOrigin
Centeredat(h,k)
Version 2.8
Page 154 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
IntroductiontoSequencesandSeries
Definitions
ASequenceisanorderedsetofnumbers.
ATermisanelementinthesetoforderednumbers.
AnInfiniteSequencehasnoend.AFiniteSequencehasafinalterm.
AnExplicitFormulaisonethatspecificallydefinesthetermsofthesequencebasedonthe
numberoftheterm.Byconvention,thenumberofthetermisusuallyexpressedinterms
ofthevariables or .Wetalkofthenthtermorthekthtermofthesequenceorseries.
ARecursiveFormuladefinesatermbasedononeormorepreviousterms.
ASeriesisanorderedsummationofasequence.
Example(SequenceandSeries):
3
Considerthesequencedefinedbytheexplicitformula:
1.
Thenotation referstothe termofthesequence.So,wecanconstructbothasequence

andaseriesfromthis.Herearethefirstseventermsofthesequenceandtheseries:
n
10
13
16
19
22
11
21
34
50
69
91
Sumof
Example(RecursiveFormula):
OneofthesimplestandmostfamousrecursiveformulasistheFibonacciSequence,definedas:
Thissimplymeansthateachtermisthesumofthetwotermsbeforeit.TheFibonacci
Sequencebeginswithapairofones,andusestherecursiveformulatoobtainallotherterms:
n
13
12
20
33
Sumof
Thissequencehassomeveryinterestingproperties,whichwillbediscussedonanotherpage.
Version 2.8
Page 155 of 178
April 19, 2016
ADVANCED
Algebra
TheFibonacciSequence
TheFibonacciSequencewasfirstpublishedin1202byLeonardoFibonacci(ofPisa).Itstarts
withapairofonesandcontinueswiththerecursiveformula:
.Thebeginning
ofthesequencelookslikethis:
1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 8 144 233 377 610 87
PropertiesoftheFibonacciSequence
Itispossibletospendalongtimeexploringthepropertiesofthissimplesequence.Herearea
fewofthemoreinterestingproperties:
Illustration1:Addthesequencetocreateaseries.
n
1
1
1
2
1
2
Noticethat:
3
2
4
4
3
7
5
5
12
6
8
20
7
13
33
8
21
54
9
34
88
10
55
143
Thatis,thenthsumisonelessthanthetermoftheoriginalsequencetwopositionsfurtherto
theright!
Illustration2:Calculatethesquaresandaddtheresultingsequencetocreateaseries.
n
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
Noticethat:
3
2
4
6
4
3
9
15
5
5
25
40
6
8
64
104
7
13
169
273
8
21
441
714
9
34
1156
1870
10
55
3025
4895
Thatis,thenthsumofthesquaresistheproductofthetwotermsfromtheoriginalsequence,
oneofwhichisinthesamepositionandoneofwhichisonepositiontotheright!
TheGoldenRatio(f )
RatiosofsuccessivevaluesoftheFibonacciSequenceapproachtheGoldenRatio:f
16
1 625
Theapproximatevalueoff
Version 2.8
1 615
1 61
1 618034
Page 156 of 178
Onewaytoexpressthisresultis:
April 19, 2016
Algebra
SummationNotation
Mathematiciansarefondoffindingshorthandwaysofexpressingthings,sotheyinvented
notationforthesummationofnumbers.Ifweconsidertheseriesfor
3
1,the
notationfortheserieswouldbe:
3
Thissimplymeansthatthenthtermoftheseriesisdefinedbyaddingthefirstntermofthe
sequencefor
3
1.
Example:
n
10
13
16
19
22
11
21
34
50
69
91
Notethat
10
21.
Althoughitlookscomplicatedatfirst,afteryouwriteafewserieslonghand,youwillbeginto
appreciatetheshorthandnotation.
SummationProperties
Hereareacoupleofusefulpropertiesofsummations,allofwhicharebasedonthealgebraic
propertiesofaddition,multiplicationandequality. and aretwoseries.canddarereal.
Youcanfactoraconstantoutofa
summationifisafactorofalltheterms.
Thesumoftwoseriescanbebrokenout
intothesummationsforeachseries.
Thisisbasicallythedistributivepropertyof
multiplicationoveraddition.
Version 2.8
Page 157 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
Some nterestingSummationFormulas
he ollo ingarea e interestings
ationseries. hedevelop ento so eseriesli ethis
ay epossi le ithalge ra, tothersre ireeither al l sorthe al l so inite
di eren es.Note parenthesesare sedinthe or lastoaidreadingthe theparentheses
arenotre ired.
1
2
1 2
6
1
2
1
2 !
1 2
6
1
2!
3!
1
2
2!
4!
6!
3!
5!
7!
4!
1
1
1
1
3
ln 1
cos
ln 1

Version 2.8
ln
!
1
ln
cos
1 !
sin
Page 158 of 178
sin
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ArithmeticSequences
AnArithmeticSequenceisoneinwhichthetermsareseparatedbyaconstant.Theconstant,
oftenindicatedbytheletterd,iscalledtheCommonDifference.Arithmeticsequences,then
meetthecondition:
,wheredisthecommondifference.
Example:
n
1
9
2
12
3
15
4
18
5
21
6
24
FirstDifferences
Inthissequence,thecommondifferenceis3.Ifthereisnotacommondifference,the
sequenceisnotarithmetic.
nthTermofanArithmeticSequence
Theformulaforthenthtermofanarithmeticsequenceis:

Theproblemwiththisformulaisthe
thatgetsmultipliedbyd.Sometimesthisishard
toremember.Analternativemethodwouldbetofirstcalculateatermzero,
Then:
,whichseemsanicerformula
Thevalueofthisalternativeisthatitalsoallowsthestudenttoestablishaformulain
formforthesequence,where istheyintercept,and ,thecommondifference,
istheslope.
Example:Intheaboveexample,thenthtermofthesequencecanbewritten:
Or,firstcalculate:
Then:
or
Thesetwoequations
areequivalent.
Eithermethodworks;thestudentshouldusewhicheveronetheyfindmorecomfortable.
Version 2.8
Page 159 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
ArithmeticSeries
AnArithmeticSeriesisthesumoftheelementsofanarithmeticsequence.Thesumofthefirst
ntermsofanarithmeticsequenceis:
Inwords,thesumistheproductofnandtheaverageterm.
,wecanderivethefollowingformula:
Since
Noticethatthe lastterm
isthesumofthefirstn
integers.Thatis,
Or,perhapsbetter:
Thislastequationprovidesamethodforsolvingmanyarithmeticseriesproblems.
Example:Findthe8thsumofthesequence
3
86
8
2
48
108
156
Tocheckthis,letsbuildatable:
n
Version 2.8
1
9
9
2
12
21
3
15
36
4
18
54
5
21
75
6
24
99
7
27
126
8
30
156
Page 160 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
PythagoreanMeans
Considerasetofnvalues.Wecantakeameanofthesenvaluesinseveralways.Thethree
classicalmethodsofcalculatingameanarecalledPythagoreanMeans.
ArithmeticMean
Thearithmeticmeanistheonethatstudentsaremostfamiliarwith.Itisalsocalledthe
average.Itissimplythesumofthenitems,dividedbyn.
Example:Calculatethearithmeticmeanof5testscores:92,94,85,72,99
2
86
5
74
Trick:Ashortcuttocalculatinganarithmeticmean:
TrickExample:
Estimateavaluefortheaveragebyeyeballingthevalues.For
theexampleabove,itlookslike90wouldbeagoodestimate.
Subtracttheestimatefromeachvaluetogetasetofn
differences.
Score
Valuevs.90
92
+2
94
+4
86
Addthendifferencesanddividebyn.
74
16
Addtheresulttotheoriginalestimate.Theresultisthe
arithmeticmeanoftheoriginalsetofvalues.Intheabove
example,theresultis: 0
1
8 .
99
+9
Total
Average
GeometricMean
Thegeometricmeanisthenthrootoftheproductofthenvalues.
Example:Calculatethegeometricmeanof2,9,and12:
Version 2.8
12
Page 161 of 178
216
April 19, 2016
Algebra
PythagoreanMeans(contd)
HarmonicMean
Theharmonicmeanisreciprocalofthearithmeticmeanofthereciprocalsofthenvalues.It
hasapplicationsinscience.
1
1
1
Example:Sincetheharmonicmeanlookssoodd,itisusefultolookatareallifeexample.
Consideracarthattravels15milesat30milesperhour,thenanother15milesat15milesper
hour.Theaveragespeedofthecaroverthisdistanceisgeneratedbytheharmonicmean.
First,calculatetheaveragespeedfrombasicprinciples:
15milesat30milesperhourtakes30minutes.
15milesat15milesperhourtakes60minutes.
Totaltripis30milesin90minutes,foranaveragespeedof20milesperhour.
Now,calculatetheharmonicmeanofthetwospeeds:
2
1
30
2
3
30
1
15
60
3
20
ComparingMeans
ComparethevaluesofthethreePythagoreanMeansof3,6,and12:
3 6 12
Ingeneral,itistruethat:
However,ifthevaluesbeing
averagedareallthesame,
Version 2.8
Page 162 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
GeometricSequences
AnGeometricSequenceisoneinwhichtheratioofsuccessivetermsisthesame.Theratio,
oftenindicatedbytheletterr,iscalledtheCommonRatio.Geometricsequences,thenmeet
thecondition:
,whereristhecommonratio.
Example:
n
1
6
2
12
3
24
4
48
5
96
6
192
FirstRatios
Inthissequence,thecommonratiois2.Ifthereisnotacommonratio,thesequenceisnot
geometric.
nthTermofanGeometricSequence
Theformulaforthenthtermofanarithmeticsequenceis:
Theproblemwiththisformulaisthe
thatistheexponentofr.Sometimesthisishard
toremember.Analternativemethodwouldbetofirstcalculateatermzero,
Then:
,whichseemsanicerformula
Example:Intheaboveexample,thenthtermofthesequencecanbewritten:
Or,firstcalculate:
Then:
Thesetwoequations
areequivalent.
Eithermethodworks;thestudentshouldusewhicheveronetheyfindmorecomfortable.
Version 2.8
Page 163 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
GeometricSeries
AnGeometricSeriesisthesumoftheelementsofangeometricsequence.Thesumofthefirst
ntermsofangeometricsequenceis:
InfiniteGeometricSeries
OfparticularinterestareInfiniteGeometricSeries.Theseseriesneverend;theygoonforever.
Aninfinitegeometricseriesmayhaveasumastheseriesgoestoinfinity.Thesumsalongthe
wayarecalledPartialSums.Theformulaaboveworksforthepartialsumsofaninfinite
geometricseries.
Startingwiththeaboveformula,foraseriesthatdoesnotend,considerthecasewhere
1
1
1:
So,
The
termshrinksasngetslarger,andintheinfinitecase,itdisappearsaltogether.
Convergence
Aninfiniteseriesconvergesifitapproachesasinglevalueasmoretermsareadded.Otherwise
theseriesdiverges.
Example:Showexamplesofwheretheseries:
For
theseriesgives:
For
theseriesgives:
Thislooksgood!
Uhoh!Thislooksverywrong!
Noticethatinthisseries,thecommonratio
.Thereasonwhythefirstvalueofxworks
andtheseconddoesnotisbecausethisseriesconvergesonlywhen
1.Thisisvery
commonforinfiniteserieswithincreasingexponents.
ThesetofvaluesforwhichaseriesconvergesiscalledtheIntervalofConvergence.Forthe
seriesintheexample,theintervalofconvergenceis
1or
1 .
Version 2.8
Page 164 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
AFewSpecialSeries
SeriesInvolving
1
1
1
1
2
1
3
1
4
1
1
1
2
1
3
1
4
1
2
1
3
1
4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
6
1
SeriesInvolvinge
1
2
2
1
5
10
CubesofNaturalNumbers
ConsidertheSeriesofcubesofthenaturalnumbers:
n
27
54
125
216
343
36
100
225
441
784
So,thesumsofcubesaresquares.InfactsuccessivesumsarethesquaresoftheTriangle
Numbers.TheTriangleNumbersarethesumsofthesequenceofnaturalnumbers:
n
10
15
21
28
Version 2.8
Page 165 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
PascalsTriangle
PascalsTrianglestartswiththenumberoneatthetopandcreatesentriesinsuccessiverows
byaddingthetwonumbersaboveit.Forexample,inthe4throw,thenumber6isthesumof
the3toitsupperleftandthe3toitsupperright.Thetrianglecontinuesforeverandhassome
veryinterestingproperties.
1
1
1
1
2
3
4
5
15
10
4
10
20
1
5
15
Row0
Row1
1
1
PropertiesofPascalsTriangle
TheTrianglestartswithRow0.Thenumberofarowisthevalueofthesecondnumberinthe
row.Then,therthnumberinrownisgivenby:
Thesymbol
comesfromProbabilityTheory,andrepresentsthenumberofwaysritems
canbeselectedfromasetofnitems.ThisvalueisalsoaBinomialCoefficient;thebinomial
coefficientsarethecoefficientsofthevariablesintheexpansionof
.
HereareafewotherinterestingpropertiesofPascalsTriangle:
Itissymmetricalongaverticallinecontainingthetopentry.
The
rowcontains
1 elements.
Thesumoftheentriesinrow is2 .
Itcontainsthenaturalnumbersintheseconddiagonal.
Itcontainsthetrianglenumbersinthethirddiagonal.
,whichishowthetriangleisformedinthefirstplace.
Two OutcomeExperiments
Inatwooutcomeexperiment,likeflippingacoin,theprobabilityofan
eventoccurringexactlyrtimesinanexperimentofntrialsisgivenbythe
expressionatright.Thisisbecausethereare
outcomesforthe
eventoutofatotalof totalpossibleoutcomes.
Version 2.8
Page 166 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra
BinomialExpansion
4StepstoaConstructingaBinomialExpansion
1. Startwiththebinomialcoefficients
2. Addinthepowersofthefirsttermofthebinomial
3. Addinthepowersofthesecondtermofthebinomial
4. Simplify
Considerthefollowingexample:Expandandsimplify
Step1:Startwiththebinomialcoefficients
4
0
4
1
4
2
4
3
4
4
Step2:Addinthepowersofthefirsttermofthebinomial
4
0
4
1
4
2
4
3
4
4
4
4
Step3:Addinthepowersofthesecondtermofthebinomial
4
0
4
1
4
2
4
3
Step4:Simplify:
1 16
4 8
6 4
4 2
27
1 1 81
Noticethefollowingabouttheexpansion:
1. Thereare
terms,where istheexponentofthebinomialbeingexpanded.
2. isthetopnumberineverybinomialcoefficient.
3. Thebottomnumbersinthebinomialcoefficientscountupfrom0to .
4. Whenatermoftheoriginalbinomialisnegative,thesignsinthesolutionalternate.
5. Theexponentofthefirsttermintheoriginalbinomialcountsdownfrom to0.
6. Theexponentofthesecondtermintheoriginalbinomialcountsupfrom0to .
7. Theexponentsofthetwotermsintheoriginalbinomialaddto ineverytermofthe
expansion.
Version 2.8
Page 167 of 178
April 19, 2016
ADVANCED
Algebra
GammaFunctionandn!
Definition
0:
TheGammaFunctionisdefinedbythefollowingdefiniteintegralfor
Initially,thisintegralappearsdaunting,butitsimplifiesnicelyundercertainconditions,andhas
someveryinterestingproperties.
PropertiesandValues
ThefollowingpropertiesandvaluesoftheGammaFunctionareofparticularinterest:
forintegervaluesof
Factorials
forvaluesof where
exists
for 0
foranyvalueof
SomeotherfunctionsrelatetotheGammaFunction.Examples:
StirlingsFormula
Forlargevaluesofn,StirlingsFormulaprovidestheapproximation:
3326
100
200
DirectCalculation:
UsingStirlingsFormula:
Thisrepresentsanerroroflessthan0.1%.
Version 2.8
100
Example:
10
3248
10
Page 168 of 178
April 19, 2016
ADVANCED
Algebra
GraphingtheGammaFunction
GammaFunctionGraph
HereisagraphoftheGammaFunction.For
throughallthefactorials.
For0
1,thegraphmoves
asymptoticallyverticalas
0.
For
0,thefunctionhas
verticalasymptotesateach
integervalueandformsaU
betweentheintegers,with
alternatingpositiveandnegative
valuesbyinterval.
approaches
0as
becomesincreasinglynegative.
0,thefunctioniscontinuousandpasses
CalculatingG(x)
EachvalueofG canbecalculatedusingthe
definitionoftheGammaFunctionontheprevious
page.Recallthatadefiniteintegralisameasure
oftheareaunderthecurveofthefunctionbeing
integrated.Basedonthis,wehavethefollowing
examplesofG valuesandgraphsthatillustrate
thecurveswhichdeterminethosevalues.
Version 2.8
Page 169 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra Handbook
Index
Page
15
47
48
16
161
16
148,149
109
169
111113
130136
167
62
63
10
144
16
22
16
80
81
80
80
83
81
84
107
141,149
152
153
Version 2.8
Subject
AbsoluteValue
AbsoluteValueFunctions
Equations
Inequalities
AlgebraicProperties
ArithmeticMean
AssociativeProperty
Asymptotes
ConicSections
ExponentialFunctions
GammaFunction
LogarithmicFunctions
RationalFunctions
BinomialExpansion
BoxMethod
MultiplyingBinomials
CartesianPlane
Circles
ClosureProperty
Combinations
CommutativeProperty
ComplexNumbers
AbsoluteValue
Conjugate
Definition
GraphicalRepresentation
MultiplyingandDividing
OperationsinPolarCoordinates
CondensingaLogarithmicExpression
ConicEquations
Characteristics
Classification
Manipulation
Page 170 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra Handbook
Index
Page
140
154
52,53
105
10
96
97
120
116
52,53
124
93
95
16
64
103
146
145
147
72
103
106
117
109
110,115
105
117
116
56
104
Version 2.8
Subject
ConicSections
Definitions
ParametricEquations
(alsoseeentriesforspecificcurves)
ConsistentLines
ConvertingBetweenExponentialandLogarithmicExpressions
CoordinatesinaPlane
Cramer'sRule
2Equations
3Equations
CubicEquationsSumandDifferenceFormulas
Decay(Exponential)
DependentLines
DescartesRuleofSigns
Determinants
2x2Matrix
GeneralCase
DistributiveProperty
DividingPolynomials
e
Ellipse
CenteredatPoint(h, k)
CenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
PolarForm
EquationsSolvingbyFactoring
Euler'sEquation
ExpandingaLogarithmicExpression
ExponentialEquations
ExponentialFunctionGraphs
GraphingaFunction
SampleGraphs
Exponents
ConvertinganExponentialExpressiontoLogarithmicForm
ExponentialEquations
ExponentialFunctionsGrowth,Decay,Interest
Formulas
TableofExponents
Page 171 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra Handbook
Index
Page
168
69
70
71
68
156
62
26
27
24
116
115
28
24
26
26
26
29
169
168
169
94
161
156
25
116
162
149
148
150
151
80
Version 2.8
Subject
Factorials
Factoring
ACMethod
BruteForceMethod
QuadraticFormulaMethod
SimpleCaseMethod
FibonacciSequence
FOILMethodofMultiplyingBinomials
Functions
Compositions
Definitions
Exponential(Growth,Decay,Interest)
Inverses
LineTests
Notation
Operations
TransformationBuildingaGraph
GammaFunction
GammaFunctionCalculating
GammaFunctionDefinition
GammaFunctionGraphing
GaussJordanElimination
GeometricMean
GoldenRatio(f )
Graph(look up the type of curve you are trying to graph)
Growth(Exponential)
HarmonicMean
Hyperbola
CenteredatPoint(h, k)
CenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
PolarForm
PolarFormConstructionOvertheDomain:0to2
i
Page 172 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra Handbook
Index
Page
16
80
80
83
82
52,53
52,53
44
43
46
45
14
25
25
25
128
126
127
126
16
25
53
38
38
38
11
112
117
111
114,115
Version 2.8
Subject
IdentityProperty
ImaginaryNumbers
i
Definition
Powersofi
SquareRootofi
InconsistentLines
IndependentLines
Inequalities
CompoundinOneDimension
GraphsinOneDimension
GraphsinTwoDimensions
TwoDimensions
Integers
IntegerFunctions
LeastIntegerFunctions
NearestIntegerFunctions
IntersectionofCurves
CircleandEllipse
GeneralCase
LineandParabola
Lines
InverseProperty
LeastIntegerFunctions
LinearDependence
LinearEquations
PointSlopeFormofaLine
SlopeInterceptFormofaLine
StandardFormofaLine
LinearPatterns
ln
LogarithmicEquations
LogarithmicFunctionGraphs
GraphingMethods
SampleGraphs
Page 173 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra Handbook
Index
Page
107,108
105
106
102
117
104
64
90
98
99
100
92
92
93
94
91
90
161,162
63
18
19
168
112
14
25
13
11
12
11
14
20
15
Version 2.8
Subject
Logarithms
CondensingaLogarithmicExpression
ConvertingaLogarithmicExpressiontoExponentialForm
ExpandingaLogarithmicExpression
Formulas
LogarithmicEquations
TableofLogarithms
LongDivisionofPolynomials
Matrices
Addition
AugmentedMatrices
AugmentedMatrixExamples(2x2)
AugmentedMatrixExample(3x3)
Division
IdentityMatrices
Inverseofa2x2Matrix
InverseofaGeneralMatrix
Multiplication
ScalarMultiplication
MeansPythagorean
MultiStepEquations
ReversePEMDAS
TipsandTricks
n!
NaturalLogarithms
NaturalNumbers
NearestIntegerFunctions
NumberPatterns
ConvertingaLinearPatterntoanEquation
RecognizingLinearPatterns
NumberSetsBasic
Odds
OperatingwithRealNumbers
Page 174 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra Handbook
Index
Page
9
9
142
141
143
39
41
40
154
55
9
166
9
10
38
83,84
61
60
60
124
65
119
118
65
62
61
120
122,123
125
121
75
Version 2.8
Subject
OrderofOperations
ParentheticalDevice
PEMDAS
Parabola
VertexatPoint(h, k)
VertexattheOrigin(StandardPosition)
PolarForm
ParallelandPerpendicularLines
ParallelandPerpendicularLinesSlopes
Parallel,CoincidentorIntersectingLinesFlowchart
Parallel,PerpendicularorNeitherLinesFlowchart
ParametricEquations
ConicSections
General
ParentheticalDevice
PascalsTriangle
PEMDAS
PlottingPointsonaCoordinatePlane
PointSlopeFormofaLine
PolarCoordinates
Polynomials
Definition
Degree
PolynomialsDevelopingPossibleRoots
Factoring
Graphs
GreatestCommonFactor
MultiplyingBinomials(FOIL,Box,NumericalMethods)
StandardForm
SumandDifferenceofCubes
SyntheticDivision
TestingPossibleRoots
VariableSubstitution
PowersandRootsTable
Page 175 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra Handbook
Index
Page
20
21
16
16
16
42
42
161,162
85
76
74
67
79
73
66
73
73
73
77
88,89
138
137
137
129
133
130
132
139
14
17
14
Version 2.8
Subject
Probability
ProbabilityandOdds
ProbabilitywithDice
PropertiesofAlgebra
PropertiesofAdditionandMultiplication
PropertiesofEquality
PropertiesofZero
PythagoreanMeans
QuadraticEquationsComplexSolutions
QuadraticFormula
QuadraticFunctions
CompletingtheSquare
DifferencesofSquares
FittingwithThreePoints
OpeningUporDown
PerfectSquares
StandardForm
VertexandAxisofSymmetry
VertexForm
RadicalEquations
RationalEquations
RationalExpressions
RationalFunctions
Domain
HolesandAsymptotes
RationalInequalities
RationalNumbers
ReflexiveProperty
RealNumbers
Page 176 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra Handbook
Index
Page
124,125
86
86
87
58
57
57
59
159
155
156
163
160
155
164
165
158
157
15
15
37
35
36
38
39
62
63
38
23
168
17
Version 2.8
Subject
Roots
Polynomials(i.e.,zeros)
RadicalRules
RationalizingtheDenominator
SimplifyingSquareRoots
ScientificNotation
ConversiontoandfromDecimals
Format
Sequences
Arithmetic
Definitions
FibonacciSequence
Geometric
Series
Arithmetic
Definitions
Geometric
Special(,e,cubes)
SummationFormulas
Signs
SignsofAddedorSubtractedNumbers
SignsofMultipliedorDividedNumbers
Slope
SlopeofaLine8Variations
SlopeofaLineMathematicalDefinition
SlopeofaLineRiseoverRun
SlopeInterceptFormofaLine
StackedPolynomialMethodofMultiplyingBinomials
StackedPolynomialMethodofMultiplyingPolynomials
StandardFormofaLine
StatisticalMeasures
Stirling'sFormula
SubstitutionProperty
Page 177 of 178
April 19, 2016
Algebra Handbook
Index
Page
158
157
17
123
122
52
51
49
50
54
34
31
32
33
29
30
17
14
124,125
Version 2.8
Subject
Summation(S)
Formulas
NotationandProperties
SymmetricProperty
SyntheticDivision
SyntheticDivisionComparisontoLongDivision
SyntheticDivisionProcess
SystemsofEquations
Classification
EliminationMethod
GraphingaSolution
SubstitutionMethod
SystemsofInequalitiesTwoDimensions
Transformations
BuildingaGraph
HorizontalStretchandCompression
Reflection
Summary
Translation
VerticalStretchandCompression
TransitiveProperty
WholeNumbers
ZerosofPolynomials
Page 178 of 178
April 19, 2016

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April 19, 2016

April 19, 2016

April 19, 2016

April 19, 2016

April 19, 2016

April 19, 2016