Playing with Parabolas

Click HERE or HERE to play with an online grapher that shows you what happens as you change the coefficients in a quadratic function. Why does the parabola move up or down or sideways? Can you predict what would happen by changing one or more numbers in its equation?

Puzzle 3

The ITC Culinary Department is baking cookies for a fundraiser for the School dance. They want to put them in packets of 3's, but they have one cookie left over. They try to make packets of 4 and still have one left over, So they try to make packets of 5 cookies, but still find one left over. If they made less than a hundred cookies, how many did they bake?

Send your answers to mathatITC@gmail.com for a prize. Good luck!

January 2013 Regents Schedule

Click HERE for the full schedule.

All 3 math regents are being offered so  check with guidance to make sure you are registered to take one or more if you need it.

ITC will be starting after school Regents Prep classes in Math in Tuesdays from 2:50 to 3:50pm, so come to these to prepare.

Lots of review material is linked on the right that can be useful as you study.

Puzzle 2

ITC students pride themselves in being Anything But Average, but this weeks puzzle is all about Averages. Do some math as you explore the new building and meet your teachers.

Locate the four math teachers at ITC. Write down their room numbers and email us the Range and Average of the room numbers.

Email all responses to mathatitc@gmail.com , for a chance to win fabulous edible prizes!

Puzzle 1

A 30" x 30" square frame needs to be fixed onto a wooden board. A carpenter uses nails all along the edges of the square such that there are 31 nails on each side of the square. Each nail is at the same distance from the neighboring nails. How many nails will the carpenter use? Email your solution with your full name to mathatitc@gmail.com. All winners will be given a prize for their effort. Good luck!

Welcome Back!

A new school year and a new building, who could ask for more? Along with that should be a new commitment to work hard and excel in all your classes. The best way of course is to:

1.  pay attention in class
2. do all your homework on time and
3. seek help so you never fall behind

 With just these three simple things you should all be straight A students!

The ITC Math Department wishes you all a great 2012-13 school year. Keep returning to this page for helpful tips in math and use the links on the right for help in studying at home.

Well Done!

Congratulations to all ITC students who worked hard all year and passed their Math Regents! Enjoy the summer and come back refreshed and ready to take the next step in your exciting math adventure...

June 2012 Regents Schedule

Good luck to everyone taking their regents in the next 2 weeks. Study hard and if you are taking a math regents please use the resources I have posted to help you study.

Click on this link to see the June 2012 Regents Schedule.

Geometry Regents Review

Now that classes are almost over, its easy to lose focus and before you know it, you are sitting for the Regents exam.

Follow this link to short video clips of someone solving Geometry regents questions for you. Skip the ones you know, and study the ones that are harder. Learn how he solves them. Its a great way to get some review done at home before you show up for the exam.

Good luck, and study hard!

Graphing Trig Functions

The best way to explore trig. graphs is to play with them and see what happens when you change various parts of the equation.

Click here and get a better understanding of how it all works!

(illustration: NCTM.org)

Incenter

 How can you fit a circle perfectly into any triangle?

Click on this link to explore the incenter.

Whats the difference between the incenter and the controid of a triangle? Email me if you know the answer and win a prize!

Angles in a Circle

Explore the relationship between the Central Angle and Inscribed Angles in a circle using this interactive tool.

By moving the points on the arc see how the size of the angle stays the same as long as the arc remains the same. What do you notice about the size of the central angle and the inscribed angle?

(illustration: summerlectures.co.uk)

Graphing Circles

Go to this website and explore graphing circles interactively. Play around. by moving the points and you can see how the equation of the circle changes, helping you to understand how we came up with the formula.

Happy Pi Day

March 14th was a day just made for math people!

This may sound irrational but it has its own web page. Visit it and send someone a pi-card. Didn't know you could send pi thru the internet did you?

(Illustration from NCTM.org)

Geometric Transformations

Transformations are best understood if you can see what happens to a shape when you move it, reflect it or turn it.

Click on this link and play around with the different transformations to get a better understanding. You need Java on your computer to use it.

Graphing calculator

I've found a great new online graphing calculator. Its a lot easier to use than an earlier version I had posted so I have updated the side link as well.  You can do all the things we do in class by yourself at home by playing with it for a few minutes. It allows you to graph more than one line and then using the menu above the graph you can create a table and find intersection points. Use the online keyboard to type in your equations.


Click here and then pick "graphing calculator".

Online Textbooks

In case you missed an earlier posting, and needed to study for the upcoming regents exams, complete textbooks are available online:

Integrated Algebra

Geometry

Algebra2/Trig

Its Automatic...mathematic!

Relax this weekend with some hard core math rap!

Similar Triangles

 

Learn the differences between congruent and similar triangles in this video.

New Year, New Attitude

Although we are starting off 2012, its many months into the school year. But its still a great time to make some positive changes for the second half of the year. Here are some suggestions on things you can do to become a better person and a better student.

Take school seriously. Its very easy to do very little work and barely make it through school, but in the long run it hurts you. Every effort you put into your school work will be rewarded in big ways in college.

Don't give up. Not everyone finds math easy, but the more you work on it the easier it becomes. These are the same rules athletes and coaches apply in sports practice. You don't become a better player by accident. You work at it till you reach perfection. The same goes for math.

Think outside the box. Its easy and to follow the crowd and do the popular thing. Think about all you miss out on if you only do what others do. Listen to different music, watch different movies, read more books, eat different foods, dress differently, do your own thing, be your own person.

Be well rounded. The time to get into new habits, hobbies and interests is NOW. The earlier you explore new ideas and interests, the sooner it becomes a part of your life. Don't be stuck with a few narrow interests and make it a point to learn things beyond school. Its easiest when you are young.

"Life is difficult"
That's the opening sentence to the book The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck. Seems like a harsh statement, but you only have to look around us to see this reality every day. Keep this in mind as you sit in class and think of your future.

2012 may be your best year yet if you focus on yourself and  commit to your future.

Send in your comments on other things students can do to enrich themselves and succeed in life.

Math is Power!