Kiss those Math Headaches GOODBYE!

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My WAGER (& DISCOUNT PLAN) to help ANYONE learn Algebra


A wager … and a plan.

I am making a wager that I can help ANYONE learn and deeply understand algebra. And I have a plan to do just that.

Algebra Tutoring Right Here!

I’ve been tutoring algebra for a long time (oh, just a bit over 30 years now), and I have developed many tips and tricks for this subject area. Not only that, but I’ve seen pretty much every mistake you can imagine. And I’ve learned how to explain why each mistake is incorrect and to help folks view each situation correctly.

So in the spirit of the Emma Lazarus poem on the Statue of Liberty, I say:

“Give me your confused, your bewildered, your frustrated students, yearning to comprehend, the befuddled refuse of your overcrowded classrooms. Send these, the despondent ones, your so-called failures to me. I will lift my lantern of algebraic clarity unto their puzzled eyes!”

And in fact, I am offering a special, now through the end of March. I will tutor anyone who wants algebra tutoring for the special rate of just $40/hour (+ tax if you live in New Mexico). I tutor by Skype or FaceTime, so this offer is open to anyone worldwide.

Also, for anyone who takes me up on algebra tutoring and who does three or more sessions with me, you will get copies of my Algebra Survival Guide and Workbook at a 25% discount.

To set this up, just send an email to:
josh@SingingTurtle.com
or send a text to:
505.690.2351

Remember this offer ends on 3/31/2020, so take advantage of it now!

Category:

Algebra, Algebra Survival Guide, Algebra Survival Workbook, Creativity in Math, Order of Operations, Positive & Negative Numbers, The act of tutoring, Tutoring, Videos

How to Remove Math Terms from Parentheses


How do you get math terms out of parentheses? And what happens to those terms when you remove the parentheses?

It seems like the process should be simple. But this issue often plagues students; they keep getting points off on tests, quizzes, homework assignments.  What’s the deal?

The deal is that there’s a specific process you need to follow when taking terms out of parentheses, and what you do hinges on whether there’s a positive sign (+) or a negative sign (–) in front of the parentheses.

But not to worry. This video on this page settles the question once and for all. Not only that, but the video provides a story-based approach that you can teach (if you’re an instructor) or learn (if you’re a student) and remember (no matter who you are). Why? Because stories are FUN and MEMORABLE.

So kick back and relax (yes, it’s math, but you have a right to relax) and let the video show you how this process is done.

And in customary style, I present practice problems (along with the answers, too) at the end of the video so you can be sure you understand what you believe you understand.

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

"Scaffolding" in Math, Algebra, Algebra Mistakes, Algebra Survival Guide, Algebra Survival Workbook, Distributive Property, Double-Slash, Learning from Mistakes, Math stories, Offer a Menu of Options, Order of Operations, Positive & Negative Numbers, Simplifying Expressions, Tutoring, Uncategorized, Using stories to make math clear

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Algebra Mistake #3: How to Work Out (x + y)^2 without Confusion


Ever thought this after you got back a math test … ?

“Why did I do that? I used a rule where it doesn’t apply!”

Yep, that’s exactly what we’re looking at in Algebra Mistake #3, a case of “overgeneralizing.”

The situation we’re dealing with involves over-generalizing everyone’s “favorite” property, the distributive property!

How’s that? Well, you’re supposed to use the distributive property when a number multiplies terms inside parentheses.

But sometimes students get a little bit — shall we say — “carried away” — and use the distributive property principle in other situations, too. The results are a tad bit comic, if you’re the teacher, but not so funny if you’re the student and you’ve made the mistake 19 times on a test with 20 problems.

Anyhow, after you watch the following video you shouldn’t have to worry about this again because we’ll get the two wires in your mind untangled so you never make this mistake again. So just relax, watch and learn.

And oh yes, don’t forget that we’ve provided some practice problems at the end of the video to help you make sure you’ve got the concept nailed down.

 

 

Category:

Algebra, Algebra Mistakes, Binomials, Distributive Property, Exponents, Learning from Mistakes, Order of Operations, Rules, Squaring Terms, Tutoring, Uncategorized, Using stories to make math clear

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Algebra Mistake #2: How to Understand the Difference between A x A and 2 x A without Confusion


Now that you’ve gotten a taste for the benefits of analyzing algebraic mistakes, it’s time to explore a second common mistake. This one is so common that nearly every student commits it at least once on the road to algebra success.

As you watch the video, notice how by thinking hard about two expressions, we can think this mistake through to its very root, thus discovering the core difference between two similar-looking algebraic expressions.

And along the road, we’ll learn a general strategy for decoding the meaning of algebraic expressions. What I like about this strategy is that you can use it to understand the meaning of pretty much any algebraic expression, and you’ll see that it’s not a hard thing to do. In fact, it just involves using numbers in a nifty way.

Best of all, students usually find this approach interesting, convincing and even a bit fun. So here goes, Common Algebra Mistake #2 …

 

Category:

"Scaffolding" in Math, Algebra, Algebra Mistakes, Exponents, Learning from Mistakes, LIke Terms, Math Instruction Techniques, Mental Algebra, Order of Operations, Practice Problems, Pre-Algebra, The act of tutoring, Tutoring, Uncategorized, Understanding Variables, Using "Friendly Numbers", Using STORIES, Using stories in math, Using stories to make math clear

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How to Simplify Fractions — FAST


So c’mon … everything that can be said about simplifying fractions has been said … right?

Not quite! Here’s something that might just be original … a hack to smack those fractions down to size.

Suppose you’re staring at an annoying-looking fraction:  96/104, and it’s annoying the heck out of you, particularly because it’s smirking at you!

But it won’t smirk for long. For you open up your bag of hacks (obtained @ mathchat.me) and …

1st)  Subtract to get the difference between numerator and denominator. I also like to call this the gap between the numbers. Difference (aka, gap) = 104 – 96 = 8.

NOTE: Turns out that this gap, 8, is the upper limit for any numbers that can possibly go into BOTH 96 and 104. No number larger than 8 can go into both. And this is a … HACK FACT:  The gap represents the largest number that could possibly go into BOTH numerator and denominator. In other words, the gap is the largest possible greatest common factor (GCF).

2nd)  Try 8. Does 8 go into both 96 and 104? Turns out it does, so smack the numerator and denominator down to size:  96 ÷ 8 = 12, and 104 ÷ 8 = 13.

3rd)  State the answer:  96/104 = 12/13.

Is it still smirking? I think … NOT!

Try another. Say you’re now puzzling over:  74/80.

1st)  Subtract to get the gap. 80 – 74 = 6. So 6 is the largest number that can possibly go into BOTH 74 and 80.

2nd)  So try 6. Does it go into both 74 and 80? No, in fact it goes into neither number.

NOTE:  Turns out that even though 6 does NOT go into 74 OR 80, the fact that the gap is 6 still says something. It tells us that the only numbers that can possibly go into both 74 and 80 are the factors of 6:  6, 3 and 2. This, it turns out, is another … HACK FACT:  Once you know the gap, the only numbers that can possibly go into the two numbers that make the gap are either the factors of the gap, or the gap number itself.

3rd)  So now, try the next largest factor of 6, which just happens to be 3. Does 3 go into both 74 and 80? No. Like 6, 3 goes into neither 74 nor 80. But that’s actually a good thing because now there’s only one last factor to test, 2. Does 2 go into both 74 and 80? Yes! At last you’ve found a number that goes into both numerator and denominator.

4th)  Hack the numbers down to size:  74 ÷ 2 = 37, and 80 ÷ 2 = 40.

5th)  State the answer. 74/80 gets hacked down to 37/40, and that fraction, my dear friends, is the answer. 37/40 the final, simplified form of 74/80. 

O.K., are you ready to smack some of those fractions down to size? I believe you are. So here are some problems that will let you test out your new hack.

As you slash these numbers down, remember this rule. In some of these problems the gap number itself is the number that divides into numerator and denominator. But in other problems, it’s not the gap number itself, but rather a factor of the gap number that slashes both numbers down to size. So if the gap number itself doesn’t work, don’t forget to check out its factors.

Ready then? Here you go … For each problem, state the gap and find the largest number that goes into both numerator and denominator. Then write the simplified version of the fraction.

a)   46/54
b)   42/51
c)   48/60
d)   45/51
e)   63/77

Answers:

a)   46/54:  gap = 8. Largest common factor (GCF) = 2. Simplified form = 23/27
b)   42/51:  gap = 9. Largest common factor (GCF) = 3. Simplified form = 14/17
c)   48/60:  gap = 12. Largest common factor (GCF) = 12. Simplified form = 4/5
d)   45/51:  gap = 6. Largest common factor (GCF) = 3. Simplified form = 15/17
e)   63/77:  gap = 14. Largest common factor (GCF) = 7. Simplified form = 9/11

Josh Rappaport is the author of five math books, including the wildly popular Algebra Survival Guide and its trusty sidekick, the Algebra Survival Workbook. Josh has been tutoring math for more years than he can count — even though he’s pretty good at counting after all that tutoring — and he now tutors students in math, nationwide, by Skype. Josh and his remarkably helpful wife, Kathy, use Skype to tutor students in the U.S. and Canada, preparing them for the “semi-evil” ACT and SAT college entrance tests. If you’d be interested in seeing your ACT or SAT scores rise dramatically, shoot an email to Josh, addressing it to: josh@SingingTurtle.com  We’ll keep an eye out for your email, and our tutoring light will always be ON.

Category:

College Entrance Exams, Help with the ACT, Help with the SAT, SAT, Tutoring

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What it’s like to tutor math


Today I realized something about being a tutor.

Stories from My Tutoring Work

Tales from the Tutoring Experience

A big part of it — maybe as much as half it — involves nothing more than  …   being nice.

By that I mean being kind.

By which I mean that if someone looks at you, as a young man did today, shaking his head and saying, “It’s crazy … I don’t know what 3 x 6 is,” I don’t laugh or chuckle or say anything remotely mean or mocking. Instead I just say, “It’s o.k. Look, I tutor people every day who don’t know what 3 x 6 is. Who cares, really? Let’s just try to figure it out … or use a calculator, as long as your teacher doesn’t mind.”

Really. That is a lot of what being a math tutor is about. Being nice. Really nice. Really understanding. And being there to be accepting of people no matter how much mental pain they may be in about math. Because there’s a lot of pain out there. Many people are carrying loads of pain about math. They feel dumb. They feel like it’s some huge reflection on whether or not they can make it in the world.

And so it is my job, as a tutor, to listen to their worries and to assure them that they will get better. And that even if they keep struggling, as they probably will, to some extent, it is ok. They can still live good lives, and math is not going to define or confine them,” to quote Bob Dylan a bit.

Don’t get me wrong in terms of what I said up above. A math tutor has to know the material … extremely well. And he needs to know how to teach the material and the skills of math. But once he gets that down, once he gains in competence, he can really open up his heart and help people with the emotional struggles they go through with math as well.

I generally like being a tutor. It feels satisfying. I love seeing people go through the gradual transition from hating to have to see me, to feeling somewhat ok about it, to starting to feel good because their grades are going up and they are starting to get it better. They start to walk taller, literally as well as figuratively. They come right into the office, after several weeks or months of working with me, and they tell me exactly what they need help with. They become their own best advocates. And they get over that horrible feeling that math is holding them back.For the most part, to be honest, the students I work with don’t end up loving math. For the most part, they go from hating it to feeling ok about it. And that is ok with me. I just want students to feel like they can understand many of the parts of math and to feel competent in relation to math. Seeing that transition occur is the best reward I can get, and it actually happens more often than not.

So if you or someone you know needs a math tutor, I suggest you find one. It can make a big difference in a person’s life. A good tutor can really help a young person grow.

Category:

The act of tutoring, Tutoring, Uncategorized, Using the Calculator

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How to Combine Positive & Negative Numbers — Quickly and Easily


If you or someone you know struggles when combining numbers with opposite signs — one positive, the other negative — this post is for you!

To be clear, I’m referring to problems like these:

 – 2 + 7 [first number negative, second number positive], or

+ 13 – 20 [first number positive, second number negative]

To work out the answers, turn each problem into a math-story. In this case, turn it into the story of a tug-of-war battle. Here’s how.

In the first problem, – 2 + 7, view the – 2 as meaning there are 2 people on the “negative” team; similarly, view the + 7 as meaning there are 7 people on the “positive” team.

There are just three things to keep in mind for this math-story:

1)  Every “person” participating in the tug-of-war is equally strong.

2)  The team with more people always wins; the team with fewer people always loses.

3)  In the story we figure out by how many people the winning team “outnumbers” the other team. That’s simple; it just means how many more people are on that team than are on the other team. Example: if the negative team has 2 people and the positive team has 7 people, we say the positive team “outnumbers” the negative team by 5 people, since 7 is 5 more than 2.

Now to simplify such a problem, just answer three simple questions: 

1)  How many people are on each team?
In our first problem, – 2 + 7, there are 2 people on the negative team and 7 people on the positive team.

2)  Which team WINS?
Since there are more people on the positive team, the positive team wins.

3) By how many people does the winning team OUTNUMBER the losing team?
Since the positives have 7 while the negatives have only 2, the positives outnumber the negatives by 5.

Now ignore the answer to the intro question, Question 1, but put together your answers to Questions 2 and 3.

ANSWER TO QUESTION 2:  +

ANSWER TO QUESTION 3:  5

ANSWERS TOGETHER:  + 5

All in all, this tells us that:  – 2 + 7 = + 5

For those of you who’ve torn your hair out over such problems, I have good news …

… THEY REALLY ARE THIS SIMPLE!

But to believe this, it will help to work out one more problem:  + 13 – 20.

Here, again, are the common-sense questions, along with their answers.

1)  How many people are on each team?
In this problem, + 13 – 20, there are 13 people on the positive team and 20 people on the negative team.

2)  Which team WINS?
Since there are more people on the negative team in this problem, the negative team wins.

3) By how many people does the winning team OUTNUMBER the losing team?
Since the negatives have 20 while the positives have only 13, the negatives outnumber the positives by 7.

Just as you did in the first problem, put together your answers to Questions 2 and 3.

ANSWER TO QUESTION 2:  –

ANSWER TO QUESTION 3:  7

ANSWERS TOGETHER:  – 7

All in all, this tells us that:  + 13 – 20  = – 7

Now try these for practice:

a)  – 3 + 9

b) + 1 – 4

c)  –  9 + 23

d)  – 37 + 19

e) + 49 – 82

Answer to Practice Problems:

a)  – 3 + 9 = + 6

b) + 1 – 4 = – 3

c)  –  9 + 23 = + 14

d)  – 37 + 19 = – 18

e) + 49 – 82 = – 33

Josh Rappaport is the author of five books on math, including the Parents Choice-award winning Algebra Survival Guide. If you like the way Josh explains these problems, you will very likely like the Algebra Survival Guide and companion Workbook, both of which are available on Amazon.com  Just click the links in the sidebar for more information! 

Category:

Algebra Survival Guide, FUN PROBLEM, Golden Porch Award, Making Math Fun, Math stories, Math Theories, Number Sense, Number Theory, Offer a Menu of Options, Offering a variety of approaches, Order of Operations, Positive & Negative Numbers, Practice Problems, Pre-Algebra, Subtraction, Tutoring, Uncategorized

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How to Decrease Algebraic Mistakes – Part 6


This is Part 6 in my series for helping students make fewer mistakes in algebra.

In this post I show how — by using the double-slash notation — students can avoid mistakes when factoring by grouping.

No Mistakes

Let's Reduce Mistakes in Algebra!

(more…)

Category:

Algebra, Double-Slash, Double-Slash, Factoring, Math Instruction Techniques, Tutoring, Uncategorized

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How to decrease Algebraic mistakes – Part 4


Combining integers … does any early algebraic skill cause more problems?

If so, I can’t think of one.

Fortunately, though, using the double-slash notation that I’ve been talking about this week helps students make sense of this tricky topic.

No Mistakes

Let's Reduce Mistakes in Algebra!


Even a problem as simple as the following can be made easier with the double-slash:

– 2 + 5 – 3 + 7 – 9

(more…)

Category:

Algebra, Double-Slash, Double-Slash, Integers, Math Instruction Techniques, Number Sense, Order of Operations, Positive & Negative Numbers, Simplifying Expressions, Solving Equations, Tutoring, Uncategorized

How to Decrease Mistakes in Algebra – Part 3


When we left off, we were talking about the double-slash, a form of notation I’ve developed that helps students attain greater focus when simplifying algebraic expressions.

With greater focus, students make fewer mistakes. With the double-slash at their disposal, students avoid the mistake of combining terms that should not be combined. In the following example, students use the double-slash twice to simplify an algebraic expression:

     + 8 – 2(3x – 7)

=            + 8   //  – 2(3x – 7)

=            + 8  //  – 6x + 14

=            – 6x  //  + 8 + 14

=            – 6x  + 22

No Mistakes

Let's Reduce Mistakes in Algebra!

By cordoning off the section with the distributive property:  – 2(3x – 7), the double-slash allows students to see it distraction-free. With this heightened level of focus, students are more likely to work out the distributive property correctly, then continue on, simplifying the whole expression with no mistakes.

(more…)

Category:

"Scaffolding" in Math, Algebra, Double-Slash, Double-Slash, Learning from Mistakes, Math in General, Math Instruction Techniques, Offering a variety of approaches, Simplifying Expressions, Solving Equations, Tutoring, Uncategorized

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