Quarter Two

In quarter two we took Chapter four which was mainly about Factors, such as prime factorization and GCF, Simplifying fraction such as 28/35 by dividing by 7 for the numerator and the denominator. Multiplying and dividing expressions, or problems, with exponents. For example, if you have x9+7 you will x16 because you add your exponents’ together to get a total of 16. And finally reading and writing numbers with scientific notation. It is when you have a number, for example, 3,000 you would say 3x103 to make it 3000 in standard form.

The purpose of the activity was to learn more about fractions, GCF, LCM, Scientific notation and so on by practicing them daily and having quizzes on them. Also, by learning new things adding on to the things that we already took about this is like Monomials and how to add and subtract exponents or how to make the exponents only positive when they are in a negative state. These lessons also help us in getting ready for Algebra in high school.

Most of the things that we took in Chapter 4 were mainly things that I have already learned but there were some small interesting new things that I took. In lesson 4.1, Factors and Prime Factorization, I was introduced to Monomials. Monomials are when you have a problem such as 12x2y. Since 12 is 4(3) and 4 is 2(2) you would write 2(2)(3). As for the x you would write it twice to make x(x) and y once, so the equation in the end would be: 2(2)(3)(x)(x)(y). Another new thing that we also learned was how to add and subtract exponents. If you have m-9m5 you would add those -9 and 5 together to get m-4.

I could have learned differently if I looked more specifically on LCM and GCF because I always had those mixed up when there were on a quiz or homework. Also, when we did simplifying fractions, I took me a long time to do for problems that I thought there denominators were uncommon like 9/8 and 27/17. Also when we did the concept of scientific notation, I would sometimes get confused when writing it in standard form by always skipping one exponent by making the number in standard form.

This does relate to my goals as keeping my homework on track because Math is all about the things you previously took before put together on top of each other. So, when we did factors in a monomial, at first it sounded hard, but after a while I realized that all you had to do was take your composite number and simplify as much as you can. After that if you have an exponent such as x4 you would write x(x)(x)(x) after the simplified number.