Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Back to School

Ha! Scored a 6 out of 10 for a Math (Algebra) Quiz today.

No, I didn’t go back to high school ☺; it was one of those student-parent-teacher conference thingys with my 8th grader today. And his Math teacher thought it would be a novel way for the parents to see what the kids have learnt in Math this past school year.

My son does Algebra. (They split the kids up according to ability: Pre-Algebra, Algebra & Geometry with the majority of kids doing Pre-Alg while Algebra & Geometry are considered faster-track courses). So I had to do an Algebra quiz.

Here are some of the problems I had to solve, starting with the easiest ones first:

David has 83 coins in nickels (5 cents) & dimes (10 cents). He has a total of $6.95. How many of each coin does he have?

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Simplify:



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Solve the equation if possible:



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Factor by grouping

rs – 6r – 5s + 30


Here are some I couldn’t do:

Write an equation in slope-intercept form for the line described below:
Containing (4,8) and (-2, -1)

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Solve:



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Graph the system of inequalities and state the solution:




(it’s been eons since I’ve drawn graphs from equations….!!!)



Considering the fact that it’s been more than 20 years since I’ve worked on mathematical formulae and that my brain has been used for memorizing medical facts more than anything else in the last half of my life, I was not too disappointed with my score ☺ .

Besides, two other parents there who took the PRE-Algebra quiz scored a ZERO and a 5 out of 10, respectively....hehehe...

4 comments:

Dr Oz bloke said...

do you have the answers for the questions you put out?

Out of fun I did the sums

Answers

1) David has 27 Nickels and 56 Dimes
2) 2 times square root of 11
3) x = 9/5
4) (r-5)(s-6)
5) y = 3x + 2
6) m = -3
7) y is less than or equal to 0, x is more than -2

How correct or not ar?

aliendoc said...

all correct except the last one - I need to check with my son!

Dr Oz bloke said...

Just out of interest what level of maths is this? Sec 1?

I am concerned because I have been reading and hearing about how high the standards are these days.

One caller into a radio show said that Pri 3 kids are learning what she did in Sec 1!

Is that true?

What is Pri 1 like? I got 2 kids aged 5 and 4. Want to get a bit of intel before going to war.

aliendoc said...

This is actually 8th grade level accelerated Math (I think equivalent to Sec 2-3 level in the local system). I have heard that Maths is harder now, but I think this kicks in around Pr 4 to 5 level. As far as I know Pr 1 to 3 is still learning the basics of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals etc.... I think the MOE website may have more info on the curriculum. Or take a trip to the nearest Popular bookstore & look at their textbook sections - it would give you an idea of how tough or easy it is...good luck! I think you will need it once your young uns start school!!!