THANKSGIVING ALGEBRA
ALGEBRA Thankfulness
It’s almost Thanksgiving, and we have much to be thankful for in SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO and Orange County. The air is getting crisper, pumpkins and pumpkin-flavored food-stuffs are quite plentiful, and cartons of my favorite holiday drink, egg nog, are consistently in my fridge. I love this Thanksgiving season and am certainly thankful for these wonderful things and more.
Many students may not feel quite as thankful for their ALGEBRA class at this point into the quarter or semester. They might be struggling, or they might simply despise this new brand of math regardless. But thankfully, we have much to be thankful for in ALGEBRA.
As a ALGEBRA tutor, I’m quite thankful for two particular devices that make everyone’s lives in ALGEBRA so much easier. And personally, I’m grateful anytime my life is made easier.
ALGEBRA THANKFULNESS: Pythagorean Theorem
If I were given a right triangle with only two side lengths given, even as an ALGEBRA tutor I’d be lost without our dear friend Pythagoras. His easy-to-remember and aptly named Pythagorean Theorem makes everyone’s lives in ALGEBRA easier when it comes to solving for that third unknown side of a right triangle:
a2 + b2 = c2
Just remember that a and b represent the two legs of a right triangle, and c is always the hypotenuse. As an ALGEBRA tutor or a student, I’m thankful that if I know any two of those three variables, I can always find the third! Thank you, Pythagoras.
ALGEBRA THANKFULNESS: FOIL
I’m also thankful for FOIL this Thanksgiving. Foil to cover all my delicious Thanksgiving leftovers, yes, but also FOIL for certain ALGEBRA problems. Namely, ALGEBRA problems involving multiplied binomial expressions:
(5x – 3)(2x + 2)
FOIL, or “the box method” as it’s also known, is an extremely useful tool for factoring such an expression. FOIL is actually an acronym that stands for FIRST, OUTER, INNER, LAST.
In ALGEBRA, by multiplying the first, outer, inner, and last terms of these two binomial expressions, we can easily factor the expression:
F: (5x)(2x) = 10x2
O: (5x)(2) = 10x
I: (-3)(2x) = -6x
L: (-3)(2) = 6
By combining all four of our multiplied results and adding like terms, we obtain the following expression:
10x2 + 4x +6
Whether you realize it or not, you have much to be thankful for in ALGEBRA!
Formulas like the Pythagorean Theorem and mnemonic devices like FOIL are great aids in ALGEBRA. If you’re still struggling, perhaps an ALGEBRA tutor can help you find additional reasons to be thankful for ALGEBRA this Thanksgiving.
Planted along the 5 freeway between Laguna and San Clemente, SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO represents an ideal location for an ALGEBRA tutor in Orange County.