10
votes
How to teach if calculations and algebraic manipulations are off limits
I highly recommend looking at the Calculus exams from the University of Michigan.
https://dhsp.math.lsa.umich.edu/examshops.html
These problems tend to focus on extracting relevant information for ...
- 26k
8
votes
Accepted
Determining the first digit of the Quotient using hand long division efficiently?
The awkwardness of "guessing" in the division algorithm is an artifact of the base-ten representation of numbers. If you represent in binary, then your only possible "guess" is 1.
In binary, your ...
- 11.2k
6
votes
If a computer could be programmed to do a math test, then should those tests be changed?
No.
There is a sort of magical thinking implicit here that something needs to stay, be different between computers and people. At the end of the day, we are "meat" computers. And the ...
- 85
3
votes
Student-friendly / efficient approach to computing Taylor coefficients of infinite binomial series expansions?
I think the bug can actually be a feature. Kids need work on the "muscles" of computation. It's not like this is the only setting where doing long calculations is needed (can be the norm in physics ...
- 129
3
votes
Determining the first digit of the Quotient using hand long division efficiently?
Round. Check. Correct.
What we need is $436\div48$. Rounding to remove the last digit reduces the problem to $44\div5$. This gives us an educated guess of either $8$ or $9$.
From here we then ...
- 1,602
2
votes
Accepted
How to explain inverse modulo?
For the first, there are a number of apps out there, though I will recommend that you go somewhat non-simple and use Sage. Are you looking for additive or multiplicative inverse? In either case, it ...
- 6,024
1
vote
Resources for improving computational skills at the high school/university transition
The Art of Problem Solving has plenty of problems involving pre-calculus tools, some of them quite challenging.
However, the best way forward might not be computationally challenging exercises.
You ...
- 3,060
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