It almost never fails when I’m working with a new student that the first time a question involving remainders rears its ugly head, we need to spend some time talking about what remainders are and how to find them. This happens fairly early in the process with me, intentionally. I always start with new students (more…)
I don’t know if you followed the kerfuffle between Jonathan Coulton and Glee a few weeks back. It’s old news now, but I watched it unfold at the time with great interest, and I’ve been thinking about it again the last few days. The incredibly short version: Jonathan Coulton is a fairly popular musician (on (more…)
When a student asks me how to solve a math problem, my default response is to show, if possible, how to solve it by plugging in, backsolving, or guesstimating. I do this because I figure if the “math way” was obvious, the student wouldn’t be asking me for help in the first place. Besides, problem (more…)
I went back to my old high school last night to attend the final concert of the choir director that presided over so many of my formative moments. I got to hang out with some of the same people with whom I used to have the kind of deep, meaning-of-life conversations that only happen in (more…)
Honestly, this makes me really nervous because I have no idea how it’s is going to work and also because I hate looking at a moving image of my face while I talk—my mouth moves weirdly—but I’m gonna dive in. So mark your calendars, homies. Monday, June 11 at 8 PM EST: SAT prep Google+ (more…)
In the Blue Book, about this common: Screengrab from the PWN the SAT Math Guide I’m not saying you need to plug in numbers for each (or even most) of these. But I am saying you should be aware of how often you have the option.
Hey all. Here’s your weekend challenge question. The prize this weekend: any $5 album from the Amazon mp3 store. I can only give you the prize if I can get in touch with you (using your email or Disqus/Google/Yahoo/Twitter/Facebook account), so please don’t be completely anonymous if you want the prize. (m + n + p (more…)
OK, so you know how I’m always saying that the SAT is not a math test? This is one of the primary reasons why. On the SAT, it’s often completely unnecessary to do the math that’s been so carefully laid out before you. A lot of the time (and on a lot of the most (more…)