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Math help
Cptn Pants
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey, so I need a lot of help with algebra. I have two math finals next week, one to pass the class and the other to get out of remedial math. I need so much help it's not even funny, right now I'm having the most problems with radials and such so if anyone here is a math tutor or happens to know some really good math help websites I'd forever in your debt. I've tried using online calculators and I can get to the right solution that way but I need to understand HOW to do it. If anyone can help me please, post here or PM me. I need to understand this by Tuesday or I will fail this class again.
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What sort of material is covered in your algebra class? Are we talking like roughly high school level? Maybe start with posting some of the specific areas that are giving you hang ups currently. I'm sure there will be people around who will go through some examples with you on stuff to show how it is done.
It's a collage level, remedial, math class. So far we've done linear equations, inequalities, and radiants. The entire semester was made up of 3 chapters and this is the third. I was doing ok with the help of my old tutor until she decided to vanish last week. I texted her a few times and emailed her once but heard nothing back, and with so little time to learn how to do all that work I'm fairly sure I'm going to fail this class... again. I wasn't doing great before but i had a realistic chance of passing this time around but if I fail the final I can not pass the class. I left a picture with a BUNCH of different types of sample problems. Thanks for the quick reply savant.
edit - also for online help its best to take a particular problem that you can't solve and post what you tried.
None of the questions you posted have anything to do with radians. Do you mean radicals?
A radian is a measure of an angle. A radical is trying to find the nth root of a number, which is what's in the examples you posted.
From wikipedia: In mathematics, a root of a number x is any number which, when repeatedly multiplied by itself, eventually yields x.
So the square (second) root of say, 9 is the number that can be multiplied by itself twice to equal 9.
3 x 3 = 9, so 3 is the square (second) root of 9.
4 x 4 = 16, so 4 is the square root of 16.
The cube (third) root of say, 27 is the number that can be multiplied by itself 3 times to equal 27.
3 x 3 x 3 = 27, so 3 is the cube (third) root of 27.
2 x 2 x 2 = 8, so 2 is the cube root of 8.
From this, you should see the pattern and be able to figure out what the fourth root of 16 is, and the fifth root of 32 (hint: look at the very last example).
If you understand all this already, you're going to have to be more specific about what you need help with.
Try reading this as well (that whole site has a lot of useful algebra information and is worth checking out).
1) At my college there where just certain hours of the day where tutors were in the library. I.E. at 3pm on MWF I could go into the lobby at the library and there would be 1 or 2 math tutors for anyone that showed up. It wasn't a private tutor or anything they just had math students who agreed to be in the library during those hours to help anyone that came by. Obviously I have no idea if there is a similar program at your school but it might be worth asking.
2) There isn't really much that anyone can say generally about how to solve radicals that you won't find in an algebra book or wiki. The best way to help is for you to try some of the problems and then post where or how you get stuck.
Ok, so specific problems I'm having. Lets say a number doesn't come out even, for example (SR)16 = 4 is easy. Now what about the (SR)24 = 4.898979_ repeat. Now there is no way in the world I'm going to be able to figure out 20 questions like that on paper in under an hour... there has to be another way to do this. Someone once told me that I need to find out what two squares multiply into the none square number, but i dont know what that means.
Another problem is like... (SR)y+(SR)z... i have no idea. None, i can't even venture a guess at that.
What sort of problems have you had to do with radians? I assume you either had homework or were at least given some sort of referral towards something that gives you an idea of the sort of thing they will be asking on the exam.
Radians at the most basic level are a unit to measure the magnitude of an angle, like degrees. The more radians an angle is the wider it is, and less number of radians it is the smaller it is. However, radians are a more "natural" measure of angles than degrees are (I'm not sure as to how in depth you need to know about that).
The way to convert between angle measures in radians and degrees is relatively straightforward, just always keep in mind if you have a number that is the size of an angle what particular measure it is using. An angle which is the full circle is 2*pi radians and 360 degrees. So if you want to convert between the two and have a hard time memorizing a whole bunch, just always remember that equality and you can switch between any two angles by multiplying or dividing both sides by the same number. Like so:
2*pi radians = 360 degrees
(2*pi) / 2 radians = (360) / 2 degrees -> pi radians = 180 degrees
(2*pi) / 4 radians = (360) / 4 degrees -> pi/2 radians = 90 degrees
Example: To find x in the equation 1 radian = x degrees, use the above equation like so
(2*pi) / (2*pi) radians = 360 / (2*pi) degrees, so 1 radian = 180 / pi degrees. Likewise, 1 degree = pi / 180 radians.
You only have to remember one of the ways to convert between radians and degrees, and can simply use algebra by multiplying and dividing both sides of the equation by the same number to find any conversion.
Anyways, one of the big things about having angles in radians is that you can use it to directly and quickly find the length of an arc of a part of a circle, like pictured below:
For arc length, the equation for an arc of a circle determined by a certain angle and radius is just:
arc length = (angle in radians) * (radius of circle)
or, depending upon the variable names you use, s = r * theta
You can sort of see one of the reasons why radians are more "natural" here by looking at the unit circle, a circle with radius one. The circumference of a circle of radius=1 is simply 2*pi, which is equal to the number of radians the angle measuring out that radius is.
However, there may be a lot of cases where you have to simply roots, so you won't get rid of the square root but have it so you have a whole number times a smaller square root. For these sorts of problems you need to figure out what the factors of numbers are.
So like for 24, there is no nice rational number x such that x^2 = 24. However, to simplify, consider the following factorization of 24 = 2 * 2 * 2 * 3 = 4 * 6. Four is a perfect square, and six has no perfect square factors, so look at this:
sqrt(24) = sqrt(4) * sqrt(6) = 2 * sqrt(6).
This would be the most you could simplify sqrt(24).
Your most likely not going to have to solve something like Sqrt(24) without a calculator. Sometimes the may ask you to simplify, but you will never need to produce something that has a repeating decimal place without a calculator.
Most of the time what they are looking for is for you to simplify. So in the Sqrt(24) example you can simplify it to Sqrt(4*6), then Sqrt(4)*Sqrt(6), then 2*Sqrt(6). This is almost always the case when you are given variables like x or y. So something like the first problem in the third row would simplify to 3*x^2.
With the previous example of 24, the prime factorization again gives you 24 = 2 * 2 * 2 * 3 = 8 * 3.
So 24^(1/3) = 8^(1/3) * 3^(1/3) = 2 * 3^(1/3).
Getting notation that looks good isn't that easy on these forums, unfortunately.
Surprising how much you miss stuff like ctrl+shift+plus.
Anyways, for the OP I suggest you just try and do as many problems as you can. When you get stuck on a problem, post the specific problem and what you got for an answer (or however far you got); and we can help you out.
I'm going to try and write up a blurb for you in LaTeX that delineates the rules needed for these particular problems and it'll be readable with nice math symbols. Unfortunately, I'm REALLY busy (damn full time job and an open book unlimited time plasma physics final I have to turn in Friday!), so it might take me a little while.
Some information that would be useful is what exactly are the problems for the last set of equations on the page? I'm assuming that most of it is "Simplify." For the very last two equations, are you expected to solve for the variables v and z in the first and second equations, respectively?
Moreover, I highly recommend you follow the advice of others in this thread and just try out problems and post here any problems you run into.