Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Rectangle approximations for area can be easy

Using rectangles as a tool in approximating areas is as old as the hills, but is brand new to many students and incomprehensible to some people. My position is that by using technological tools such as GeoGebra in a well-designed manner, topics such as this can clarified. This one (full file here) utilizes some features of GeoGebra that I personally just learned about. I hope to improve on it over time. Have fun.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Is the Law of Sines Mysterious?

By this stage of the year most classes are done with mid-year exams and diving into the second semester. With that in mind, I give this to Algebra II, Trig, and Pre-Calculus students. It relates to the constant referred to in the Law of Sines. Do not click on the "plot spoiler" until you have a good idea as to the meaning of the constant!